ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada –Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell Thursday named an 11-nember Cabinet , one week after his National Democratic Congress (NDC) won the general election in Grenada.
New Grenada Attorney General, Claudette Joseph, receiving her instruments of appointment from Governor General, Dame Cecile La Grenade (CMC Photo)The ministers, including two women, were sworn in by Governor General, Dame Cecile La Grenade, at the Kirani James Athletic Stadium in the capital, before hundreds of supporters. The new cabinet is slightly smaller than the previous one of the former government of Keith Mitchell that had numbered 13.
Mitchell said that the composition of the cabinet is “meant to reflect our campaign promises to the people of Grenada to begin the transformation of Grenada” and that he wanted to assure all citizens “that we will do our outmost to drive the economic development of our people, to put Grenadians first and to ensure that we all hold each other collectively responsible and accountable for the trust, the faith and the confidence that you have shown in each and every one of us.”
Mitchell said that he intends to start the process of transformation in an environment of industrial peace and as a result “the time for productivity is now.
“As leader of the government, I accept we have to extend the olive branch to begin that peace process and therefore I am going to publicly announce as a sign of our commitment to ensuring that peace prevails that in my capacity as Minister of Finance…we will instruct the Ministry of Finance to repay to the teachers of Petite Martinique, Carriacou and Grenada the salaries that were docked unjustly from them and that those payments should be made as early as the end of July 2022.
“Our government is not at war, nor should it be at war with the public servants and the workers who work for the government,” he said, adding “we accept we will have disagreements, we accept we will have differences in our viewpoints, but we are committed to ensuring at all times that we treat our workers with respect and with dignity”.
Mitchell said he has already signalled to the senior public servants the need to put “our house in order” and that the new government will seek to address the “varying discrepancies” with regards to the employment status of public workers.
In his address, Mitchell also announced that his administration would be recalling all diplomats and honorary counsels “to ensure that as we go forward persons who are the privilege of representing Grenada at counsels and foreign missions abroad are first and foremost Grenadians and that they have without doubt not their personal interest but the interest of the people of Petite Martinique, Carriacou and Grenada.
“Should there be and this should be rare, the need to appoint a non-Grenadian we must ensure that that non-Grenadian is truly about representing the interest of the people of Petite Martinique, Carriacou and Grenada,” Prime Minister Mitchell added.
The following is the full list of Cabinet Ministers.
Dickon Thomas Mitchell – Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, National Security, Home Affairs and Public Administration, Information and Disaster Management.
Claudette Joseph – Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Labour and Consumer Affairs
Joseph Andall – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Export Development
Teven Andrews – Minister of Carriacou, Petite Martinique and Local Government
Dennis Cornwall – Minister of Infrastructure and Physical Development, Civil Aviation and Transportation
Kerryne Zennelle James – Minister of Climate Resilience, Environment and Renewable Energy.
Phillip Alfred Telesford – Minister of Social and Community Development, Housing and Gender Affairs
Andy Williams – Minister of Mobilisation, Implementation and Transformation
Lennox John Andrews – Minister of Economic Development, Agriculture, Planning, Blue Economy, Creative Economy, Tourism and ICT
Senator David Evlyn Andrews – Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Affairs
Gayton Jonathan LaCrette – Minister of Health, Wellness and Religious Affairs Junior Ministers:
Senator Gloria Ann Thomas – Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Affairs, Housing and Gender Affairs
Ron Livingston Redhead- Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth Affairs and Sports
Senator Adrian Augustine Thomas – Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Cooperatives.
CMC/pr/ir/2022
