Meet our Minister

Hon. Gail Teixeira, M.P., Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, was born in Georgetown, Guyana where she attended the St. Roses High School. Minister Teixeira advanced her secondary education at the David and Mary Thompson Collegiate in Canada before reading for her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Toronto (1970-1974) and her Master’s Degree in Political Science at York University, Toronto (1974-1976).

Minister Teixeira then began her political career at the age of nineteen in Toronto, Canada as an active participant in the Anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa and the struggles for African liberation and the return of democracy in Chile, Nicaragua and her own native land, Guyana. She then chose to return to her country of birth to serve the people of Guyana and work for the improvement of the lives of all Guyanese, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized. 

Minister Teixeira has held series of ministerial portfolios since the first free and fair elections in 1992, and has served Guyana as Minister of Health, Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Culture Youth and Sport, and now as Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance. She has also served as a Presidential Advisor on Governance to numerous Executive Presidents of Guyana. Minister Teixeira is also the Chief Whip of the Peoples Progressive Party Civic in the National Assembly, and has held this position since 2012.

Between 2015-2020, she represented the PPP/C, as the then Parliamentary Opposition, on the Ministerial Advisory Committee on the Guyana-Venezuela Border Controversy among many other key roles. During the period leading up to and after the 2020 elections, Minister Teixeira was on the forefront fighting for democracy as the will of the Guyanese electorate was being threatened by a dictatorship styled caretaker government. 

On August 2, 2020, Minister Teixeira was appointed and sworn in as the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance alongside His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali who was chosen by the Guyanese electorate to serve as the ninth Executive President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana. She is also currently the longest serving Member of Parliament in Guyana’s National Assembly, with over 30 consecutive years of experience. 

Minister Teixeira has combined motherhood with a career of public service, underpinned by a passionate commitment to democracy and nation-building, and continues to demonstrate innovative, unconventional, daring and disciplined leadership.