President David Granger is expected to announce by this weekend several changes to some Ministerial positions.
Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, Simona Broomes is being moved to the Ministry of Natural Resources. She will become the Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources under Raphael Trotman who will head that Ministry.
The President will also confirm this weekend a decision to transfer Minister Keith Scott from the Ministry of Communities to the Ministry of Social Protection. He will take over the responsibilities for labour that will be relinquished by Broomes.
Region 10 Member of Parliament Valerie Sharpe-Patterson will be sworn in as Minister within the Ministry of Communities and she will take over the Housing Department responsibilities that are currently held by Scott.
The President is not expected to refer to the changes in his New Year’s message but he is expected to make the confirmations on his weekly television show, The Public Interest, which will air on Friday night.
News Source understands that the President’s decision to transfer Broomes from the Ministry of Social Protection is as a result of several complaints to him by the senior Minister for that Ministry, Volda Lawrence.
Minister Lawrence reportedly requested that the President moves Broomes from under her because she finds it difficult to have control over the way Broomes’ deals with labour matters.
A government source close to the Ministry of Social Protection indicated to News Source that it is no secret that Minister Lawrence has not been happy that Minister Broomes, while being the junior Minister, appears to have taken more of a control over the Social Protection Ministry especially in the area of labour.
Broomes who joined the government as a civil society member has been very outspoken against the injustices in the labour sector and has been able to get several employers to respect the labour laws and pay over money that they owed workers. Since she took over the portfolio last May, she was able to get various employers to pay over more than $50 Million to employees who they owed.
She has been described as one of the most proactive Ministers who appears to have a real connection with the ordinary man.
There are reports that Lawrence had cautioned Broomes on a number of occasions about “falling out of line” with regards to the work of the Ministry and her position.
The President’s decision to move Minister Keith Scott from the Housing sector may have come as a result of complaints about that sector being on a go slow and having no clear direction. There are also reports that the senior Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan may have had some concerns with the direction of the Housing Department.
With Valerie Sharpe-Patterson now taking on a Ministerial position, she is expected to leave her full time job as the head of the Linden Enterprise Network.
Political watchers who were contacted by News Source about the impending changes expressed some shock especially with the decision to transfer Broomes from the labour front, where they say, she appears to have been doing a good job.
Efforts to contact Ministes Broomes, Scott and Lawrence on the impending changes were unsuccessful.
One political analyst said the President may have made a major stumble with that cabinet change.
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