Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday sprung a major surprise in appointing a management consultant to head the troubled Health Ministry.
Therese Baptiste-Cornelis was never in the public's glare before she was tapped to lead the important ministerial portfolio. She was one of the shock appointments made by PM Persad-Bissessar as the new Trinidad and Tobago Cabinet took shape four days after her resounding general election victory. The management consultancy of Baptiste-Cornelis and her husband, Andre, attracts local and international business. The 26-member Cabinet includes Rudrawatee Nan Ramgoolam, who would head the Ministry of Public Administration.
Ramgoolam was previously politically active. Fazal Karim, who ran the secretariat of United National Congress for several years, landed the Ministry of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education. Another surprise was Emmanuel George, the retired former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Public Utilities, who has returned to lead that portfolio. The minister is well known nationally as DJ Hurricane George, for his prowess as a musical entertainer.
The appointment of economist Mary King was another revelation, especially in light of her portfolio, that covers planning, economic and social restructuring and gender affairs. Vasant Bharath re-emerged politically and was handed the new ministerial field of food production, land and marine affairs.
Long-standing parliamentary backbencher Nizam Baksh was upgraded to head the Ministry of Community Development, while veterinarian Dr Glen Ramadharsingh was assigned to the new Ministry of the People, which was twinned with Social Development. Most of the other appointments were predictable, including that of the new Ministry of Justice, to be headed by recently-retired jurist, Herbert Volney. Persad-Bissessar utilised the services of most of her Members of Parliament and plucked several others, who would be named to the Senate.