Above: Clockwise from left: PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Works Minister Jack Warner, new Public Administration Minister Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, Transport Minister Devant Maharaj and new Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine

Trinidad Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar reshuffled her cabinet today, naming a new energy minister and separating the Works and Transportation portfolio held by embattled Minister Jack Warner, who has been in the middle of a controversy involving world football governing body FIFA.

The prime minister named former parliamentary secretary Kevin Ramnarine as the new head of the energy ministry, replacing Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan. “We know that our citizens expect more given the extent to which they have been denied the quality of life which an economy like Trinidad and Tobago should have provided during the years of plenty,” she said. Warner will maintain his post as head of the Works ministry, but will Senator Devant Maharaj will lead the now-separate transportation ministry. Seepersad-Bachan was named the new head of public administration ministry. [Reuters Africa]