Dr. Ashni Singh, former Finance Minister under the administrations of then Presidents Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo and Donald Ramotar, was once again sworn in as a senior minister with responsibilities for finance, but this time under the Office of the President.

There was speculation on the PPP/C Government’s eventual choice for the vital post of Finance Minister, and the hope was palpable when the position was left open for so long, that the choice would have been Dr. Singh, the financial ‘whizz kid’, whom it was presumed was fulfilling contractual obligations before returning to Guyana.
And that hope fructified into reality last Thursday, November 5, 2020, when Dr. Singh took the oath of office, administered by President Irfaan Ali in the presence of Cabinet ministers and other Government officials at a ceremony at the Office of the President.

President Ali remarked that Guyana is on a road of transformation, requiring a multifaceted team with youth and experience, both of which Dr. Singh has. Based on chronology, the experience he would have acquired over the years in various high-profile positions is boosted by his natural intellectual brilliance. Guyana’s financial fortunes; fortunes being the operative word, could not reside in better hands.

According to the President, Government needs to build capacity to manage the fortunes of citizens, and create an environment in which all Guyanese can be successful. He informed that Dr. Singh will be part of the team that will manage projects, programmes, and policies to stimulate growth, and expand the country’s economic base, and strengthen existing sectors, among others.

It speaks to the character-defining humility of Guyana’s super-achieving Finance Minister, whom is among Guyana’s brightest and most shining intellectual stars, that in his acceptance speech, he said: “I have spent almost all of my life in public service in Guyana, and it’s something that I consider a great honour. So, having been invited by the President to join his Cabinet is a tremendous honour. I consider myself greatly honoured; greatly privileged. And perhaps, most importantly, deeply humbled by the fact that he (President Ali) considered me for this appointment, and extended the invitation to me.”

It is evident Dr. Singh recognises, and has accepted the challenges he faces with a once-again bankrupted economy, and his acknowledgment that he is entering office at a time when global economies are facing tremendous hardship, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, iterating, “I am under no illusion of the magnitude of the challenges before us, from the point of view of economic policy, implementation and management in Guyana.”
Dr. Singh had piloted Guyana’s economy, pre-elections 2015, into safe waters, but has now returned to captain an endangered fiscal vessel, wrecked by the storms of maladministration and corruption.

The Irfaan Ali administration is being lauded, even by traditional Coalition supporters, for achievements and pre-election promises being kept in its first hundred days in office. The Government has implemented programmes, and put in place measures, especially the taxation repeal, that have alleviated many of the Coalition’s punitive policies that drastically reduced spending power, and strangled the private sector, even as the pandemic is raging in the country, with all its implications and deleterious consequences to the national economy and the social order.

Guyana was once a little-known country, often mistaken for Ghana on addresses, or for the infamy of the Jonestown massacre.  However, thanks to the brilliant leadership and dynamism that has characterised PPP/C presidencies, especially those of Dr. Cheddi Jagan through his UN-adopted New Global Human Order, and Dr. Jagdeo with his Low-Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and ‘Champion of the Earth’ award, among other qualitative leadership milestones, Guyana and its former presidents are on the radar of all the powerful nations and organisations in the world. Prior to the elections of 2015, Guyana had achieved the status of a middle-income country, from being graphed globally as poorest nation in the world after Haiti.

After five years out of office, the PPP/C once again faces the uphill task of rebuilding and retooling every sector, simultaneously. However, with the return of Dr. Ashni Singh, the “A Team” is now complete, and Guyana, which was placed back on track on August 2, 2020, will now become a runaway train of economic growth and social development.