KINGSTON, Jamaica – Floyd Green is back in the Cabinet after four months and the now former Attorney General, Marlene Malahoo-Forte, joins the executive as the Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs.

The new ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs is a signal that Malahoo-Forte will lead the major reform of the constitution that Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced during the Jamaica Labour Party’s annual conference last November.

Green, who resigned from the Cabinet last September as the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries after a video of him partying on a no-movement day went viral, is back in the executive as Minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM).

Holness announced his reshuffled cabinet in a media statement Monday evening. The 22-member executive will be sworn-in at King’s House on Tuesday by Governor General Sir Patrick Allen.

Meanwhile, Robert Morgan gains a promotion; the Minister of state in the Ministry of Education will now serve as Minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister and is set to take charge of the important Information portfolio.

Also gaining a promotion is the Member of Parliament for St James Southern, Homer Davis, who will now serve as Minister without portfolio out of the OPM’s western Jamaica office. Davis will “oversee and coordinate special projects and major developments in western parishes”, such as the Montego Bay perimeter road. The former mayor of Montego Bay previously served as minister of state in the ministry of local government and rural development.

The under-pressure National Security Minister, Dr Horace Chang, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister retains responsibility for the nation’s security but he has a new junior minister in Zavia Mayne who has been shifted from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

Senator Matthew Samuda, who previously served alongside Chang in the security ministry, goes to the super ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation [MEGJC] which is located in the OPM, as Minister without portfolio.

Samuda will be joined in that ministry by the embattled Robert Montague who many thought would have been dropped from the Cabinet. He retains his place and will serve out of OPM as a Minister without portfolio. Everald Warmington also continues at MEGJC as Minister without portfolio.

Senator Aubyn Hill, who previously served as Minister without portfolio in the MEGJC, takes responsibility for Industry, Investment and Commerce, which was previously the domain of Audley Shaw while Shaw, the MP for Manchester North East, has been given Montague’s old assignment at Transport and Mining. Shaw will again have JC Hutchinson as his Minister of State. Norman Dunn will serve as Hill’s Minister of state.

In the meantime, Pearnel Charles Jr has got a demotion of sorts. He has been relieved of responsibility for the super ministry of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change, which has been re-incorporated into MEGJC. Charles Jr will now manage the Agriculture and Fisheries portfolio. He will be assisted by Frank Witter who will serve as the Minister of State.

According to Holness, the changes “take into account the need for greater focus and attention on constitutional and legal reform as well as improving the pace of development and passage of legislation through the Parliament”.

“These changes are also designed to facilitate greater coordination and synergy of resources on further increasing the number of housing solutions at affordable prices as well as the development and pursuit of new economic opportunities, such as the blue and green economy as well as recovery from the pandemic,” he added.

“As the government moves towards fulfilling its mandate, increasing the pace of implementation of projects, and transitioning its management of the pandemic, there is also greater need for coordination in the dissemination of timely and accurate information to the public,” Holness said.

The other portfolios in the new-look executive remain unchanged and are as follows:

-Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport – Olivia Grange with Alando Terrelonge as state minister.

-Ministry of Education and Youth – Fayval Williams.

-Ministry of Finance and the Public Service – Dr Nigel Clarke; state minister is Marsha Smith.

-Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade – Kamina Johnson Smith with state minister Leslie Campbell.

-Ministry of Health and Wellness – Dr Christopher Tufton with Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn serving as state minister.

-Ministry of Justice – Delroy Chuck.

-Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development – Desmond McKenzie.

-Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology – Daryl Vaz.

-Ministry of Tourism – Edmund Bartlett.

-Ministry of Labour and Social Security – Karl Samuda.