New Ministers commit to working hard to rebuild Guyana

President Dr Irfaan Ali on Wednesday appointed 19 Ministers to serve as part of his Cabinet and among them were four young and new faces to the political arena – namely Sonia Parag to serve as Public Service Minister; Susan Rodrigues as Minister within the Housing and Water Ministry; Oneidge Walrond Allicock as Tourism Minister and Hugh Todd, as Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister.

Minister within the Housing and Water Ministry, Susan Rodrigues

They have all indicated that they are ready to hit the ground running and serving Guyanese is their number one priority.
The newly-appointed Tourism Minister, Attorney-at-Law Walrond Allicock said her desire has always been to serve and make a difference in her country.
In a brief interview following a simple swearing-in ceremony at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) on Wednesday, she expressed her excitement to be offered the opportunity to function as a Minister in the Irfaan Ali-led Government, and assured that she would work diligently to ensure that her ministry met the needs of the various stakeholders.
“My vision, and desire, has always been to serve the Guyanese people without attention or focus on race, creed, party affiliation; just the desire to serve and make a difference. That is what I bring to the table, and that is my sole reason for wanting to support the vision of a President who has declared that his desire is to see us move forward as a nation,” Walrond Allicock posited.

Public Service Minister Sonia Parag

In relation to her professional background and her suitability for the ministerial portfolio, she noted that her background was in law “and for any policy position a background in law is advantageous”. She added: “I have experience in the public service and that I believe will lend to building and developing a portfolio.”
Walrond Allicock’s appointment is a technocratic one since she was not on the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) List of Candidates. She told the media that over the coming days she would engage the various stakeholders of the Ministry and would work collaboratively to achieve the objectives of the Ministry and the Government as a whole.
Walrond Allicock is a former Magistrate. She has 22 years of experience at the Bar and more recently, she served as Corporate Secretary of the Guyana Telecommunications Agency as well as adviser to former Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes. Interestingly, she was also among the 18 names submitted by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo for the position of Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

Public Service

Tourism Minister Oneidge Walrond Allicock

Meanwhile, the 37-year-old Parag hails from a family of political influence, her father Hukumchand was a prominent attorney as well as a former Member of Parliament for the People’s National Congress (PNC).
Parag offered legal counsel to Jagdeo and then joined the campaign trail for the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.
“Here I am and my nature is to give all as I’ve done throughout this electoral process and that I don’t plan to stop at any time in terms of giving my all. As I get into office, I will familiarise myself, the first thing, with the staff, with the status of that Ministry and then I will start to implement my policies,” she said.
The Attorney by profession noted that she has been meeting with the staff at the Ministry to determine the best plan to move forward in a unified way. She expressed that she was looking as professionalising the public service as well as bringing progress to the sector.
“It requires a certain amount of patience, it requires improving your arguments and not your voice so basically what I will say is that we sit down at the table like mature adults and find solutions to those who wish to be testy in their approach,” Parag said when asked how she intended to deal with conflicts in terms of advancing the public service.

Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd

When asked how she intended to revolutionise the Scholarship Division of the Ministry, Parag said: “I would like to channel it in a way: ‘look, it is fair; it is transparent; it is across the board’. We are looking at something when you throw it to the public, they understand what is going on, they can see for themselves that this is fairly done.”

Minister within the Housing and Water Ministery
Rodrigues, the new Minister within the Housing and Water Ministry, is also fairly new to politics, only having joined the PPP after she was dissatisfied with the way the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) was running the affairs of the country. She notes that this appointment would allow her to step out of her comfort zone.
“This is very encouraging not only for the young people within our party and within Government but young people in Guyana generally that they can see that there is potential out there and as long as you work hard and you are committed, you can become anything you want.
“There was no indication before that I would be given this portfolio. I do have a construction background and real estate and when I met with the President yesterday … he said that I am giving you this, because you are a hard worker. He said we have to be results-oriented … which he said today and have always said throughout the campaign that we have to deliver, we do not have a choice and it is very difficult now with the economy we’ve inherited, but we are not going to make excuses, we are going to put our shoulders to the wheel and we are going to ensure that we deliver for the people of Guyana,” Rodrigues said.

Strengthening foreign diplomacy
Meanwhile, Guyana’s new Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd said among his top priorities is to work towards strengthening the country’s foreign diplomacy policy since, according to him, it is currently in “tatters”.
“We have to strengthen our foreign diplomacy, it’s in tatters right now…and we have to work on economic cooperation which I think is vital to moving this country forward,” Todd stated.
Up to the time of his appointment as a Minister under the Irfaan Ali Government, Todd was the Assistant Dean in the School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation, University of Guyana.
Todd, speaking with media operatives after taking his oath of office, explained that he previously served in the military, Private Sector and academia – and now he was excited to embark on this new chapter in his life.
“It’s a learning curve for me, but I have a team at the ministry, we have a structure there already,” the new Minister explained, noting that he would look to his staff for the much-needed support in managing the country’s foreign affairs.
Guyana’s 2020 General and Regional Elections attracted much international attention from major organisations like the Commonwealth, European Union, Organisation of American States, among others.
In fact, the majority of the international attention the country received amounted to pressure on the previous APNU/AFC coalition Administration to respect the will of the people – with the United States Government going as far as imposing visa restrictions on certain officials who were undermining the country’s democracy.