Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley says legislation to amend the existing local government arrangements are to be brought to Parliament soon for approval. He made the comment in his first interview after he was sworn in as the country’s seventh Prime Minister at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s, yesterday.
Rowley, who led the People’s National Movement to a 23-18 victory in a parliamentary election on Monday, said the rest of his Cabinet would be sworn in tomorrow morning. He said he intended to keep an election promise to have a smaller Cabinet than the one led by former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
“There will be some organisational challenges but there will be no overwhelming shifting of the ground,” he said, adding that “what we are taking out are the ministers, what you are going to see are bigger ministries but smaller in number (ministers). “ He said he expected that “about eight or ten of the existing ministerial sub-divisions will be merged into other ministries.”
Those changes “will bring about greater order within the Cabinet. It will reduce costs somewhat and it will allow those who interact with ministries to be more focussed,” he added.
Rowley also said there would be about eight or ten ministers less, in terms of specific ministries and his Cabinet would comprise about eight to ten fewer ministers. The former PP cabinet was in excess of 30 ministers. He said the new Government was moving apace to prepare the 2016 national budget and that the new Finance Minister would work with what had been prepared by members of the public service.
“The budget documents will take priority. We have to get the budget out of the way,” he added. He said the Appropriation Bill 2016 “will be the first piece (of legislation to be brought to Parliament) because that is a requirement of the law.” This is so because the budget must be approved no later than by October 31.
Rowley said the Parliament should be convened in “about two weeks” and once that was completed “we will begin to approach the Parliament with some of the commitments we have made before.” He said one of the “major packages of legislation” would deal with local government reform while whistle blower legislation to protect witnesses and to ensure evidence was available to convict accused murderers would also be brought to the Parliament shortly.
Dealing with the procurement legislation, which was approved under the former government, Rowley said the new PNM Government “will make an amendment to that piece of legislation and implement it very quickly.” He also said legislation to ensure Tobago gets a proper system of internal self government will be discussed in Cabinet shortly and then taken to the public for further consultations and then taken to Parliament for approval.
Explaining why Faris Al-Rawi was chosen to be the AG, Rowley said what was required was “a relatively experienced person with the energy to do the job and Mr Al-Rawi has been chosen (and) I have a great confidence in him and his team.”
Rowley said he would be given a team to work with him “and we will move forward with the Attorney General’s office being the guardian of the rights of all the people of Trinidad and Tobago.” He said because of the appointment Al-Rawi was no longer his personal attorney. Al-Rawi also stepped down as PNM PRO.
He said the Government would try to get the support of the Opposition for all its legislation in Parliament.
“We will seek to engage the Opposition to have them on board.” He said if it was not co-operating the Government would attempt to secure passage of the bills if possible,” he said.