THE 11th Parliament opened yesterday with the selection of a Speaker of the House, Dr. Barton Scotland followed by the taking of the Oath of Office by 36 members of the new A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition Government as Members of Parliament (MPs).Speaker Scotland observed that without the presence of the Opposition, the selection of the Deputy Speaker could not be done. MP Amna Ally was appointed as the Government’s Chief Whip.

The 36 APNU+AFC members in 11th Parliament are:
1.         Vice President and Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo
2.         Minister of State, Joseph Harmon
3.         Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, Simona Broomes
4.         Minister of Governance, Raphael Trotman
5.         Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams
6.         Finance Minister, Winston Jordan
7.         Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan
8.         Minister of Tourism, Cathy Hughes
9.         Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton
10.       Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings
11.       Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence
12.       Minister of Social Cohesion, Amna Ally
13.       Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan
14.       Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine
15.       Minister within the Ministry of Education, Nicolette Henry
16.       Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs, Valerie Garrido-Lowe
17.       Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Keith Scott
18.       Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma
19.       Agriculture Minister, Noel Holder
20.       Minister of Business and Investment, Dominic Gaskin
21.       Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Annette Ferguson
22.       Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson
23.       Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs, Sydney Allicock
24.       Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix
25.       Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge
26.       Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Dawn Hastings
27.       Charandass Persaud
28.       Michael Carrington
29.       Richard Allen
30.       Audwin Rutherford

31.       Jermaine Figueira
32.       John Adams
33.       Jennifer Wade
34.       Haimraj Rajkumar
35.       Rajcoomarie Bancroft
36.       Valerie Patterson

Among these 36 MPs were 12 newcomers to the House. They included Ministers of Government and Regional MPs who are:

1.      Simona Broomes, Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection,
2.      Winston Jordan, Finance Minister
3.      Nicolette Henry, Minister within the Ministry of Education
4.      Noel Holder, Minister of Agriculture and
5.      Dominic Gaskin, Minister of Business and Investment

The new Regional MPs are:

1.      Charandass Persaud
2.      Michael Carrington
3.      Audwin Rutherford
4.      Jermaine Figueira
5.      Haimraj Rajkumar
6.      Valerie Patterson

Technocrat Ministers

There are three such persons:
1.      Mr. Sydney Allicock- Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs
2.      Mr. Keith Scott –Minister in the Ministry of Communities and
3.      Mr. Winston Felix – Minister of Citizenship

The APNU+AFC Government got 33 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly and the Opposition PPP/C, 32. The latter was absent from the opening ceremony yesterday.