Greenidge tipped to become Foreign Minister; Fmr Budget Director could be next Finance Minister

Last Updated on Saturday, 16 May 2015, 23:13 by GxMedia

by Zena Henry

As the new government begins to take shape with the swearing in of the new President, Retired Brigadier David Granger on Saturday May 16 and the putting together of Cabinet nears, Economist Winston Jordan is now tipped to head the Finance Ministry while the former Finance Minister, Carl Greenidge is expected to lead the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Well-placed sources  said that among those expected to be named in Cabinet is the surprise choice of Jordan over Greenidge who headed the State’s Finance sector under the late Presidents Forbes Burnham and Desmond Hoyte during the period 1983 to 1992.

Greenidge, who is an economist, is described as an international public servant who worked in several top level positions including interim Secretary General of the 77-nation African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, and the Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) of the Caribbean Community (Caricom). In Guyana’s 10^th Parliament, he was the Opposition’s spokesman on Finance and International Economic Cooperation.

Jordan was the Budget Director and Economic restructuring specialist, who along with Greenidge and former Hoyte helped to turn around the negative economic situation facing the country during the 1987 to 1992 period.

Jordan is a respected University of Guyana Economics graduate and a Hubert Humphrey fellow in the early 90s.

The Cummingsburg Accord, a pre-election coalition pact between A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC), the Ministers of Home Affairs, Agriculture, Tourism and Public Works are to be drawn from the AFC.

The 16 to 18 member Cabinet is expected to include three Vice Presidents.