RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Even though she has not been as­signed a Ju­nior Min­is­ter to as­sist in her port­fo­lio, Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Nyan Gads­by-Dol­ly said the work of the min­istry con­tin­ues, with re­spon­si­bil­i­ties be­ing di­vid­ed among staff.

She al­so not­ed that the goals she pur­sues in the lead-up to the gen­er­al elec­tion will be de­ter­mined in con­sul­ta­tion with Prime Min­is­ter Stu­art Young.

Speak­ing to re­porters fol­low­ing the recog­ni­tion of ex­cel­lence cer­e­mo­ny held at St Joseph’s Con­vent in San Fer­nan­do on Tues­day, Gads­by-Dol­ly said her min­istry re­mains fo­cused on its re­spon­si­bil­i­ties de­spite the po­lit­i­cal un­cer­tain­ty.

“At this point, our strate­gic di­rec­tor, our new Prime Min­is­ter Stu­art Young, is go­ing to be dis­cussing with all the Min­is­ters the di­rec­tion he would like to take. At this time, no Ju­nior Min­is­ter has been as­signed to my min­istry. We have di­vid­ed the work among the staff at the min­istry, and we have been achiev­ing our goals and do­ing what we can. We are very sad that we lost Mrs Mor­ris-Julien, but we are con­tin­u­ing the work of the min­istry. We have a lot of staff,” she said.

Asked how she felt about be­ing reap­point­ed as Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter, she re­spond­ed:

"We are com­ing to the end of the elec­tion cy­cle, so I’m hap­py to con­tin­ue as Min­is­ter of Ed­u­ca­tion for the next cou­ple of months...We would have just start­ed our dig­i­tal stu­dent reg­is­tra­tion for first-year stu­dents, so it’s nice to be able to see those projects come to fruition as we head in­to the elec­tion sea­son."

When asked whether she was hope­ful about re­tain­ing her po­si­tion af­ter the elec­tion, Gads­by-Dol­ly said she re­mains com­mit­ted to serv­ing in what­ev­er ca­pac­i­ty the Prime Min­is­ter sees fit.

"Any Min­is­ter serves at the plea­sure of the Prime Min­is­ter. We have a new Prime Min­is­ter, Prime Min­is­ter Stu­art Young, and he will have his strate­gic ob­jec­tives. I’m will­ing to serve wher­ev­er in the gov­ern­ment I can. I think I have a lot to con­tribute. I’ve been a Min­is­ter now for ten years, and I’ve worked very hard. I think the coun­try is aware of that, and I will serve in what­ev­er ca­pac­i­ty if the Prime Min­is­ter at that time is will­ing to have me."

With new faces in the Cab­i­net, she said she was hap­py to work with who­ev­er is on the team.

"We have a lot of work to do, we have a coun­try to serve. So it’s not re­al­ly about per­son­al­i­ties but about get­ting the job done."

She al­so wel­comed the ap­point­ment of Fi­nance Min­is­ter Vish­nu Dhan­paul, not­ing that she had worked with him be­fore.

"He’s been a Per­ma­nent Sec­re­tary at the Min­istry of Fi­nance. I’ve worked with him as a PS, so it’s a nice thing to see him in the Cab­i­net, and we are just hap­py to work and serve Trinidad and To­ba­go to­geth­er."

Asked how she felt about her new boss, Gads­by-Dol­ly said Young has proven his ded­i­ca­tion over the years.

"Prime Min­is­ter Stu­art Young has been in the Cab­i­net for the past ten years. He has shown him­self to be some­body who is very ded­i­cat­ed, and very com­mit­ted, and we are grate­ful to have a young cit­i­zen of this coun­try who is will­ing to take that man­tle and to serve. I’m hap­py to be on the team."

Mean­while, Min­is­ter of Plan­ning, Pen­ne­lope Beck­les-Robin­son, dis­missed con­cerns about Young’s ex­pe­ri­ence, urg­ing crit­ics to give him an op­por­tu­ni­ty to lead.

"Those who be­lieve that Young does not have the ex­pe­ri­ence to be Prime Min­is­ter should al­low him an op­por­tu­ni­ty to prove him­self," she said.

Young was sworn in as Prime Min­is­ter fol­low­ing the res­ig­na­tion of Dr Kei­th Row­ley, but the UNC has threat­ened to file le­gal ac­tion, ar­gu­ing that his ap­point­ment vi­o­lates Sec­tion 76 of the Con­sti­tu­tion, which states that the Prime Min­is­ter must be an elect­ed Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment.

Young, who was a gov­ern­ment sen­a­tor be­fore as­sum­ing of­fice, has de­fend­ed his ap­point­ment, stat­ing that it is con­sti­tu­tion­al.