President Ali swears in 19 Ministers

Three days after being sworn in as the ninth Executive President of Guyana, Dr Irfaan Ali on Wednesday administered the Oath of Office to 19 persons who will serve as Ministers of his Government and members of his cabinet.

The swearing-in of new Ministers was done at a simple ceremony held at the Arthur Chung Conference Center.

Ali’s Government will be headed in part by a few newcomers to the political scene and includes a noteworthy youth component.

Those newcomers are Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd who worked as an Assistant Dean at the University of Guyana; Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues who joined the party roughly four years ago; Minister of Public Service, Sonia Paray; Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar and Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Oneidge Walrond Allicock.

Other youth appointees include Minister of Local Government, Nigel Dharamlall; Minister of Housing and Water, Colin Croal; Minister of Culture Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr. and Minister of Natural Resources Vikram Bharrat.

Wednesday’s appointees also included former Ministers and Parliamentarians under previous PPP Governments.

Returning to portfolios they held under the previous PPP government five years ago are Minister of Education, Priya Manichand and Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai.

The other appointments are Minister of Agriculture, Zulficar Mustapha; Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony; Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn; Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr Vindya Persaud; Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton; Minister within the Ministry of Local Government, Anand Persaud; Minister within the office of the Prime Minister, Kwame McCoy; Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill

President Ali previously swore in Brigadier (rt’d) Mark Phillips as Prime Minister, Bharrat Jagdeo as Vice President, Gail Texeira as Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Anil Nandlall as Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs.

There was no Minister of Finance sworn in.