PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Oct 31 2016 – Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley Monday made his first cabinet re-shuffle since leading his People’s National Movement (PNM) to power in September 2016, dismissing two senior ministers and a senator.
In a brief statement from the Office of the Prime Minister, Rowley announced that he had asked President Anthony Carmona to revoke the appointments of his Energy and Energy Industries Minister Nicole Olivierre and the Public Utilities Minister retired Brigadier General Ancil Antoine.
Olivierre later thanked Prime Minister Rowley for the opportunity to serve in the Cabinet and said that she would now devote much of her attention to the problems affecting her constituents in Point Fortin.
“I expect that a lot of the difficulties we are having in the constituency, I will be able to play a greater role in assisting my constituents and championing their cause,” she said.
Olivierre has been replaced by the former Minister for Rural Development and Local Government, Franklyn Khan, who is also the PNM chairman, while Antoine has been replaced by the Works and Transport Minister Fitzgerald Hinds.
A statement from the Office of the Prime Minister noted that Rowley had advised President Anthony Carmona to appoint the Mayor of San Fernando Kazim Hosein as a Senator and Minister of Rural Development and Local Government. He will replace Sarah Budhu, whose appointment as a Senator was revoked.
“I am really looking forward to Local Government Reform. Reform is what the country has been asking for – more autonomy, transparency, and financial responsibility. As soon as local Government elections are over, I will meet with all the mayors and chairmen of the various Regional Corporations and start the work,” Hosein said.
He said he was “very humbled by this position.
Prime Minister Rowley also Rohan Sinanan, a Senator, as the Minister of Works and Transport.
The statement also announced that Stuart Young, who had been the Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney general has been re-assigned and is now the Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs and Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister.
Political analyst Dr. Winford James said that Rowley should inform the public what had been the criteria used to make changes to the Cabinet.
