In an unexpected move days before Budget Day 2024, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton has reshuffled the opposition shadow cabinet. The shakeup saw several opposition members of parliament being reassigned to a different shadow portfolio and one opposition member of Parliament being left without a shadow portfolio.
In a press conference held today January 11, the Opposition Leader contended that “the purpose of the reshuffling is to make us more effective and efficient and for regional Members of Parliament to do more work in the region” He added that the shakeup will also allow the reassigned members of the parliament to utilise institutional knowledge.
The leader of the Alliance for Change Khemraj Ramjattan and AFC member David Patterson will now shadow the portfolios of Home Affairs and Public Security, respectively. Both Ramjattan and Patterson served as Ministers of the Ministries they are now shadowing when the coalition was in government. Coretta McDonald who serves as the general secretary of the Guyana Teachers Union is the new shadow Minister of Education; replacing Natasha Singh Lewis who will now have shadow responsibility for the Ministry of Human Services.
MP Shurwayne Holder will shadow the oil and gas sector while Vinceroy Jordan, Geeta Chandon-Edmond, Christopher Jones, and Nima Flue-Bess will shadow Agriculture, Governance, Parliamentary Affairs, and Culture Youth, and Sports, respectively.
MP Jermaine Figueira who was the shadow Minister of Youth Sport and Culture, and the current Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is reportedly dissatisfied with Norton’s decision to remove him as the shadow Minister of Culture Youth and Sports. It has been reported in some sections of the media that Figueira was not consulted before the decision was made to replace him with Nima Flue-Bess