PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar has quietly carried out a minor re-shuffle of her Cabinet less than six months after winning the April 28 general elections in Trinidad and Tobago.
While she did not remove any ministers from her Cabinet and has so far not made any public statement regarding the changes, the changes took effect on October 3 and were published in the official Gazette the following day.
As a result of the changes, the 73-year-old Persad Bissessar assumes several new responsibilities, particularly in the areas of housing grants and self-help programs. She has taken direct control of the Home Improvement Grants Policy, the Housing and Village Improvement Programme (HVIP), and the Government Aided Self-Help Housing Programme (GASHHP).
Persad Bissessar has also assumed direct responsibility for the portfolio of Constitutional Reform.
Changes were also made to the portfolios of eight ministers, among them Barry Padarath, the leader of Government Business and Public Utilities Minister, who was given additional responsibilities previously held by the Energy Minister, Dr. Roodal Moonilal.
The National Health Insurance System (NIS) was moved from the Ministry of Health to Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo, who is also Minister in the Ministry of Planning, Economic Affairs, and Development.
Tancoo was also given responsibility for the Export-Import Bank of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (Eximbank), which was previously under the Minister of Trade, Investment, and Tourism, Satyakama Maharaj.
In national security, the prison system was removed from Justice Minister Devesh Maharaj and placed under the control of Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander.
Opposition Chief Whip Marvin Gonzales is questioning why Alexander has been put in charge of matters in the Prisons Service, given that he has not addressed allegations in the public domain about visits to the prisons to meet certain inmates.
“People were expecting a date for delivery of the 2026 budget, not changes in portfolios,” Gonzales said regarding the reassigning of several ministerial portfolios, including Alexander’s.
“These changes are a clear sign of internal instability in the Government, just five months into office, and the Prime Minister is trying to manage.
“The Prime Minister maintains the prerogative to make changes to Cabinet portfolios, but just five months into office, during which she installed the largest Cabinet with many ministers receiving salaries yet spending more time blogging, we’re now seeing changes in ministerial portfolios, like Finance Minister (Dave) Tancoo being stripped of key responsibilities like the Valuation Division, and other ministers stripped of the Self-Help programme and Lands.
“So clearly there’s more in the proverbial mortar than the pestle. For instance, how come the Minister of Justice isn’t responsible for criminal justice?” Gonzales added.
Political analyst Dr Bishnu Ragoonath told the Trinidad Guardian newspaper that while some portfolio changes can be described as fine-tuning the work of the respective ministries, there are some critical changes.
“To start with, the Prime Minister is taking the responsibility for Self-Help and social grants. It was clear that under the previous Government, concerns arose about how Self-Help was distributed, particularly as elections approached.
“The PM has decided that this will now fall under her office, and that is critical in determining who gets what. More importantly, with her being the one to dispense, it takes away from other ministers who may have been perceived as having the power of patronage. But are we sure it is the PM who will determine who gets what, when, and how?” he added.
and then 