Donna Cox replaces Stuart Young as Trinidad Communications Minister

(Trinidad Guardian) Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley last night re­voked the ap­point­ment of Stu­art Young as Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Min­is­ter in an ap­par­ent re­sponse to a call from this news­pa­per for Young to fo­cus on crime.

Young still holds the port­fo­lios of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter and min­is­ter in the Of­fice Prime Min­is­ter. For­mer Laven­tille East MP Don­na Cox will re­place him.

Row­ley al­so re­voked the ap­point­ment of PNM Sen­a­tor Fos­ter Cum­mings to make room for Cox.

In its three-page ed­i­to­r­i­al ti­tled “The Break­ing Point: An open let­ter to Trinidad and To­ba­go” Guardian Me­dia called on Row­ley to re­duce Young’s min­is­te­r­i­al load so he can fo­cus more on his Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty port­fo­lio.

The news­pa­per’s ed­i­to­r­i­al said it could not un­der­stand why Young should have mul­ti­ple port­fo­lios, adding: “No won­der, the over­bur­dened Mr Young some­times takes a hands-off ap­proach when pressed on crime.”

When Young en­tered the Par­lia­ment as part of the Gov­ern­ment in 2015 as the Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for Port-of-Spain North/St Ann’s West, he was giv­en the port­fo­lio of Min­is­ter of Min­istry of the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al and Le­gal Af­fairs. He was ap­point­ed as Min­is­ter in the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter and Min­is­ter of Com­mu­ni­ca­tions on June 7, 2018 dur­ing a Cab­i­net reshuf­fle.

On Au­gust 5, 2018 his ap­point­ment to the Le­gal Af­fairs Min­istry was re­voked and he was ap­point­ed Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter.

In a Face­book post last night, Young thanked the Prime Min­is­ter for the op­por­tu­ni­ty to serve as Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Min­is­ter. 

He wel­comed Cox and pledged his con­tin­ued com­mit­ment to serve the coun­try as the Min­is­ter of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty and Min­is­ter in the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter. 

“I have al­ways main­tained that it is a priv­i­lege to serve and I cer­tain­ly will con­tin­ue to give of my best as a ser­vant of the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go,” he added. 

In a re­lease is­sued at 8.28 pm, Row­ley an­nounced that he had ad­vised Pres­i­dent Paula-Mae Weekes to ap­point Cox as Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Min­is­ter.

She will be sworn in at 10.30 am to­day at the Pres­i­dent’s House.

Cox had served as the Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for Laven­tille East/Mor­vant but dur­ing screen­ing for gen­er­al elec­tions in 2015, she was re­placed by the cur­rent MP Adri­an Leonce.

She was lat­er ap­point­ed as Con­sulate Gen­er­al of T&T to New York. She re­cent­ly re­turned home and was pho­tographed at the Bal­isi­er House on Ju­ly 12 with Pub­lic Util­i­ties Min­is­ter Robert Le Hunte, Cum­mings, who is al­so gen­er­al sec­re­tary of the PNM, and Plan­ning and De­vel­op­ment Min­is­ter Camille Robin­son-Reg­is.