GEORGETOWN — September 14, 2025 – President Irfaan Ali’s new Cabinet is already under fire, with the Opposition APNU Coalition branding it a betrayal of campaign promises and a recipe for continued failure.
In a scathing statement on Sunday, APNU declared that the return of 18 ministers from the last administration shows the PPP is “comfortable with its record of under-performance, incompetence, and corruption.” The Opposition accused the government of recycling the same faces instead of delivering the shakeup Guyanese were promised.
“Switching inept ministers such as Priya Manickchand, Sonia Parag, and Oneidge Walrond from one ministry to another is a pointless exercise. They will continue to blunder and flop,” the statement said.
The Coalition also blasted the appointment of former ministers Robeson Benn and Joe Hamilton as Presidential Advisors, dismissing it as nothing more than a “lavish retirement package which they do not deserve.”
But the harshest criticism was reserved for Deodat Indar, elevated from a junior role in the Ministry of Public Works to full Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation. APNU said Indar’s record of failure on Guyana’s chronic blackout crisis should have disqualified him. Instead, they claim, Ali has rewarded him with a bigger portfolio that could “wreak more havoc on households and on the economy.”
For APNU, the increase in the number of ministers is not about efficiency but patronage. “The PPP is shamelessly doling out political rewards, more square pegs in round holes,” the release charged.
The Opposition warned that Guyanese can expect more of the same: no innovative ideas, no people-centered policies, and no break from waste and corruption. “Friends, families, and favorites will still be rewarded at the expense of ordinary Guyanese,” it said.
APNU vowed to intensify its efforts to hold the government accountable, pledging to expose every failure and stand with workers, families, and struggling communities. “We will increase our efforts to meet and listen to the people as we strive to represent them,” the Coalition promised.
