PM Manning: Sahadeo takes State Enterprises

NEWLY-APPOINTED Junior Finance Minister Christine Sahadeo will relieve her colleague Ken Valley of his State Enterprises portfolio and their fellow junior minister Conrad Enill can also expect changes to be made to his portfolio.

This was the revelation made by Prime Minister Patrick Manning, minutes after Sahadeo was sworn in by President George Maxwell Richards yesterday. Speaking with reporters at President’s House, the Prime Minister said he was very pleased to welcome Sahadeo to his Cabinet and observed that she had “a very distinguished career” in the private sector and was coming from one of the top managerial positions in the Neal and Massy organisation. “She has chosen to come into public life of the country consistent with our determination to subscribe to the highest standards and the best people that can be available to us, we bring into the life of the country, expecting that will have an impact on the way that we perform and the way we are able to discharge the responsibilities that have been entrusted to us by the people of Trinidad and Tobago,” Manning said.

Valley will now be responsible for long range planning and projects within the Ministry and the Central Tenders Board while Enill will deal with “core finance functions. We are trying also to reduce the span of responsibilities of each minister, so that the workload is not too heavy for any one of them. As it now stands, Mr Enill’s workload is far too heavy. If the workload of the Minister is too heavy, then the Minister is not able to get into the nitty gritty of the Ministry. The fundamental transformation or work that has to be done suffers as a consequence. It is easy to go into a Ministry and play politics. You give the impression that you are doing fundamental work when you are not and the Ministry of Finance has been the subject of that for far too long,” the Prime Minister stated.

Permanent Secretaries Sonia Noel and Kamal Mankee will assist Sahadeo and Valley respectively while Enill, given his heavier workload, will be provided with two permanent secretaries. Manning said the size of his Cabinet, with the addition of Sahadeo, now stood at 25 ministers and “it is an optimum size.  I come to my conclusion on the basis of experience,” he added.  The Prime Minister declined to reveal when he would announce the date for Local Government Elections, saying the Fourth Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) Report to clear the way for those polls was approved by Parliament last Friday and an Order will be laid in Parliament on May 21. “All is well,” he grinned.

Noting that Sahadeo’s appointment coincided with his personal milestone of 32 years as a Member of Parliament, Manning remarked: “I think it is a very significant day.” The Prime Minister said he had nothing to add to Health Minister Colm Imbert’s declaration that the PNM would keep a hawk’s eye on the EBC. “ I have nothing further to say, except to say that comment was made from our experiences, particularly 2000 and 2001,” Manning said. Asked if he was now satisfied about the operations of the EBC, the Prime Minister replied that he preferred to “reserve comment” on that issue.