APNU pours cold water on new Cabinet, advisors

Last Updated on Tuesday, 16 September 2025, 21:29 by Writer

The opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) on Sunday said the new People’s Progressive Party Civic’s (PPPC) cabinet falls short of that party’s promise to appoint ministers based on performance as 18 of the 25 are incompetent and under-performers.

“All should have been fired and replaced,” APNU said in a statement.

That party, which holds 12 parliamentary seats from the September 1, 2025 general elections, said switching inept ministers, such as Priya Manickchand, Sonia Parag, and Oneidge Walrond from one ministry to another is a “pointless exercise.” “They will continue to blunder and flop,” APNU said.

Ms Manickchand has exchanged the Ministry of Education with Ms Parag from the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. Ms Walrond has been moved from the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Touching on the appointment of former Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn and former Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton as advisors on Home Affairs and Natural Resources, and Labour and Manpower Planning respectively, APNU said those positions amount to a “ploy to provide them a lavish retirement package which they do not deserve.”

APNU also objected to the creation of a new government agency – the Ministry of Public Utilities and Aviation – and handing the responsibility to Mr Deodat Indar, saying that he “failed miserably to fix the blackout problem in Guyana” but instead cost Guyanese frustration and losses amounting to billions of dollars. “Instead of dismissing him, Mr Indar has now been put in a position to wreak more havoc on households and on the economy,” the opposition party said.

“It is plain to all that the increase in the number of ministers is a result of the PPP doling out political patronage, resulting in more square pegs in round holes,” APNU added

APNU predicted that the PPPC Cabinet would not innovate, transform or have a people-centered approach but instead Guyanese would see the same “ad-hoc and disjointed approach” to planning, and waste of money through corruption and incompetence.

President Irfaan Ali on Saturday did not rule out changes, saying that his ministers’ performance would be reviewed constantly.