A 17-member cabinet, including the attorney general and two junior ministers, was sworn in on Tuesday to manage the affairs of St. Vincent and the Grenadines over the next five years.
The cabinet is headed by Prime Minister Godwin Friday, 66, who led the New Democratic Party (NDP) to a 14-1 victory in the Nov. 27 general election.
The Cabinet was sworn in one day before the NDP’s 50th anniversary, half of which time was spent continuously in opposition after 17 years in office.
Friday is also the Minister of Finance, Legal Affairs & Justice, Economic Planning, and Private Sector Development.
The attorney general is Sarah Louise Mitchell, the daughter of the late Sir James Mitchell, the founder of the NDP.
Ms Mitchell failed in her bid in December 2024 to become the NDP’s candidate for West St. George, but threw her support behind the victor, Kaschaka Cupid, who went on to win the seat by over 1,000 votes, according to the preliminary count.
She was also the NDP’s deputy campaign manager nationally.
The deputy prime minister is Major St. Clair Leacock, 73, a long-standing vice president of the NDP, who was elected to a fourth term as MP for Central Kingstown.
Leacock will head the Ministry of National Security and Immigration.
NDP Chairman Daniel Cummings, who secured a fourth term as MP for West Kingstown, heads the Ministry of Health & Wellness and Energy, portfolios that he had been shadowing for over a decade.
Nigel Stephenson, the other NDP vice president, is Minister of Transport, Infrastructure & Physical Planning.
Stephenson was elected to a fourth term as MP for South Leeward.
However, immediately after the Cabinet was sworn in, questions arose about the allocation of specific portfolios.
Some observers noted the absence of a ministry responsible for information and ecclesiastical affairs, while others wondered about the placement of civil aviation, consumer affairs and the public service.
The new government has maintained separate ministries for lower and higher education, which came into effect under Unity Labour Party administration, which was voted out of office on Nov. 27, after 25 years.
The ULP had removed higher education from the responsibilities of the then-minister of education, Curtis King, putting it under the responsibility of the then-prime minister, Ralph Gonsalves.
In addition to maintaining the separation, the NDP government has also appointed a junior minister of Education, Vocational Training, Innovation and Digital Transformation in the person of Senator Lavern King.
She will support the work of the main minister, Phillip Jackson, while Terrance Olliverre, will be responsible for higher education as well as Grenadines Affairs, Local Government, Airports and Seaports.
Reacting to the Cabinet announcement, Curtis King wrote on Facebook:
“After all the NDP’s noise about the separation of Higher Education from the regular Ministry of Education, they have maintained the separation! Oh and instead of two ministers of education, we now have three!”
His post was met with reactions ranging from opposition to support to mockery.
The other members of the Cabinet are:
- Dwight Fitz Bramble – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, Foreign Investment & Diaspora Affairs.
- Israel Bruce – Minister of Agriculture, Forestry & Rural Transformation.
- Sheverne John – Minister of Social Welfare and Community Empowerment, Disaster Management and National Heritage.
- Laverne Gibson-Velox – Minister of the Family, Gender Affairs, Persons with Disabilities, Occupational Safety and Labour.
- Andrew John – Minister of Housing, Land Management, Urban Development and Informal Settlement Upgrading.
- Kaschaka Cupid – Minister of Youth, Sports, Culture and Creative Industries.
- Conroy Huggins – Minister of Fisheries, Marine Conservation and Climate Resilience.
- Kishore Shallow – Minister of Tourism and Maritime Affairs.
- Chieftain Neptune – Senator & Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister.
Mr. Eat-ah-Food aka Curtis King, you should be shamed faced. Beside the fact, one term and you got clean bowled by over 1,000 votes and lost Dorsetshire Hill and Bel-Air, you were downgraded by Mr. Wreck-it Ralph. People had such little respect for you, the schools used to call you to send toilet paper. Imagine the big minister allocating toilet paper.
You who was once an advocate for the St. Vincent Grammar School, and the teaching profession on a whole, sacrificed himself for Mr. Wreck-it, to EAT-AH-FOOD.
Does Curtis Kings stupid comment worthy of a headline? Come on Kenton!
The author’s perspective appears openly opposed to the NDP, evident in the article’s language and framework. The irrelevant linkage of ecclesiastical affairs to the state—two domains meant to be separate—undermines its credibility. It would be more honest to present this as a ULP commentary, as the piece seems driven by their palpable frustration with the election outcome.
OH and S..occupational health, should come under trade and transport,industr ministry or health ministry. My 2 cents
Why do we need a minister for ecclesiastical affairs? Stop mixing church business with Politics. Does the public service not come under labour? Does civil aviation not come under transport? What was unclear to me is that where trade was allocated, it specifically identified foreign trade and that is perhaps where consumer affairs got its omission. And I can also see how information could be attached to Phillip Jackson with a simple tweak. Certainly, no glaring square pegs. Time will tell.
I sometimes wish that Iwnsvg.com would do some meaningful analysis of national issues rather than parrot statements from official readout. As an offshore Vincy who reads this site regularlyto get news from the homeland, I was so disappointed that for almost four days after the election there wasn’t a single update to this site to give some meaningful insight on the election outcome.The very first time it was updated after the period of quiet was to tell about St.Lucia upcoming election and nothing about Svg. It provided more details on our neighbor island results than the one at home. I can only assume they got a media read out from St.Lucia. Please try to do better in your coverage.
I think we are all forgetting or don’t know that the new Government still has TWO outstanding Senator positions.
I do think they missed some portfolios but that’s a fixable issue.
POV: Curtis needs to not talk about education!!!!!
And why is Mr. Shallow not resigning as CWI president? He is not just an ordinary board member.
Responsibility within portfolios will need refining including that of Ecclestical responsibility. Never mix God with politics unless it is a Jewish state!