Nothing to defend

THE Prime Minister yesterday said he has nothing to defend or explain regarding Monday’s Cabinet reshuffle.

That reshuffle saw Communications Minister Stuart Young replacing Edmund Dillon as National Security Minister, Dr Rowley’s appointment as Housing Minister being revoked, Dillon being reassigned to this post and La Horquetta/Talparo MP Maxie Cuffie being reassigned from Minister to Parliamentary Secretary in the Public Administration Ministry.

Speaking to Newsday after a Cabinet retreat at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s, the PM noted all of the comments made to date about the reshuffle. “I don’t run commentary on my own action, I leave that for others,” he said.

Rowley observed the majority of the comments involved the statement “I don’t know, but....” Saying one pontificator demanded the reshuffle should have been announced at a press conference, the PM said, “Who can remind me when any prime minister ever announced a cabinet change at a press conference?”

Rowley said the reshuffle was not announced on Facebook, as erroneously claimed in some media reports, but the news came in a release from the Office of the Prime Minister to the media at large “early in the day.” The release was issued at 12.21 am on Monday. “The fact you go to sleep when the rest of us are awake and working is nothing to make demands over,” he said.

Rowley said another commentator complained because he was sleeping when the release was issued and felt something suspicious had happened by the time he woke up. The PM said, “Some people who are obsessed with things dishonest immediately saw a ‘thief in the night.’”

He said another pontificator, who had proven himself to be a “usual questionable source,” claimed Dillon did not want Gary Griffith appointed police commissioner.

Rowley was pleased the majority of citizens “saw through the entertainment or annoyance and accepted it (the reshuffle) as a rejuvenation where change is a stimulus.