CABINET RESHUFFLE

Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s Cabinet reshuffle announced by him yesterday in the House of Representatives was expected. There is no doubt that the removal of Minister of National Security Mr Howard Chin Lee was inevitable, with calls coming from all quarters for a stronger Minister at a time of serious criminal activity. He has been shifted to Tourism where he should be successful.

Dr Keith Rowley’s removal from the important Planning and Development Ministry to Housing would be seen as a demotion. Rowley clearly blundered when he defended the passage in a Budget document that targetted recruitment of Afro-Trinidadian males in COSTAAT. The feeling, following a statement made by the Prime Minister at a post-Cabinet press conference on Thursday that Rowley and he had made peace following the contentious issue, merely flattered to deceive.  On the other hand, Housing is turning out to be a very crucial weapon in the PNM’s strategy for future elections. There can however be no doubt that Senator Danny Montano has paid the price for that faux pas about Afro- Trini males and his Science and Technology Ministry has been passed to Colm Imbert who was not exactly a success as Minister of Health but whose scientific background may serve him well in the new portfolio involving COSTAAT. John Rahael with his people-centred approach is likely to be a successful Health Minister.

Legal Affairs Minister Camille Robinson Regis has gotten herself a promotion to the important Ministry of Planning and Development and it will be interesting to see how she tackles this. Also promoted was Martin Joseph from Housing to the crucial Ministry of National Security, which needs all the muscle it can get. And Jarrette Narine from Local Government to Agriculture can also be seen in the context as a promotion. Morean’s appointment as High Commissioner to London could be seen as an unfavourable comment by Manning on her performance as Attorney-General, particulary when it is recalled that the late Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams had sent Lord Constantine and Dr Patrick Solomon, albeit at different times, to London, both of whom had proven politically embarrassing.

Yesterday’s was the largest Cabinet reshuffle since late Prime Minister George Chambers reshuffled ten of his Cabinet Ministers and four Parliamentary Secretaries on February 28, 1985, including Errol Mahabir, Wendell Mottley, John Donaldson, Marilyn Gordon and Desmond Cartey. The fundamental difference being that Chambers, with the economy reeling from sharp drops both in international crude oil prices and domestic oil production, was reassigning his Ministers in an almost desperate effort to regroup, in the face of a realigning of Opposition forces against the PNM, facing its first electoral defeat in its history.

Manning, on the other hand, with no General Election constitutionally due until 2007, and following the country’s largest Budget ever, probably felt he could risk what may turn out to be one or two unpopular decisions, one year into his Administration. He would still have some four more years to go, and perhaps conceivably felt he could regain whatever possibly lost ground there may be arising out of yesterday’s Cabinet reshuffle. The news of an impending Cabinet reshuffle had been in the public domain for several weeks, with several Ministers either rumoured to be in line for reassignments, some humbling, and others for overseas diplomatic postings. Whatever political fallout there may be for the Prime Minister, he still has four years for the public to accept and forget their concerns, if any, about yesterday’s Cabinet reshuffle. But there was no doubt that some Ministries needed to be shaken up.