Cabinet considers budget

THE Prime Minister is leading his ministers in planning for the upcoming national budget and the development programme at today’s one-day Cabinet retreat at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's, a statement from his office said.

The event was due to run from 7.45 am to 5 pm.

His office also issued a photograph of him and ministers sitting at tables around a room, the PM sporting a red pullover and male ministers largely ditching their ties but retaining their collared shirts and jackets. Dr Rowley is flanked by Minister of National Security Stuart Young and Planning Minister Camille Robinson-Regis. The two side tables are headed respectively by Finance Minister Colm Imbert and Acting Attorney General Fitzgerald Hinds.

The retreat follows a small but momentous Cabinet reshuffle announced on social media last Sunday night. In this, Young was put to head National Security, on top of being Communications Minister and a Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), while being relieved of his former duties in the AG’s Office. Many commentators quipped that Young was now “Minister of Everything.”

In the reshuffle, former minister of national security Edmund Dillon was made Minister of Housing.

La Horquetta/Talparo MP Maxie Cuffie became Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Public Administration. Cuffie had once been a cabinet minister in that ministry but after suffering a stroke and a lengthy period of recuperation, he was made a non-cabinet minister, and now a parliamentary secretary. The ministry is now headed by Marlene Mc Donald, formerly a non-cabinet minister under Cuffie.