No portfolio as yet for new PM

Prime Minister Mark Phillips

No portfolio was assigned for Prime Minister Mark Phillips yesterday when President Irfaan Ali named 19 ministers of his government but he stated that when that area of responsibility is made public it would reflect one that is “weighty.”

“Very shortly we will be gazetting the order in the areas of responsibility for the various ministers and the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would have a portfolio that would be weighty, that is what I would say to you, [he would have] a very important portfolio of responsibility and also he would be working with me on a number of projects and issues,” Ali responded when asked about the seeming exclusion of Phillips, following the swearing of ministers at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre yesterday.

“We are fleshing that out and very shortly we will [say]. We just wanted to move the process forward and very shortly you would see. We have realigned the ministries, they have gone back to the ministries we had in 2015, so we have to get back to the TORs [Terms of References] and have that gazetted and so on, and we will brief you on that,” he added.