Performance, suitability, people skills are among criteria for Ministers in new Cabinet – Jagdeo

…says new PPP/C Govt will reorganise Ministries, agencies to deliver efficiency

With the People’s Progressive Party/Civic seeking a second term in office, the party’s General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo, said none of the current Cabinet Ministers are guaranteed a position in the next PPP/C Administration as he highlighted some of the key characteristics that they will be looking for in the new cohort of Ministers.
Asked by Guyana Times about the criteria for the selection of Ministers for the new Cabinet, Jagdeo, who now serves as Vice President in the current PPP/C Government, explained that it is the President who usually chooses the Cabinet members. He, nevertheless, outlined that professionalism and suitability are among the key features that will be looked at in selecting the new cohort of Ministers.

“Clearly, you have to look at, in my view, performance, suitability, skill, people skills; a whole range of factors goes into this, having been there and choosing cabinets several times myself. So, these are the important metrics that you use, and I expect that they would also be used in selecting the cabinet in the next term,” Jagdeo told this newspaper.
In fact, the General Secretary noted that the PPP’s list of candidates that was submitted to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to contest the upcoming September 1 polls has “a good deal of experience” with a team that is ready to hit the ground running and continue the work that has been ongoing over the past five years to transform Guyana.
The party’s lists also prominently feature “tonnes of new faces”, including some 27 individuals who are under the age of 25, with the youngest being 18. According to Jagdeo, “We think that exposing them very early on to lists is very important as a signal, not just for those young people who are on the lists but for other young people across the country that they too can contribute at the national level, never mind their age.”
Questioned about the role of those young candidates in the new PPP/C Government, the General Secretary declared that they were not promised any positions but will be engaged in capacity-building exercises.
“A lot of people who’ve been on our lists in the past, they get included in many areas of Government. So, we believe in capacity-building… [But] nobody knows what they’re going to get now at this stage,” he stressed.

Reorganisation
Having the correct fit of Cabinet members will be crucial in executing the PPP’s ambitious plans to reform governance in order to boost efficiency.
While he did not entirely rule out the creation of new Ministries, Jagdeo said the focus would be primarily on reorganising the operations of many, if not all, Government offices and agencies.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean the creation of new Ministries, but it could result in that. But it’s not our intention to grow the number of Ministries. It is to ensure that work is done effectively in a different way so that we can better serve the citizens of the country, and that may necessitate some reorganisation,” he noted.
That reorganisation, the General Secretary noted, is not just physical but would also include workload restructuring. In fact, he noted that revamping the tools used to deliver that efficiency will also vastly change.
According to Jagdeo, the current PPP/C Administration has made progress in every sector over the past five years – something they want to enhance even further. For instance, he pointed to the payment of pension.
Prior to 2020, elderly citizens, especially those residing in remote hinterland communities, would complain about the fatigue of having to travel far distances to obtain their payments. Today, those persons get the money delivered directly to their communities. Additionally, payments are also made directly into the bank accounts of some pensioners who have signed up for that service.
New tools
In the next term, Jagdeo said the new administration will explore more options to bring further efficiency to this programme.
Among the new tools being examined is the possibility of contracting out the delivery of pensions to a private company, which will be responsible for delivering the money to the homes of every pensioner across the country, especially to hinterland communities, within a specified period.
Another option would be to fully integrate the payment of pensions through the banking system, but this would require more ATMs being set up in the various regions across the country so that the pensioners can access the money conveniently.
“We’re constantly looking to see how we can do what we’re doing better in Government… So, it’s building out that infrastructure. All of these things have to be explored, but it’s primary in our thinking now: how do we do this fast and get better service to our people?”
“For example, if we’re contracting out, we may not need all of the staff to hand deliver [and] process the pension. They could form a company and do this through the company; that’s if we decide to go that route, not that we have. Or if we’re doing it through the bank account now, a lot of those people won’t need the vouchers anymore, so the people who’re working on the vouchers can be redeployed to do something else. That is the thinking that we have,” Jagdeo posited.
He pointed out that similar options are being explored to bring efficiency in all the other sectors to better serve citizens.