T&T PM to make cabinet changes

Prime Minister Patrick Manning told the Trinidad Express Sunday he will make "minor changes" to his Cabinet Monday. He said it's because his party has been asking for change.

"It is an option that the Prime Minister always has available to him but I intend to make some minor changes to portfolio allocations, minor changes-Not what you all had been predicting. No reshuffle you all had been predicting but some minor changes," Manning told the paper in an exclusive interview.

But he didn't give further details.

"Minor changes, let me not say anything more than that, minor changes. In fact, I will make them tomorrow (Monday)," Manning said.

He also dismissed concerns about problems within the party. "It is not that there is a split as some people would like to say but in every team you have relationship issues and all we are trying to do is to take a mature approach to it and put them on the table and solve them," Manning said.

He told the paper his cabinet team is relatively new and is "perhaps going through different stages".

He said the weekend retreat in Salybia was very useful is clarifying many issues and added that there would more like it.

"A lot of people in that team are new, new to public life and, therefore, not so sure how certain things are done-How you manage a Ministry? How you manage your constituencies? On the basis of experiences, what are the things we now have to do? You see, where have we been falling short?-and that's what we've done. Excellent weekend," Manning said.