Ministers come in for special praise for performance

Jan 25, 2021 Letters

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 10 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: Indar Deodat (Infrastructure), Anil Nandlall (Attorney General), Collin Croal (Housing), Zulfikar Mustapha (Agriculture), Juan Edghill (Infrastructure), Vickram Bharrat (Energy), Susan Pariag (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 Ministers of the preceding coalition regime.
Respondents in the poll note that Ministers Indar Deodat and Zulfikar Mustapha respond very promptly to complaints of flooding and bad roads. They do their work effectively and efficiently. Indar Deodat’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. Bharrat 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 percent to 12 percent, with 17 percent not offering a response.
Asked to rate the performance of various Ministers as positive or negative or no rating, Nandlall scores 83 percent-8 percent-9 percent, Indar scores 72 percent-18 percent-10 percent, Zulfikar scores 73 percent -19 percent -8 percent, Kwame scores 63 percent-28 percent-9 percent, Croal scores 70 percent-19 percent-11 percent, and Edghill scores 65 percent-27 percent-8 percent.
Respondents were asked which government performed better on handling various issues. Voters say the PPP/C administration has done significantly more than the APNU+AFC coalition to create jobs (69 percent to 18 percent), rescue agriculture (72 percent to 14 percent), help farmers (79 percent to 11 percent), turn around the economy (61 percent to 31 percent), attract investments (70 percent to 19 percent), and crackdown on corruption (56 percent to 38 percent). (Numbers don’t add up to 100 percent because some respondents did not offer a response to the questions).

Yours truly
Dr. Vishnu Bisram (Pollster)