Dear Editor,
People love to talk politics in this country, but sometimes we skip over the ones actually doing the work. Priya Manickchand, now heading Local Government and Regional Development, is one of them.
This woman ain’t new to the game. She been Minister of Human Services, Minister of Education not once but twice (2011–2015, then again 2020–2025), and now she in Local Government. That is real range — most ministers don’t get to wear that many hats and still come out with a name people respect. She’s an attorney by training, and it shows in how she does things — more about rights and accountability than about political posturing. When she was at Education, she push hard for universal secondary education and kept teacher training and vocational programmes going even through the pandemic mess. Not flashy, but that is the kind of work that pays off years down the line.
That same no-nonsense, by-the-book approach is exactly what Local Government needs, because let’s be honest — a lot of our municipalities and regional bodies could use some real oversight and fairness. Back when she was at Human Services, she was behind serious legislation on child protection and sexual offences. That tells you she don’t just talk — she follows through. And this not corner graft we talking about — this is a track record, out in the open, that anybody could check for themself.
But let me be real with she too — her competency going up tenfold in my eyes if she could get Kitty Market open by end of August. That market been dragging for years, and she herself say this cannot keep dragging on. Right now everything hinging on GPL and them electricity meters, with the mayor saying the work like 95-97% done. If she could cut through that red tape and get vendors back in them stalls before September, that alone would tell me she ain’t just visiting sites and talking tough — she getting things move.
Now, before people start speculating — no, she is not the PPP/C’s presidential candidate, and nothing suggests the party moving in that direction. President Ali just win re-election and he holding that position. But when a minister got a resume like this, is only natural people start wondering about the future.
That don’t mean she above criticism — nobody is, and her work in this new ministry should be watched just like anybody else’s. But if we asking who in this government operates on evidence and follow-through instead of just noise, Manickchand name have to come up.