Having swept all 30 seats in the May 24 Election, Barbados’ new Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley and her ministers will be hitting the ground running in an effort to solve some of the urgent problems facing the country.
“There is no time for pause and there is certainly no place for triumphalism and exhortation. We have some serious work to do and serious problems to solve,” Mottley said on Sunday to hundreds who gathered at the Bay Street Esplanade for the swearing in ceremony of her Cabinet ministers
Mottley said, “We are eager to work first thing tomorrow in the full service of the people of this country. On Monday, we shall meet with the Social Partnership and I promise in the absence of an Opposition that I shall meet with the leadership of the Social Partnership twice a month until we have got Barbados to a position of safety and stability.”
“And similarly after that we confront the issue of our debt and foreign reserve issues to allow all ideas to contend, because we accept that our decisions and actions must be urgent to stave off the worst,” she said.
The Prime Minister disclosed, that ministers would be meeting to discuss the South Coast Sewage Treatment Plant and its issues,bus and transportation problems and the issues plaguing the Sanitation Service Authority.
In addition,Mottley assured the large crowd at the public swearing in ceremony that parliamentarians would have to declare their assets and the information would be held confidential until an Integrity Commission is established.
Mottley said, there would be regular post-cabinet briefings to keep the public informed and that ministers would not be accepting their ten percent increase in salary until public workers had been take care of.
In addition, Prime Minister Mottley said she would be enacting fit for purpose freedom of information legislation and would remove the current provisions in the General Orders that prohibited senior public servants from engaging with the media.
She issued a warning to her Cabinet Ministers that should they slip up they would be dealing with her.
“I do assure the people of Barbados that their recent generosity towards candidates of the Barbados Labour Party would not be misused or abused” she told the audience to thunderous applause.
“On the contrary, I have already warned some of my parliamentary members that if I ever find it necessary in the interest of fair play and balance, I am perfectly willing to convert myself into the most formidable leader of the opposition,” she said.
Some visiting overseas Prime Ministers who attended the ceremony included St Lucia’s Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, Prime Minister of St Vincent Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Grenada Dr. Keith Mitchell andDeputy Prime Minister of St Kitts Shawn Richards,
They were joined by Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith, Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force Colonel GlyneGrannum and Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson.
National Hero Sir Garfield Sobers,Sir Richard Cheltenham, President-elect of the Senate and other dignitaries were also in attendance.
The new Ministerial portfolios are:
Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment – Mia Amor Mottley
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs – Dale Marshall
Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training and Leader of Government Business in the House – Santia Bradshaw
Minister of Housing and Lands and Rural Development – George Payne
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and Leader of Government Business in the Senate -Senator Dr. Jerome Walcott
Minister of Environment and National Beautification – TrevorPrescod
Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs – Cynthia Forde
Minister of Tourism and International Transport – Kerrie Symmonds
Minister of Transport, Works and Maintenance – Dr William Duguid
Minister of Health and Wellness – Jeffrey Bostic
Minister of Home Affairs – Edmund Hinkson
Minister of Small Business Entrepreneurship and Commerce – Dwight Sutherland
Minister of Energy and Water Resources – Wilfred Abrahams
Minister in the Ministry of Finance – Ryan Straughn
Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment – Marsha Caddle
Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Sandra Husbands
Minister of Labour and Social Partnership Relations – Colin Jordan
Minister in the Ministry of Housing, Lands and Rural Development – Charles Griffith Minister of Youth and Community Empowerment – Adrian Forde
Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy – Kirk Humphrey
Minister in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Maintenance – Peter Phillips
Minister of the Creative Economy, Culture and Sports – John King
Minister of Innovation, Science and Smart Technology – Senator Kay McConney
Minister of Information, Broadcasting and Public Affairs – Senator Lucille Moe Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training- Senator Dr Rommel Springer
Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Peoples Empowerment and Elder Affairs – Neil Rowe
Chief Economic Counsellor to the Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment-Ambassador Dr Clyde Mascoll,
Ambassador at large & Plenipotentiary – Dame Bille Miller
Speaker-elect of the House of Assembly – Arthur Holder
Senate: Sir Richard Cheltenham – nominee President of the Senate.
Rudolph “Cappy”Greenidge – nominee Deputy President of the Senate..
Senator Jerome Walcott
Senator Kay McConney
Senator Lucille Moe
Senator Rawdon Adams
Senator Lisa Cummins
Senator Dr. Rommel Springer
Senator Rudy Grant
Senator Lynette Holder,
Senator Damien Sands
Senator Dr Crystal Haynes
Director of Public Affairs in the Office of the Prime Minister – Pat Parris
The Prime Minister’s Personal Aide – Jessica Odle
