Prime Minister Patrick Manning announced some adjustments to his cabinet Monday night, handing additional responsibilities to his wife, Senator Hazel Manning, and Minister in the Ministry of Finance Senator Mariano Browne.Mrs Manning is the Local Government minister. Now the prime minister has taken the CEPEP program out of the works ministry and added it to local government. Observers say it's a strategic move ahead of local government elections due later this year.
Browne gets responsibility for the Ministry of Trade and Industry, which had been assigned to Lenny Saith after Manning fired Keith Rowley. Browne also takes over the URP, which now moves from works to the finance ministry. Saith will be a minister in the prime minister's office, a role that he gives him direct access to Manning at all times.
All Browne's additional responsibilities are in addition to being chairman of the inter-Ministerial committee co-ordinating preparations for the Summit of the Americas from April 17 -19.
There was widespread speculation that Manning was going to make a major cabinet reshuffle after the weekend retreat in Salybia. He had been under pressure from senior PNM officials to create a more effective team.
But Manning put that to rest on Sunday when he told the Trinidad Express that he would announce some adjustments but not the kind of change the media were expecting.
The man who has been under the most pressure from all quarters - National Security Minister Martin Joseph - remains untouched.
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