Imbert is new Minister of Works

Prime Minister Patrick Manning yesterday made five changes to his Cabinet, presented in a low-key statement sent by fax to media houses at 5pm after a week of frenzied speculation.

Former minister of legal affairs, Danny Montano, is now Minister of Labour and Small and Micro-enterprise Development. Former minister of social development, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, becomes Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education. Former minister of labour, Anthony Roberts, has been appointed Minister of Social Development to which the Social Services Delivery Division has been transferred from the Office of the Prime Minister. Former minister of social services delivery, Christine Kangaloo, is now Minister of Legal Affairs.

Before the reshuffle, Newsday had hotly tipped Imbert to take the Ministry Works and Transport portfolio which he held from 1991 to 1995, and now being one of only two engineers in the Cabinet. An equally important story yesterday was that of who did not get reshuffled. Again, Newsday correctly predicted that despite a public outcry against crime, Minister of National Security, Martin Joseph, would not be moved.

Manning did not move Minister of Energy, Eric Williams, who, unlike Franklin Khan, has not resigned his Ministry following bribery charges made by PNM councillor Dansam Dhansook. The statement said that all changes come into immediate effect.