PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Prime Minister Stuart Young 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.
Colm Imbert (left) and Fitzgerald Hinds taking their oath of office on MondayIn 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 would 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. He had come under severe criticisms from the opposition that had called for his dismissal during the Dr. Keith Rowley administration.
The new National Security Minister is Marvin Gonzales, while backbencher, Adrian Leonce, has been named as the Minister of Housing and Urban Development.
Most of the ministers who served in the administration Rowley, have retained their same portfolios, with Prime Minister Young holding on to the portfolio of Energy and Energy Industries.
They included Dr. Amery Browne, as Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs; Penelope Beckles as the Minister of Planning and Sustainable Development:, Terrence Deyalsingh as the Minister of Health; Stephen McClashie as the Minister of Labour; Dr. Nyan Gadsby-Dol;y as the Minister of Education, Hassel Bacchus as the Minister of Digital Transformation and Kazim Hosein as the Minister of Agriculture.
Symon de Nobriga is the Minister of Communications in the Office of the Prime Minister with Ayanna Webster Roy as the Minister in the Office of Gender and Child Affairs. Allyson West remains as the Public administration Minister, Faris-Al-Rawi the Minister of Rural Development and Local Government, with Donna Cox as Minister of Social Development and Family Services and Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis as the Minister of Sport and Community Development.
Rohan Sinanan remains as the Minister of Works and Transport while Randall Mitchell remains the Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, and Foster Cummings as 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 that were successful in the 2020 general election when the PNM won a second consecutive term in office defeating the main opposition United National Congress (UNC) that controls the other 19 seats in the Parliament.
