Trinidad’s PM rewards Incompetence? Jack Warner elevated to Nat’l Security Minister in Reshuffle
Jack Warner is Trinidad’s new Minister of National Security. Some wonder if Warner has key(s) to a closet(s) {of one} of Kamla’s skeleton(s,) considering his promotion despite probes from overseas sporting bodies for allegations of corruption…
Brigadier John Sandy has been fired.
So too has the Minister of Youth, Child Development and Gender Affairs Verna St Rose Greaves.
She has been replaced by San Fernando Mayor, and deputy Political Leader of the United National Congress Marlene Coudray, who was absent. She was said to be at her home in Ste Madeleine, mourning the murder of her daughter in Jamaica and preparing for a memorial service in San Fernando this weekend.
Ganga Singh has also returned to Government, being appointed to the position of Minister of the Environment and Water Resources.
Also created is the Ministry of National Diversity and Social Integration, headed by Minister Clifton de Coteau and Minister in the Ministry, Embau Moheni.
Winston Dookeran has lost the Finance Ministry to banker Larry Howai.
Dookeran has been appointed the new Foreign Affairs Minister, replacing Dr Suruj Rambachan who has been appointed Local Government Minister.
Vernella Alleyne-Toppin has been demoted from her post of Tobago Development Minister, and has been placed as a Minister in the Ministry of the People and Social Development.
Chairman of the Congress of the People (COP) Barataria/San Juan and temporary Government Senator Jamal Mohammed, the nephew of former People’s National Movement Minister Kamalludin Mohammed, has been placed in charge of the new Ministry of Communications.
There was no word on what has become of Nicole Dyer-Griffith, who was a Parliamentary Secretary in the now split Minister of Foreign Affairs and Communications.
Dr Lincoln Douglas (MP for Lopinot/Bon Air West) and Nela Khan (MP for Princes Town) have been promoted. Douglas is the new Minister of Arts and Multiculturalism Minister, replacing Winston Peters, and Khan has been named to the post of Deputy Speaker.
Within minutes of the Prime Minister’s announcement, Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley issued a statement criticising the appointment of Warner to the National Security Ministry.
He said that the appointment “should be a matter of concern for all the right-thinking citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. It is public knowledge that in the conduct of his private affairs in the various FIFA scandals he has found it necessary to engage in unseemly and embarrassing verbal wars with offices of the United Kingdom and the United States of America. These are not only our two major international partners, but their enthusiastic cooperation in the fight against the international drug trade is absolutely essential to succeed in our fight against crime. The Prime Minister’s choice of Mr. Warner for this particular post borders on irresponsibility and once again confirms her misguided view that Trinidad and Tobago’s international image counts for nothing”.
It is of high interest to note how Kamla did not brook any form of Q&A immediately after her announcement?
This partially edited story from The Trinidad Express can be found in full HERE – http://bit.ly/LnqCqr
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