Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday defended his re-appointment of Marlene McDonald to his Cabinet. In fact, he said her return as Public Utilities Minister came at an opportune time.
However, Rowley assured that reassigning Fitzgerald Hinds as Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs was not a demotion.
At the post-Cabinet media briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, Rowley spoke about the impromptu Cabinet reshuffle—his second since assuming office in September 2015.
Asked if McDonald’s return was a way of expressing confidence in her, given the fact there were a series of allegations made against her which were investigated by the Integrity Commission, Rowley said it was a matter that needed to be looked at.
Having been elected as Port-of-Spain South MP in 2015, Rowley said McDonald was appointed to the Cabinet after serving as Opposition Chief Whip. In early 2015, he said “certain persons were making some very disturbing allegations against Miss McDonald.”
Last March, Mc Donald was fired from the Cabinet following media revelations that she had employed her common-law husband Michael Carew in her Port-of-Spain South constituency office. A report from Fixin T&T head Kirk Waithe stated he received information from Parliament which showed Carew and a director of the Calabar Foundation were employed at McDonald’s constituency office for five years, while Carew’s brother Lennox Carew still worked at the MP’s office.
McDonald’s common-law husband, who worked at the office from June 1, 2010 to September 7, 2015, had earned a salary of $13,400 for the full parliamentary term while Lennox began working in the office on March 1, 2011 and had been in receipt of $14,000.
But Rowley said it was the allegation of how McDonald conducted herself in the Ministry of Housing which forced him to ask her to remove herself as a minister so the Integrity Commission investigate. When the allegation surfaced, he said there was information “which persons were prosecuting to the point of persecuting about how she conducted herself in the Ministry of Housing. It was alleged that she was buying houses in the Ministry of Housing in other people’s names and they identified the names and individuals… and she had a relationship with and so on. That, was an area I found required the removal of Miss McDonald so to allow the investigation to take place.”
To the best of his knowledge, Rowley said investigations had taken place and the commission had indicated to Mc Donald that “they had found no basis to conclude that she had breached the Integrity in Public Life Act on this package of investigations and probably others. On that basis, I as Prime Minister have no difficulty in reappointing Miss McDonald in the Cabinet. Of course, that would displease some people who believe what pleases them should happen.”
Rowley said in the future if something else surfaces against McDonald he would deal with it.
Asked if Hinds’ shifting was a demotion, Rowley said he was “very versatile and is a tremendous asset to the Cabinet and Government.” This was Hinds’ second realignment by Rowley. He was first removed from the Ministry of Works and Transport and put to manage the Ministry of Public Utilities, which McDonald is now in charge of.
But the PM said Hinds has expertise in Constitutional and criminal law and as a former policeman, he was ideally suited to work in the AG’s office. He said, however, that Stuart Young will continue to hold the position as Minister in the Ministry of the AG and Legal Affairs as well.
Rowley said Government intended to have a very robust legislative programme in which Hinds will play an integral role.
