The chairmen of two statutory organisations were promoted to the Ministerial Cabinet in changes announced by Prime Minister Mia Mottley in an address to the nation from Ilaro Court on Wednesday evening.
Chairman of the Port, Senator Lisa Cummins, will serve as Minister of Tourism and International Transport, while chairman of the Transport Board, Ian Gooding-Edghill, will become Minister of Transport, Works and Water Resources.
Cummins takes up the portfolio formerly held by Kerrie Symmonds who will become Minister of Energy, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, while Gooding-Edghill’s post combines two of those formerly held by Wilfred Abrahams and Dr William Duguid.
Mottley said the pair “distinguished themselves as competent hard workers, with a capacity and resolve to a get the job done” and “I have been impressed with them and their stewardship as a chairman of the respective entities over the course of the last two years. They have done well”.
At the same time, elder statesman George Payne (Housing) will no longer hold a ministerial portfolio, nor will Edmund Hinkson (Home Affairs), Trevor Prescod (Environment) or Senator Lucille Moe (Broadcasting). Neil Rowe is also no longer a parliamentary secretary.
“This is not a case of dismissing anyone. I want to make it clear I am committed to ensuring that each former member of the Cabinet is utilised in this country in a manner or in the furtherance of the work of this Government and of this nation,” Mottley said.
The Prime Minister said this was the first in a series of measures to reposition Barbados for the challenges of the new reality that confronts us and “it is not business as usual”.
Meanwhile, Mottley announced Parliament will be prorogued on August 8, 2020 and a new session will start on September 15, 2020. This was communicated to Governor General Dame Sandra Mason.
The portfolios are listed below.
*Mia Mottley – Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment
*Dale Marshall – Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs with responsibility for the Royal Barbados Police Force
*Santia Bradshaw – Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training
*Senator Dr Jerome Walcott – Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade
*Lt Col Jeffrey Bostic – Minister of Health and Wellness
Dr William Duguid – Minister of Housing, Lands and Maintenance
*Ronald Toppin – Minister of International Business and Industry
Kerrie Simmonds – Minister of Energy, Small Business and Entrepreneurship
*Cynthia Forde – Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs
Senator Lisa Cummins – Minister of Tourism and International Transport
Ian Gooding-Edghill – Minister of Transport, Works and Water Resources
Adrian Forde – Minister of the Environment and National Beautification
Wilfred Abrahams – Minister of Home Affairs, Information and Public Affairs
*Ryan Straughn – Minister in the Ministry of Finance
*Marsha Caddle – Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment
*Sandra Husbands – Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Trade
*Colin Jordan – Minister of Labour and Social Partnership Relations
Charles Griffith – Minister in the Ministry of Water Resources
Dwight Sutherland – Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment
*Kirk Humphrey – Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy
*Indar Weir – Minister of Agriculture and Food Security
Peter Philips – Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security
John King – Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with Culture and National Development Commission coming out of a merger of the Urban and Rural Development Commissions.
*Senator Dr Rommel Springer – Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training
*Senator Kay McConney – Minister of Innovation, Science and Smart Technology (SAT)
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