PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC—Prime Minister Stuart Young on Monday named a 24-member Cabinet and shifted veteran politicians Colm Imbert and Fitzgerald Hinds from their former portfolios of finance and national security, respectively.
In addition to the surprise appointment of Camille Robinson-Regis, the former housing and urban development minister, as the new Attorney General, Prime Minister Young moved Imbert, the longest-serving finance minister in Trinidad and Tobago, to the Ministry of Public Utilities.
The new Finance Minister is Vishnu Dhanpaul, a former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance and was most recently Trinidad and Tobago’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
Hinds, who has already indicated that he will not be seeking re-election at the next general election, constitutionally due by November this year, has been named a Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister. During the Dr. Keith Rowley administration, the opposition called for his dismissal, bringing him severe criticism.
Marvin Gonzales is the new National Security Minister, while Adrian Leonce, a backbencher, has been named the Minister of Housing and Urban Development.
Most of the ministers who served in Rowley’s administration have retained their same portfolios, with Prime Minister Young holding on to the Energy and Energy Industries portfolio.
They included Dr. Amery Browne as Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs, Penelope Beckles as Minister of Planning and Sustainable Development, Terrence Deyalsingh as Minister of Health, Stephen McClashie as Minister of Labour, Dr. Nyan Gadsby-Dol y as Minister of Education, Hassel Bacchus as Minister of Digital Transformation, and Kazim Hosein as Minister of Agriculture.
Symon de Nobriga is the Minister of Communications in the Office of the Prime Minister, and Ayanna Webster Roy is the Minister of Gender and Child Affairs. Allyson West remains the Minister of Public Administration, Faris-Al-Rawi the Minister of Rural Development and Local Government, Donna Cox the Minister of Social Development and Family Services, and Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis the Minister of Sport and Community Development.
Rohan Sinanan remains the Minister of Works and Transport, Randall Mitchell remains the Minister of Tourism, Culture, and the Arts, and Foster Cummings remains the Minister of Youth Development and National Service.
In a statement, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar condemned “ in the strongest possible terms the latest assault on our democracy” by the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM).
“Today, we have witnessed nothing short of a blatant disregard for the Constitution as the PNM desperately scrambles to hold onto power through deception and manipulation,” she said, adding that the appointment of Prime Minister Young “without the mandate of the people through a general election, is an unlawful act of desperation.
“It is a clear attempt to manufacture the illusion of change in the hope that citizens will forget the last ten years of pain, suffering, abuse, and nothingness under this failed administration,” she added.
Young was among the 22 PNM candidates who were successful in the 2020 general election. The PNM won a second consecutive term in office, defeating the main opposition United National Congress (UNC), which controls the other 19 seats in the Parliament.
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