Seepersad-Bachan moved to her new portfolio Monday with her former junior minister, Kevin Ramnarine, taking over as the energy minister.
She told reporters she would have preferred to remain in energy but at the same time she said the country comes first and she agreed to accept the challenge to develop public administration.
And she was adamant that the lateral move was not a demotion.
"Well I don't know if you would say it is a demotion because when the Prime Minister spoke to me on Saturday night, she said she wanted someone who was strong and bright to be able to take on this challenge in public administration," she said.
Prakash Ramadhar, who is running for election in the Congress of the People (COP) leadership race this weekend acknowledged that his party is disappointed with the move.
However he made made it clear that every post in the cabinet is given at the discretion of the Prime Minister.
"Of course, there is some disappointment, but at the end of it, the PM has the sole responsibility in deciding which Ministry any member would occupy and in her judgement, having regard to all the great work Carolyn has done in the past, I think Carolyn has brought that Ministry to a point to achieve great success," Ramadhar said on morning TV Monday.
Another COP leadership candidate, Anil Roberts, expressed concern that while Seepersad-Bachan was a good minister of energy she retained as a ministerial adviser someone who was closely connected with the previous administration.
"I was deeply disturbed for an entire that for an entire year, that a main advisor, a main cog of Ken Julien for Energy was kept on by our Ministry of Energy."
However Roberts said he is confident Seepersad-Bachan would do an excellent job in her new position.
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