Creating… his team

If it’s one thing we know about Prezzie is he’s absolutely bonkers about cricket!! He just doesn’t wear that on his sleeve – as they say – but on his entire persona. Now the Brits who used to rule half of the world back in the day won one of their most famous battles against the French – the Battle of Waterloo – under the Duke of Wellington to end Napoleon’s career!! Reflecting on the event later, Wellington said famously, “The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.” Meaning that the values inculcated on the cricket field of that famous school he attended were what made him carry the day!!
And as your Eyewitness listened to Prezzie’s remarks following his swearing-in of the Cabinet that’s gonna work with him to fulfil his Party’s manifesto’s pledges, he could glean the values of cricket streaming thru!! A bunch of specialists – the best in various facets of the game – brought together, but must be absolutely willing to work as a team with him as the captain?!! Some new players were brought in because you always need “new blood” to bring up the energy level!?! A willingness to play the role given without looking at the other fella – and keeping egos in check!!? That’s cricket!!
And so Pres Ali’s ready to play his second innings to win one for our beloved Mudland!! Your Eyewitness suspects that some of Prezzie’s picks – and some of his retentions – might’ve surprised some folks; So let’s look at a few. There’s Oneidge Walrond – former Minister of Tourism who’s now in charge of the critical Ministry of Home Affairs!! Yep…that’s the Ministry in charge of our nation’s security through its various departments – Police, Prison Service, Fire Service, CANU, etc.!! In a word, it’s all about Law and Order!!
So the question is what does Oneidge Walrond know about Law and Order?? Well…PLENTY!! Did you know she’s a lawyer and was a Magistrate for quite a while?!!! Well, she was – and as such, has an insider knowledge about the law and its application to keep order!! And since 2020, she’s been managing a governmental bureaucracy to achieve its goals!! The principles of management are quite portable!! Good luck to Min Walrond!!
Then there’s that switch of Priya – only one name needed!! – from Education to Local Government with Sonia Parag! Some may say that Priya performed quite credibly in Education – and if it ain’t broken, it don’t need fixin’!! Well, we should now appreciate after the last elections that there’s a certain amount of alienation of the Party from certain grassroots elements.
And this is where Priya’s gregariousness and down-to-earth mannerism comes in!! Remember her “taste and buy” metaphor at Stewartville??

…rapprochement?
Even before his Cabinet was announced – and just after the ink on his swearing-in was dry! – Prezzie made a quick one-day trip to Suriname to meet THEIR new President. It wasn’t just a meet and greet, because there’s quite a lot of unfinished business between our two nations – in spite of the fact that Prezzie and Suriname’s past president Santokhi got along like a house on fire!!
There’s the vexed issue of our fishermen being denied licences to fish in the mouth of the Corentyne River – which belongs to Suriname. But if they’re gonna break a lance – and our shield!! – over that, why do we want to share the expenses of building a bridge across THEIR River?? And of course, there’s our New River Triangle they’re claiming by playing as a tag team with Mad Maduro and Venezuela over in Essequibo!!
We could’ve easily checkmated their entry into Caricom – which has benefited them immensely! – but we didn’t!! Where’s the quid pro quo??
No more, Mr Nice Guy!!

…elitism
WIN’s Sanction Man used the populist strategy of championing the cause of “the ordinary people” – in Guyana read scrapeheads! – against the “elites” of the PPP and PNC. But now he hasn’t sent a single scrapehead to Parliament!!
Elitist!!