PRIME Minister Bruce Golding yesterday compared his Cabinet shuffle to cricket and football games in which the captain makes the call as to who plays where, and when some are substituted.

The prime minister, who was addressing the swearing-in ceremony for the newly appointed members to the executive, said that was the circumstance under which the Cabinet shuffle was made. “Every leader, in whatever capacity, has to constantly review the formation that he leads,” Golding said.

The changes, which will take effect tomorrow, saw Karl Samuda and Dorothy Lightbourne being dropped from the Cabinet and Clive Mullings being returned to his former post as mining and energy minister.

House Speaker Delroy Chuck was named the minister of justice, while Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has been reassigned to the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, which was held by Samuda.

The vacancy created by Tufton’s reassignment was filled by Robert Montague, the state minister in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for local government, while Senator Arthur Williams was promoted to minister without portfolio in the Cabinet Office, with responsibility for the public service.

The prime minister also announced the appointments of the following junior ministers: Gregory Mair, Ministry of Education; Dr St Aubyn Bartlett, Ministry of National Security and Othniel Lawrence, Ministry of Transport and Works.

Two of the four new ministers to the Cabinet — Montague and Mullings — and state ministers Lawrence, Mair and Bartlett were sworn in by Governor General Sir Patrick Allen at yesterday’s brief ceremony at King’s House in Kingston.

Chuck, who is attending a parliamentary conference in Grenada, and Senator Williams who is in South Africa on government business will be sworn in at a later date.

“I want to congratulate the members who have been appointed ministers; they have been appointed based on my own assessment and observation of them,” Golding said.

The newly introduced state ministers, he said, were chosen on the basis of his assessment of their performance both in and out of Parliament. “You are coming to office in the new capacities that you hold almost four years in the life of this administration,” he told them.

However, other than to express appreciation for “the diligent service” given by Lightbourne and Samuda, the prime minister made no further reference to their departure from the Cabinet.

Meanwhile, Golding announced that he will be returning the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project to the mining ministry following the appointment of Mullings.

Golding had taken responsibility of the project under former minister of energy James Robertson who resigned from that position after his United States visa was cancelled last month.

“I will divest myself of responsibilities I had assumed for overseeing the LNG and the steering committee headed by Chris Zacca will report directly to the minister,” Golding said.

The prime minister also announced that the recommendations of the Public Sector Transformation Unit will come into effect tomorrow to coincide with the new ministers taking office.

“The appropriate instructions are being issued even now as I speak and will be appropriately gazetted,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tufton, who said he was only informed of the new portfolio yesterday, told the Observer that he is as prepared as can be for the new role.

“I am not unfamiliar with the area as my studies involved that area,” he said. Asked how difficult a decision it was to accept the new portfolio, at a time when the agriculture ministry has performed so well, Tufton said “clearly you have some attachment to where you are, so you go with some mixed emotions, but I am a team player and I am working with the team”.

Montague also said he was prepared for the new task in agriculture as his educational background is in agronomy.

“I have operated a successful farm, and I have interacted with the farming community, and I believe that will help me, along with the support of technical staff and farmers,” he told the Observer.

Mullings, meanwhile, admitted that he had indicated to the party his intention to step down from representational politics.

“Yes I had indicated to the party, but not confirmed it because I had to confer with the executive and I hadn’t done that yet,” he said. As such, he said up until Tuesday when he was approached to return to the ministry he was still contemplating that move. “And that is not to say the thought has gone, but I have to weigh everything,” he said.