President David Granger has full confidence in acting Education Minister Nicolette Henry and it is he who has to decide how long she will remain in that position, Minister of State Joseph Harman said yesterday.
“As it stands Henry is performing the functions of the Minister of Education and that is the function she will perform until such time that the president in his deliberate judgement considers that there is some other arrangement that needs to be put in place”, Harmon said in response to a question regarding the appointment of a substantive minister. Henry’s substantive post is Minister within the Ministry of Education. During the press conference Harmon was asked to explain if a new ministry was being created for Minister Dr Rupert Roopnaraine and whether government believes Henry can function in such a critical ministry given the complaints about her in her substantive position and a few notable blunders.
Harmon in response stressed that the president has expressed confidence in Henry to perform in the position she has been appointed to. He explained that a department that will be responsible for innovation and reform in the education sector will be established under the Ministry of the Presidency. “What that does is that it takes away from the responsibility of driving reforms and puts it under the handling of an expert, a technical set of persons who are being identified for that purpose”.
He said that some of the functions of the Ministry of Education have been removed and will now be handled by this special group. Harmon reiterated that Roopnaraine has been designated the Minister of Public Service. “Previously there was a Ministry of Public Service but in the new configuration it became a Department under the Ministry of the Presidency”, he said.
Henry’s promotion raised eyebrows as her performance to date has been lacklustrw and error-strewn. Sources say that Roopnaraine had not been well-enough to perform the onerous functions associated with his portfolio. He had had a number of medical emergencies over the last two years.
