An Updated List of Ministers and C.E.O.’s is Released

Three unelected persons have been given top ministerial appointments in the Barrow Administration. But why have the elected representative been pushed aside?  Following today’s cabinet meeting, the Press Office issued an updated list of Cabinet Ministers and Chief Executive Officers. The most recent changes are: first, the addition of Senator Doctor Carla Barnett as Minister of State for Finance under substantive Minister and Prime Minister Dean Barrow. Doctor Barnett’s main task is to procure international funding for disaster relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Earl almost a month ago. She didn’t win the Freetown seat, but is now a powerful minister in the Ministry of Finance; Financial Secretary Joseph Waight is nominal C.E.O.  The second is the split in the Ministry of National Security, with the Police portion handed to Senator Godwin Hulse, who did not place his name on the ballot. Retired Colonel George Lovell remains C.E.O. there. John Saldivar keeps the portfolios of the Belize Defence Force and Coast Guard as Minister of Defence, gaining a new C.E.O., former B.D.F. Officer Felix Enriquez. Hulse also dropped the Ministry of Natural Resources portfolio, which he had taken from Gaspar Vega following the November elections, to Attorney General Senator Vanessa Retreage, who was brought to cabinet through the senate since she did not contest the elections. Senator Retreage keeps Sharon Ramclam-Young as C.E.O.  All other postings remain the same except for a note that Nigel Hawke is acting as Solicitor General in place of Anika Jackson. We note that former C.E.O. Candelaria Saldivar-Morter, who last served in the Ministry of Immigration and Nationality, continues to be paid full salary and benefits while the Government shops around for a position to slot her in, if she so agrees.