Dear Editor,
The public is very pleased so far, after just over five months in office, with the Government’s delivery on varied promises made in its manifesto – the contract it made with the people to win their vote. This is one of several findings of an opinion poll I conducted among the population over the last ten days.
The public is very impressed with the performance of several Ministers who have received soaring ratings for “delivery”. These Ministers, as well as the Prime Minister and President, have also come in for special praises for their interaction with the public and on implementation of plans for development. They are down to earth, humble, and in touch with ordinary people.
Among those who have been called out for their performance are Deodat Indar (Infrastructure), Anil Nandlall (Attorney General), Collin Croal (Housing), Zulfikar Mustapha (Agriculture), Bishop Edghill (Infrastructure), Vikram Bharrat (Energy), Sonia Parag (Public Administration), Kwame McCoy (State Media & Information), Nigel Dharamlall (Local Government), Vindhya Persaud (Social Services), Frank Anthony (Health), among others. Respondents say Government Ministers are very people friendly as compared with some Minister of the preceding coalition regime.
Respondents in the poll note that Ministers Deodat Indar and Zulfikar Mustapha respond very promptly to complaints of flooding and bad roads. They do their work effectively and efficiently. Deodat Indar’s experience in the Private Sector is a tremendous asset to public infrastructure resulting in his Ministry getting work done quickly. Kwame McCoy is described as a very hard worker and who knows the media matters very well. Croal is empathetic towards the poor to quickly get them house lots. Bharat is rapidly learning energy issues. Dharamlall is down to earth addressing local development. Nandlall towers over the other Ministers in terms of likeability and popularity. Respondents describe him as a giant in the legal field. Nandlall who came into Government with experience as AG is extremely intelligent, confident of himself, articulate, witty, and experienced.
Asked who was a more effective Attorney General, Nandlall betters Basil Williams 71 per cent to 12 per cent with 17 per cent not offering a response.
Asked to rate the performance of various Ministers as positive or negative or no rating, Nandlall scores 83%-8%-9%, Indar scores 72%-18%-10%, Zulfikar scores 73%-19%-8%, Kwame scores 63%-28%-9%, Croal scores 70%-19%-11%, and Edghill scores 65%-27%-8%.
Respondents were asked which Government performed better handling various issues. Voters say the PPP Administration has done significantly more than the APNU/AFC coalition to create jobs (69 per cent to 18 per cent), rescue agriculture (72 per cent to 14 per cent), help farmers (79 per cent to 11 per cent), turn around the economy (61 per cent to 31 per cent), attract investments (70 per cent to 19 per cent), and crackdown on corruption (56 per cent to 38 per cent) (Numbers don’t add up to 100 per cent because some respondents did not offer a response to the question).
Yours truly,
Dr Vishnu Bisram
(Pollster)
