Reshuffle changes reflected in Parliament this week

THE changes announced in the Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday last week, will be manifested in Parliament, this week.

Attorney General Reginald Armour SC and businessman Laurence Hislop will be officially sworn-in as government senators when the Senate sits on Tuesday for private members' day.

Armour and Hislop's appointments as government senators were part of a wider Cabinet reshuffle announced by the Office of the Prime Minister on Wednesday. Armour was sworn in as AG at President's House, St Ann's on the same day. He replaced San Fernando West MP Faris Al-Rawi as attorney general. Al-Rawi is now Rural Development and Local Government Minister.

The revocations of Clarence Rambharat's senatorial appointment and government senator Nigel De Freitas' position as Senate Vice-President are also expected to be announced.

De Freitas was appointed as a Minister in the Agriculture Ministry, with responsibility for lands.

Rambharat resigned as a government senator and agriculture minister. Government senator Kazim Hosein now assumes the latter role. Hosein was formerly the rural development and local government minister.

Rambharat was also Leader of Government Business in the Senate.

As the two most senior government members in the Senate, either Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon or Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne seem to be potential candidates to replace Rambharat as leader of government business.

Government senator Dr Muhammad Ibrahim will also be announced as the new Senate Vice-President to replace De Freitas.

The main item on the Senate's agenda is debate on a private motion filed by Independent Senator Amrita Deonarine on a policy framework to navigate the foreign exchange market.

The House of Representatives sits on Wednesday from 10 am. One of the items on the House's agenda is debate on a motion to adopt a report of the Joint Select Committee on the Miscellaneous Provisions (Local Government Reform) Bill, 2020.

Immediately after his reassignment, Al-Rawi said he was excited to become the new Rural Development and Local Government Minister.

"I have been assigned the tremendous responsibility of driving one of the major planks of Government focus by ensuring the delivery of meaningful local government reform to ensure the betterment of the lives of the people of our nation."

The motion was filed by Arouca/Maloney MP Camille Robinson-Regis, who was appointed Housing Minister in the Cabinet reshuffle. Former housing minister Pennelope Beckles assumed Robinson-Regis' former portfolio as Planning Minister.

Wednesday’s sitting marks the second sitting of the House for this month. In accordance with the House's standing orders, the Prime Minister will answer questions from the Opposition during prime minister's question time, on that day.