PM Gonsalves announces major Cabinet reshuffle

Camillo Gonsalves is this country’s new Minister of Finance.

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves relinquished responsibility for the important Finance portfolio at midnight yesterday, in the first step of what he has promised will be a transitioning of power to younger members of his Cabinet.

The Prime Minister told SEARCHLIGHT that the Governor General signed the necessary instruments yesterday, paving the way for the younger Gonsalves to add the Finance Ministry to the portfolios of Economic Planning and Sustainable Development, which he already had.

The portfolios of Industry, Information, Labour, Postal Services and the Bureau of Standards, which Camillo, 45, also held up to yesterday, have been re-assigned to other Ministers.

Saboto Caesar, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Rural Transformation, has been given responsibility for Industry, Labour and the Bureau of Standards, while St Clair Prince, the Minister of Education, Reconciliation and Ecclesiastical Affairs, now has the additional responsibility for Information, which includes broadcasting, the Agency for Public Information and the National Broadcasting Corporation.

Julian Francis, the Minister of Transport, Works, Urban Development and Local Government, now has the additional responsibility of Postal Services.

Today, the new Minister of Finance is expected to lead discussions with a visiting delegation from the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), which is in the country and in January, he will deliver the Budget for the 2018 financial year.

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves retains the portfolios of National Security, Air and Sea Port Development, Immigration and Legal Affairs. The older Gonsalves, 71, who has been Prime Minister since 2001, has repeatedly said that he intends to resign as Prime Minister and pass the Office to a younger member of Government by the end of 2018.