Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar has quietly carried out a minor re-shuffle of her cabinet less than six months after winning the April 28 general elections in Trinidad and Tobago.
While she did not remove any minister from her cabinet and has so far not made any public statement regarding the changes, the changes took effect from October 3, and were published in the official Gazette a day later.
As a result of the changes, the 73-year-old Persad Bissessar takes on several new responsibilities particularly in the areas of housing grants and self-help programmes. She has taken direct control of the Home Improvement Grants Policy, the Housing and Village Improvement Programme (HVIP), and the Government Aided Self-Help Housing Programme (GASHHP).
Persad Bissessar has also assumed direct responsibility for the portfolio of Constitutional Reform.