Opposition MPs reshuffled for more ‘effective, efficient’ representation – Norton

…Figueira replaced by an ‘activist-oriented’ Nima Flue-Bess

Several Opposition Members of Parliament, both from the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC), have had their portfolios reshuffled in a move which Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton claimed on Thursday would allow for more effective and efficient representation in the National Assembly.
This announcement came one day after Opposition MP Jermaine Figueira was stripped of his portfolio for Culture, Youth and Sport; he has not been reassigned.
Figueira told Guyana Times on Wednesday that the decision has taken him by surprise, and he has directed enquiries about the rationale behind the decision to the Opposition Leader himself. He has also written to the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the People’s National Congress (PNC) – the leading party in the APNU – on the matter, in a bid to have the decision reversed.
However, Norton said on Thursday that among the changes that were made to portfolios is AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan being removed from Agriculture and placed as shadow Home Affairs Minister. Ramjattan had previously served as Public Security Minister under the Coalition Government.
Following her removal from Home Affairs, MP Geeta Chandan-Edmond will now shadow Parliamentary Affairs and Governance.
Another significant reshuffle is AFC’s David Patterson being removed from Natural Resources and put to shadow Public Works. He had previously served as Public Infrastructure Minister in the last Government.
Meanwhile, MP Coretta McDonald, a longstanding Executive at the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU), will now shadow Education, while MP Natasha Singh-Lewis will shadow Human Services and Social Security, and MP Nima Flue-Bess will now shadow Culture, Youth and Sport.
The Opposition Leader said at his party’s weekly press conference on Thursday that these changes “give us the opportunity to bring institutional knowledge to each sector. The whole purpose of reshuffling is to make us more effective and efficient as Members of Parliament, and I think also it provides us the opportunity for those regional MPs to do more work in their regions.”
Despite this reshuffling, however, the Opposition Leader noted, those MPs with new portfolios can still make contributions and debate on the sectors they had previously shadowed.
Norton has contended that Opposition Parliamentarians were aware that there was going to be a reshuffling after the last budget.

Illogical
In that letter to the Central Executive Committee of the PNC, Figueira said the Opposition Leader had often downplayed his political work by referring to it as ‘social work’.
According to Figueira, based on performance alone, the political work he has been doing in the communities – particularly in Linden, from where he hails – made the decision to remove his portfolio responsibilities illogical. In fact, he said the reasons proffered for the removal of his portfolio were “most nonsensical and without merit”.
Further, Figueira has pointed to his tireless efforts on behalf of his party, which have sometimes seen him working with the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government to bring assistance to his constituents. In fact, Figueira went on to question whether his willingness to work with the political other side for the greater good of the people is the reason why he has been singled out by Norton. He emphasised that he has always been willing to work with the PPP/C Government, because it is the custodian of the people’s resources.

The Opposition Leader was questioned about the Region 10 Parliamentary Representative’s claims during the press conference. He responded: “A lot of work should be done in Youth, Sport and Culture…and I thought (that) in the circumstances, we need an activist-oriented person there who is involved in sport, and that naturally led to Nima Flue-Bess. It is on that basis the decision was taken to put Nima Flue-Bess in the area of Youth, Sport and Culture…
“You know, somebody called me this morning and said only when they read the article that they recognised that Figueira was the Youth, Sport and Culture shadow Minister,” Norton said on Thursday as he took a jab at Figueira’s performance in the sector.
Figueira, who also serves as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the National Assembly, would nevertheless continue in that post.
Meanwhile, Figueira has questioned whether this decision to remove his sectorial portfolio was taken because he did not conform to the party’s position and shook President Dr Irfaan Ali’s hand at an event in Linden last week. This was photographed and shared on social media.
In a previous encounter with the President, in October 2022, there are reports that Figueira had been reprimanded for shaking the Head of State’s hand, and that instructions had been passed barring Opposition MPs from doing the same – something which Norton had denied in the past. In fact, the Opposition Leader insisted on Thursday that no such policy is in place in regard to shaking the President’s hand.
Norton had come in for heavy criticism back in June 2022 when he refused a handshake from President Ali at a reception held at the British High Commissioner’s residence in Georgetown.
“My symbolic non-shaking of the President’s hand was to signal that it is not business as usual, and I must just give you a photo-op… I have never instructed or said to any Member of Parliament not to shake (the) President’s hand… I’ve seen many [Opposition] MPs shake the President’s hand, and not one of them could say I called them and told them anything about shaking the President’s hands,” he posited. (G8)