By: Devina Samaroo
Minister within the Ministry of Communities Dawn Hastings – Williams today said she is unsure of what her new responsibilities will be as Minister of the Ministry of Public Affairs – yet another newly created Ministry under the Ministry of the Presidency.
This puts the number of Ministries at 20 and the number of Ministers, except the Prime Minister, at 25.
“(The President) is going to give me the Terms of Reference at a later date,” Hastings – Williams told News Room when asked what her new duties will entail.
President David Granger announced earlier today that the Junior Minister will now, as Minister of Public Affairs, “assist me in the responsibilities that I have in the Ministry of the Presidency”.
Hastings – Williams, who had responsibility for the country’s water sector, said she does not view this reshuffling as a demotion.
“I was a minister within the Ministry of Communities and now I am being appointed the Minister of Public Affairs; and it’s not about demotion and promotion, it is about doing what is good for the people in whatever post you are being placed,” she explained.
Hastings – Williams said she has accepted the decision and hopes to find her new “journey exciting and rewarding.”
Minister Hastings-Williams, who has responsibility for the water sector in the Ministry of Communities, has had little prevalence in the media since her assumption of office.
Hastings-Williams will be joining a list of other Ministers who were re-assigned from their posts over the past two years.
On June 13, 2017, Minister Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine was re-assigned from his post of Minister of Education to the Ministry of the Presidency as Public Service Minister. As a result, Minister Nicolette Henry took up the post as Education Minister.
In 2016, the President had also removed Minister Catherine Hughes from the Ministry of Tourism to Public Telecommunications. Also, Raphael Trotman was appointed as Minister of Natural Resources from the Ministry of Governance and that portfolio was given to Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo. Minister Simona Broomes was also shifted from the Ministry of Social Protection to the Ministry of Natural Resources, while Minister Keith Scott was moved to the Ministry of Social Protection from the Ministry of Communities and was tasked with responsibility for Labour.
Minister Valerie Sharpe-Patterson was then given the nod for the post of Minister within the Ministry of Communities with responsibility for Housing.
In January of this year, President Granger made some additional changes to his Cabinet, re-assigning Minister Volda Lawrence from the Ministry of Social Protection to head the Ministry of Public Health while Minister Amna Ally was moved from the Ministry of Social Cohesion to the Ministry of Social Protection. Former Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton was moved then from the Ministry of Public Health to the Ministry of Social Cohesion, which falls under the purview of the Ministry of the Presidency.
