– points to longstanding Cabinet outreach programme across all regions

ATTORNEY General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, has affirmed that taking Government directly to communities has long been a feature of the administration’s approach to governance, while rejecting that the recent outreach activities were initiated in response to the recent tragedy.
The Minister made this known during this week’s episode of his weekly show, Issues in the News, during which he said public outreaches are an “indispensable” part of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)’s political and governmental work and have continued regardless of national events.
He was responding to commentary on social media suggesting that the Government was using its outreach programme to divert attention from the tragedy surrounding the sinking of the MV Barima.
Nandlall said such claims ignored the history of the Government’s engagement with communities and the schedule of Cabinet outreaches that had already been established before the disaster.
“The truth of the matter is the People’s Progressive Party is grounded in a particular philosophy that weds it to the ordinary working people of this country,” he said while arguing that the party’s longstanding grassroots connection has remained central to its political approach.
According to Nandlall, Cabinet outreaches have been a feature of Government since the administration of former President Dr Cheddi Jagan, dating back to 1992.
Against this backdrop, he said the practice has continued under successive PPP/C administrations, with Cabinet ministers, Members of Parliament and senior government officials travelling to communities and spending several days engaging residents and addressing issues directly.
Nandlall pointed to a series of recent outreaches as evidence that the programme was already well underway before the MV Barima tragedy.
He said Cabinet held an outreach in Region Six in November 2025, followed by one in Region Three in December. This was followed by an outreach in Region Seven in June 2026 and Region Two in July, with the Region One outreach taking place in August.
He noted that the Region One programme had been planned long before the MV Barima sank and that further Cabinet outreaches are already scheduled for the remainder of the year.
“Public outreaches is an indispensable factor in our political work, and has always been, and will always be,” Nandlall affirmed.
He said the approach also extends beyond collective cabinet visits, with individual ministers routinely travelling throughout the country to meet residents and address issues affecting their communities.
Nandlall further rejected the notion that governance should be confined to offices in Georgetown, pointing to his own description of the approach as “Taking Government to the People”.
“When we go out, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. It is the norm,” he said.
As such, Nandlall maintained that the continuation of the outreach programme should therefore not be interpreted as an attempt to shift public attention from the MV Barima tragedy, but rather as part of the Government’s established method of engaging citizens across the country.
Further to this, he indicated that cabinet outreaches would continue, with Region Ten among the areas scheduled for outreach programmes in September.