THE renaming of two ministries is among the changes made by the President as she reassigned the responsibilities of the Cabinet and ministries, following the advice of the Prime Minister.

A gazette notice published on October 4 stated the shuffle would see the renaming of the Ministry of Legal Affairs to the Ministry of Land and Legal Affairs, removing the responsibilities (and name) from the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries. Its minister, Saddam Hosein, will now be responsible for Lands and Surveys, Land Management, Regularisation of Tenure/Housing for Squatters, Surveys and Mapping, Valuation, Land Settlement Agency, Land Survey Board of TT and the Estate Management and Business Development Company.

Also among the changes is Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar absorbing the responsibility for matters relating to Heritage Buildings, Constitutional Reform, National Trust, National Commission for Self-Help Limited, National Library Services and the National Library and Information System Authority, Home Improvement Grants Policy, Housing and Village Improvement Programme (HVIP), Government Aided Self-Help Housing Programme (GASHHP). These were previously under Minister of Culture and Community Development Michelle Benjamin, Minister of Housing David Lee and Minister of Public Administration Dominic Smith.