Port-of-Spain - The shake-up at key government ministries continues with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar over the weekend disclosing plans to transfer more “junior ministers” in a bid to improve the delivery of service.
Line ministers will not be reassigned, Persad-Bissessar told reporters at Rienzi Complex, Couva.
Persad-Bissessar did not disclose which ministers without portfolio are to be “redeployed”, but said one or two may be sent to the Ministry of Finance.
The first reassignment will take place when former trade unionist Rudy Indarsingh takes up duty at the Ministry of Labour and Small and Micro Enterprise Development after being transferred from the Ministry of Works and Transport last week.
Errol McLeod, former president general of the Oilfields Workers Trade Union, is the line minister.
Indarsingh previously worked with Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner. Persad-Bissessar advised Indarsingh of her decision after last Thursday’s meeting of Cabinet.
Observers believe the transfer of Indarsingh to the Labour Ministry would help smooth the relationship with leading trade unions which are clamouring for the settlement of wage negotiations.
Several permanent secretaries are also to be reassigned among ministries, including Ministry of Works and Transport, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of National Security. Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Works and Transport, Cheryl Blackman, last week confirmed she is expected to move across to the Ministry of National Security.
Persad-Bissessar said the reorganisation at government ministries was being done “in terms of aligning competencies as we see fit to take us forward in this year of delivery.”
Her changes come nearly eight months after the People’s Partnership government assumed office.
“None of the senior ministers are to be redeployed. I am utilising our ministers without portfolio to be placed within ministries to strengthen those ministries that we see as being key delivery ministries,” Persad-Bissessar told reporters.
The PM spoke after voting at the Women and Youth National Congress of the United National Congress’ elections at Rienzi Complex. Finance Minister Winston Dookeran, who currently does not have a minister in his ministry, is expected to receive assistance, Persad-Bissessar said.
“Mr Dookeran said he wouldn’t mind getting two of them (ministers without portfolios), so those are matters I am addressing my mind to and we should have it sorted out in the not too distant future,” she said.
Among the ministries which currently have ministers without portfolio is the Ministry of National Security. Senator Subhas Panday is a minister without portfolio in the ministry. The line minister is Brigadier John Sandy.
The Office of the Prime Minister has two ministers in the ministry, Cumuto/Manzanilla MP Collin Partap and Arima MP Rodger Samuel.
Lopinot/Bon Air MP Lincoln Douglas is a Minister in the Ministry of the People and Social Development, whose line minister is Dr Glenn Ramadarsingh.
In addressing hundreds of supporters in the car park of Rienzi Complex, Persad-Bissessar outlined the achievements of her government since taking up office last year May. She highlighted the increase in the minimum wage to (TT) $12.50 per hour, the establishment of the Children’s Life Fund, laptops for successful SEA students and the distribution of land to ex-Caroni workers and the ban placed on cell phones.
Persad-Bissessar said the government has placed “a strong focus on education” because it plays an essential role in helping students become future leaders.
“Let me say within five years every, single child in the five year secondary school system will be equipped and will hold a laptop computer,” she declared. This was one of the Partnership’s general election campaign promises.
Persad-Bissessar said the future is in technology and children should be placed in the “forefront of the global village because if we fail the country, we will fail and we will be doomed.”
In thanking Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh for “his drive”, Persad- Bissessar announced the next batch of laptop computers to be distributed to successful SEA students would be painted in the national colours.
“I have instructed (the Minister of Education) that the next set of laptops coming for this year SEA children, who will be writing in March, will be coloured red, white and black — in the national colours.”
She also announced that with the expansion of the GATE programme, the number of applications was now 35,327 and the amount of money disbursed totalled $214 million. She added that 1,522 loans were approved for the period May to November 2010, for education and the amount totalled to $32.4 million.

 

