Gail Alexan­der

For­mer min­is­ter in the Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion and Dig­i­tal Trans­for­ma­tion (PA/DT) Min­istry, Has­sel Bac­chus, has been made a full min­is­ter in charge of a new Dig­i­tal Trans­for­ma­tion Min­istry.

This, af­ter Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley yes­ter­day split the PA/DT Min­istry in­to two min­istries.

The Prime Min­is­ter’s Face­book site an­nounced the change yes­ter­day.

Last year, when the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment as­sumed its sec­ond term of of­fice, Row­ley had set up the Min­istry of Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion and Dig­i­tal Trans­for­ma­tion.

Allyson West was ap­point­ed as min­is­ter for the over­all en­ti­ty and Bac­chus was ap­point­ed a min­is­ter in the min­istry.

Yes­ter­day, Row­ley ad­vised Pres­i­dent Paula-Mae Weekes to re­voke West’s ap­point­ment as Min­is­ter of the PA/DT Min­istry and re-as­sign her as Min­is­ter of Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion.

Bac­chus’s ap­point­ment as min­is­ter in the PA/DT Min­istry was al­so re­voked and he was re-as­signed as Min­is­ter of Dig­i­tal Trans­for­ma­tion.

The move re­turns West to the Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion Min­istry which she’d held since 2019, when then min­is­ter Mar­lene Mc­Don­ald was charged.

Bac­chus, a for­mer TSTT ex­ec­u­tive of­fi­cial, is serv­ing in this term, for the first time in a Gov­ern­ment Cab­i­net and is now on his own in charge of a min­istry, which has been seen as a pro­mo­tion for him.

Bac­chus held a num­ber of top roles in TSTT, where he had served since its 1989 Tel­co days, ris­ing from a po­si­tion of tech­ni­cian to a mem­ber of the com­pa­ny’s ex­ec­u­tive.

He is known as an au­thor­i­ty in the tele­com field, with ca­pa­bil­i­ty in the digi­ti­sa­tion and dig­i­tal­i­sa­tion fields.

Gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials said the min­istries were split to demon­strate the pri­ori­ti­sa­tion of the dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion process which was be­ing put on fast for­ward for de­vel­op­ment, in­clud­ing eco­nom­ic re­open­ing.

They said dig­i­tal­i­sa­tion will play a mas­sive uni­fy­ing role and is tied to a “whole of Gov­ern­ment” ap­proach from pay­ment of tax­es, in­clud­ing prop­er­ty tax, to re­form of land reg­u­la­tions. They not­ed state­ments that dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion is an im­me­di­ate project.

The new min­istry will bring the to­tal of min­istries to 20.

In Au­gust 2020, when the ad­min­is­tra­tion en­tered its sec­ond term, 19 min­istries were an­nounced. The change in­volv­ing the min­istry is the at­test in this Gov­ern­ment’s sec­ond term so far.

In April, Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Stu­art Young was shift­ed to En­er­gy af­ter for­mer Min­is­ter Franklin Khan died.

Min­is­ter of Youth De­vel­op­ment Fitzger­ald Hinds was placed in Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty and PNM sen­a­tor Fos­ter Cum­mings placed in Youth De­vel­op­ment.