Labour and Social Security Minister Karl Samuda has confirmed that come Monday, he will no longer be a member of the Andrew Holness-led Cabinet.

In an interview with OBSERVER ONLINE on Saturday, Samuda said he had indicated his intention to serve as a minister for only two years, and that “the time has now come.”

“I have resigned from the Cabinet. As of Monday I am no longer a member of the Cabinet. When I said that I am no longer a member of the Cabinet come Monday, I said also, that in the same speech I had indicated my intention to serve for only two, two-and-a-half years when I took the job,” Samuda said.

He explained that he was leaving the Cabinet because he did not intend to “be an obstacle to any decision the Prime Minister may wish to make in reviewing his Cabinet, to reassess his position in the party at this time. And to give him the freedom to make changes that he deems appropriate. And I am in full agreement with that.”

However, Samuda, who is also the Member of Parliament for St Andrew North Central, said he will not be leaving his seat.

“I am in great health and I am not leaving my seat, so I have a lot of work to do and to ensure that all that is required for the people of my constituency they are attending to. But I am not going to be a part of the Cabinet. One doesn’t have to serve the country by necessarily being in the Cabinet,” the outgoing minister said.

The veteran politician was appointed Minister of Labour and Social Security in September 2020. Prior to that, he served as Minister of Education, Youth and Information when he was appointed on June 17, 2020.

Samuda also served as Minister without Portfolio with responsibility for Education from March 2019 until June 2020. He served that ministry in a holding capacity following the departure of Ruel Reid who is before the court on fraud charges.

Speculation has been rife over the past two weeks that Holness was about to reshuffle his Cabinet. Samuda was one of the older members who was said to be on his way out as the prime minister moves to revitalise and renergise the executive at the half-way point of the administration’s current term.

READ: All eyes on the PM – With salary adjustments done, Cabinet reshuffle likely by this weekend

– Candice Haughton