By William Doyle-Marshall
When Patrick Manning asked the President of Trinidad and Tobago to prorogue Parliament on April 8 2010, Kamla Persad Bissessar, Leader of the Opposition at the time termed the act, a surrender.
Speaking in Couva, central Trinidad, she called it “The day of deliverance” and predicted Liberation day was coming.
“Historians will consider today’s announcement dissolving our national parliament as the beginning of the end of our most profoundly disappointing period since independence,” Ms Persad-Bissessar remarked.
She claimed profound failures of the government have affected the lives of people all across the country. At that time she pledged to launch a vigorous campaign to bring her people together to address the numerous problems they faced from crime to corruption to sagging economic performance to even basic services such as delivery of water.
Persad-Bissessar alleged that Manning feared the corruption charges mounting against him as political leader of the Peoples National Movement and his administration and in the face of the vote of no confidence motion which she had tabled and was due to be debated in the Parliament the next day.
Manning’s advice to President Max Richards to prorogue Parliament was seen as the final surrender to what has been mounting pressure from within his very own party and the public. They wanted him to answer the many troubling questions concerning his own personal integrity and those within his administration.
That Opposition Leader is now the Prime Minister of the country and a solid document in her name is now on the book shelves of the country.
“Through the Political Glass Ceiling – Race to Prime Ministership by Trinidad and Tobago’s First Female” is a compilation of selected speeches made by Kamla Persad-Bissessar before she was elected Prime Minister of her country in 2010.
Dr. Kris Rampersad, an experienced journalist and researcher who compiled the collection in 13 sections, wrote the introduction and offered contexts and analyses to the work. It offers readers some ideas about the motivation of the newly minted Prime Minister.
It is a stage for an impossible journey for Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar. She can’t make any of her predecessor’s mistakes. There are pointed questions, criticisms and challenges by her to Manning and his government over the years. When you rest the book down, visions of a perfect woman saunters through your mind. But reality introduces the question: is this accurate or is it a dream?
“A Clash of Political Cultures” by Dr. Rampersad is a thought-provoking piece in which the author removes the veil from minority politics in Trinidad and Tobago. There seems to be an aversion to the ‘first’ syndrome as if no other number matters. Persad-Bissessar is linked with women of the world who first held the office of Attorney General. Among them Canada’s Kim Campbell; Janet Reno of the United States of America; Monika Harms – South Africa; Patricia, Janet Scotland – England, Wales and Northern Ireland; Betty Mould-Iddrisu of Ghana and Dr. Jane Ansah – Malawi.
Having hurled the book of accusation in a dartlike fashion at her predecessor, PM Persad-Bissessar is poised for an unmistakable challenge of being squeaky clean. Success at such an undertaking would mean her government should be in power for a long and unpredictable while.
Electors usually toss out politicians for corrupt practices, poor delivery of service, consistent failure to honour election promises or wanton disregard of voters' wishes. No doubt PM Persad-Bissessar witnessed acts of this nature during her 21 years in public office. Through the pages of Dr. Rampersad's book, she has chronicled them in the Prime Minister's speeches and statements to the media on matters affecting the state.
While electorates are likely to flex their muscles in expectation of higher standards, her government does not have the luxury of tardiness. In opposition Ms Persad Bissessar exhibited her pitbull qualities and did her share of whistle blowing. It is fair game that she should anticipate some instances where her own medicine would appear in her ideological menu for tasting.
I hope we would not be forced to quote popular calypsonian Samuel Abraham Brigo 'tell them do so eh like so'.

 

Toronto — Mr. Philip Buxo has been appointed as High Commissioner of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to Canada. The High Commissioner received his instrument of appointment from Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar at the Office of the Prime Minister on 24th December, 2010 at the Diplomatic Centre.
For the past 4 years Mr. Buxo held the position of Director of the CARICOM Region Energy and Infrastructure Division of SNC-Lavalin, the leading engineering and construction group in Canada, which has annual revenue of approximately 8 billion Canadian dollars.
He has also spearheaded business development in the CARICOM region and has worked closely with the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) and Export Development Canada (EDC). CCC is a federal Crown Corporation mandated to promote and facilitate international trade on behalf of Canadian industry. EDC is a Crown Corporation that provides trade finance and risk management services to Canadian exporters and investors in two hundred markets worldwide.
Mr Buxo is recognised for his leadership, communication, management and negotiation skills. He has combined these skills with his entrepreneurial and professional leadership experiences to build a large and diverse network of key decision makers and influencers in Canada and the Caribbean region.
Prior to joining SNC-Lavalin, Mr. Buxo was the Managing Director of Snubbing Services Limited a Mayaro based company which he acquired in 1998. The company serviced the diverse logistics and personnel outsourcing requirements in the energy sector both locally and internationally. As part of its portfolio the company owned and developed the largest Industrial Estate in Galeota and was instrumental in introducing key international energy sector suppliers to the Trinidad and Tobago market.
Mr. Buxo intends to explore possible opportunities in Canada to facilitate linkages between Trinidad and Tobago and Canadian companies. His approach involves targeting the end-users of products and he has already held preliminary discussions with some organisations in order to advance this initiative.
One of the first initiatives to be undertaken by High Commissioner Buxo would be the bringing on stream of the new Consulate General building in Toronto at 185 Sheppard Avenue West and the consolidation of the offices of the Consulate General and the Labour Liaison office.
High commissioner Buxo intends to rotate between the offices in Ottawa and Toronto and looks forward to supporting the activities of the Diaspora in Toronto.