The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) last evening released the names of its 33 parliamentarians who will serve in the 12th Parliament, and along with the recently sworn in ministers of government are four new faces in attorney-at-law Sanjeev Datadin, GAWU executive Seepaul Narine, Dr Tandika Smith of Region Three, and Lee Gendre Hakkim Williams of Region Seven.
Of note is the absence of a Minister of Finance and logic suggests that Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo will hold the fort in this regard, pending the appointment of a substantive minister. Notably missing from the line-up were PPP veterans Clement Rohee and Indra Chandarpal who had been parliamentarians for decades.
Datadin has over 20 years’ legal experience both in Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda, and has provided services for the PPP/C in several of the elections cases.
While Narine is a new face to the Parliament, he has been with the Guyana Agricultural & General Workers Union (GAWU) for many years and serves as its General Secretary. He has led the call for the reopening of shuttered sugar estates and has said that he would hold the government accountable to that promise. Narine, this newspaper understands, takes the place of deceased GAWU President Komal Chand in the National Assembly “to be a main voice for the sugar workers.”
Dr Tandika Smith hails from Region Three and had been on the party’s list of candidates since 2015. She however was not selected to serve in the 11th parliament when the PPP/C held 32 seats and APNU+AFC held 33.
Lee Gendre Hakkim Williams is a resident of Region Seven and was one of the youths instrumental in galvanising support for the PPP/C in the region during the 2020 elections campaign. He is a health environmental officer attached to the Paruima Village Health Office and is also the Toshao of Paruima Village. Williams plays an active part in advancing his village as an eco-tourism community, Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai told this newspaper, as she fondly pointed out that seeing the village blossom into an international eco-travel destination is his dream.
The party explained that the 33 Members of Parliament include 12 persons from the Geographic List and 21 from the National Top Up List and that it was submitted to GECOM yesterday. Names of candidates extracted to be members of the ten Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs) were submitted at the same time.
“Our 2020 Parliamentary team demonstrates that the PPP/C is truly a national party representing the diversity of Guyana, with all ethnic groups, geographic regions and a broad range of skills and knowledge of our country represented,” an accompanying statement with the list states.
“Included in the 33 Members of Parliaments (MPs) are six (6) medical doctors, four (4) attorneys at law, economists, administrators, as well as activists from the labour movement, practitioners in broadcasting and the media, and the business community. There are thirteen (13) new Members of Parliament, comprising of young women and men, as well as those who will bring more extensive experience with them. The interior regions are well presented with five (5) strong leaders from the Amerindian communities,” it added.
The newcomers are: Prime Minister, Mark Phillips; Public Service Minister, Sonia Parag; Junior Public Works Minister, Deodat Indar; Foreign Affairs Minister, Hugh Todd; Junior Housing Minister, Susan Rodrigues; Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Kwame Mc Coy; Attorney-at-Law, Sanjeev Datadin; General Secretary of GAWU, Seepaul Narine; Junior Minister of Local Government, Anand Persaud; Dr Tandika Smith, and Lee Gendre Hakim Williams, with attorney-at-law Oneidge Waldron as a technocrat minister.
Heading into the National Assembly when it convenes are from the Cabinet; Prime Minister, Brigadier Mark Anthony Phillips; Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo; Attorney General, Mohabir Anil Nandlall; Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira; Minister of Health, Dr Frank Christopher Stanislaus Anthony; Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Outar Bharrat; Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha; Minister of Housing and Water, Colin Croal; Minister of Local and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall; Minister of Public Service, Sonia Savitri Parag; Minister of Labour, Joseph Linden Fitzclarence Hamilton; Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Deodat Indar; Minister of Culture, Charles Shiva Ramson; Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Rose Ann Sukhai; Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand; Minister of Social Service, Dr Vindhya Vasini Harshkumari Persaud; Minister of Public Works, Juan Anthony Edghill; Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Hugh Todd; Minister of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues; Minister of Public Affairs, Warren Kwame Eusi McCoy; and Minister within the Ministry of Local Government, Anand Persaud.
Those who were in the 11th Parliament up to when it was dissolved in 2015 and will be returning are: Alister Charlie, Dr Vishwa Mahadeo, Yvonne Pearson Fredericks, Faizal M. Jaffarally, Dr Bheri Sygmond Ramsaran, Dharamkumar Seeraj, Bhagmattie Veerasammy and Dr Jennifer Reginalda Ann Westford.
