While she stopped short of declaring a Cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says a "realignment" of portfolios under her Government will be made in June. The Prime Minister made the statement late last evening while speaking with reporters at the formal opening of the refurbished La Fortune/Pluck Road in Woodland. Persad-Bissessar said as the People's Partnership first anniversary (May 24) draws nearer, she was reviewing all Government portfolios as promised and would be making changes soon. "I had already said that by end of this first year, there will be a realignment of portfolios and I have been working on that and by the time we go into June, there will be a realignment of the portfolios," she said.
When pressed if the realignment meant a full Cabinet reshuffle, Persad-Bissessar responded: "There will be a realignment of portfolios, the subject matter under various portfolios-that is what I am looking at, at the moment." She indicated that the Government would be holding an anniversary celebration at 6 pm on May 24, at Mid Centre Mall, Chaguanas. Yesterday, Persad-Bissessar, accompanied by Works Minister Jack Warner, Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal and Public Utilities Minister Emmanuel George, formally declared the eight kilometres of roadway open. She said the refurbishment of the road cost $17 million.
Moonilal, when asked about the realignment of portfolios, said: "No, no, no...I never worry about reshuffle or about the cards we win always." Persad-Bissessar expressed confidence in her security detail, even as concerns were raised that her safety was compromised when her entourage was confronted by irate farmers outside the Housing Development Corporation building on South Quay, Port-of-Spain, on Wednesday. "The branch did not falter or fail...they were totally on board and did their best in the circumstances," she said. Yesterday's ceremony was the third event the Prime Minister attended in the afternoon.
Before opening the roadway, Persad-Bissessar was on hand at the Penal Community Centre for the launch of new Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) routes in the Siparia, Oropouche East and West constituencies. At that event, a handful of Hindu Credit Union depositors, led by HCU Shareholders and Depositors president Robert Nandlal and bearing placards, called for a meeting with the Prime Minister. Persad-Bissessar said she saw the depositors and assured them that the HCU matter would be resolved soon and that payments would be made to depositors. She said Finance Minister Winston Dookeran assured her that advertisements calling on HCU depositors to make applications for payment of their claims would be published soon.