Harmon’s role as Minister of State to be discussed at Cabinet

• AFC raised no objections when roles were determined in January

President David Granger has stated that the concerns, which have been raised by the Alliance For Change (AFC), a member of the governing coalition, with regard to the roles and responsibilities of the Minister of State, Mr. Joseph Harmon, will be given due attention at tomorrow’s sitting of the Cabinet, once it is raised.

The President was at the time responding to questions posed by media operatives after the launch of the El Dorado 50^th Anniversary Special Edition Rum at the Demerara Distillers Limited Headquarters, Plantation Diamond, earlier this evening.

According to the President, while the AFC has made its statement to the media, no objection was made at the Cabinet level or even when the roles and responsibilities of various Ministers were agreed on in January of this year.  However, though this concern has not yet been raised at the Cabinet level, the President indicated that once it is raised, it will be discussed.

According to a statement from his office, President Granger has noted that the responsibilities which have been assigned to the Minister of State, were responsibilities which were agreed to by the Cabinet at the retreat, held earlier this year.

“We had a retreat earlier this year and we put out a very clear statement on the responsibilities of all of the Ministers and the Ministry of the Presidency so there is a book that states it and nobody made any objection to the duties, which were assigned to the Minister of State then and it would be surprising that after two months that people feel that the duties…need to be trimmed. So I have to wait to find out from our colleagues what they actually mean,” Granger said.

Responding specially to questions on whether the Minister Harmon’s portfolio was too large, the President said he believes the work which has been assigned to the Minister can be adequately handled.