A retired senior Permanent Secretary has suggested that the time has come for Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell to make changes to his one year old Cabinet and also among the Permanent Secretaries.
He told THE NEW TODAY that a change should be made to the portfolios held by Senator Claudette Joseph, the current Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs and Labour.
“The Attorney General post should be given to a more proactive, transformation oriented young lawyer,” said the retired public officer.
Several questions have been raised about the slow response of Sen. Joseph to some legal matters including the move afoot by a Cabinet-appointed Committee to look into the commercial use of marijuana.
Some trade union leaders have also expressed concern over the slow response from AG Joseph and the Ministry of Labour to issues related to the recent industrial strike between employees represented by the Bank & General Workers Union (BGWU) and Republic Bank.
The retired Permanent Secretary wants PM Dickon Mitchell to remove the Infrastructure portfolio from under his watch and place it with the Ministry of Housing and Community Development led by Phillip Telesford.
He suggested that the Ministry of Social Development should become a separate Ministry and given to Minister of Climate Resilience Kerryne James.
He also called on Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell to place greater emphasis on increasing the staff level at the key Ministry of Economic Development led by Lennox “Toes” Andrews.
Several senior public officers have stated that the Congress government needs to place a number of competent persons in the Ministry of Economic Development in order to come up with new projects that can take the government into the second half of its 5-year term in office.
The retired Permanent Secretary said that the Prime Minister himself needs “some experienced, strategic and forward thinking heads and hands” around him to successfully carry out the job at the Ministerial Complex in the Botanical Gardens.
Speculation is rife that this could be directed at some of the inexperienced persons placed in key positions by the Prime Minister since assuming office in July 2022 including the recruitment of an inexperienced former Deputy Comptroller of Customs Carvel Lett to hold the position of Cabinet Secretary.
The former PS also called for one of the top Permanent Secretaries Javan Williams to be relocated from his hometown of Carriacou and brought to the Mainland to assume the role of PS in the Ministry of Works.
THE NEW TODAY has been receiving increasing reports of continued corruption within the Ministry of Works especially with the granting of contracts.
The ex-PS also called for changes to be made to the Department of Management and Personnel Services.
“DPA needs a new orientation and public sector transformation oriented staff,” he said.
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has not given any hints about an upcoming Cabinet reshuffle.
About six months ago, he switched portfolios with Member of Parliament for St Patrick East Dennis Cornwall who was relieved of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and placed in the Ministry of Finance.