INCOMING Laventille West MP Kareem Marcelle has expressed disappointment with the merger of the youth and sport portfolios in Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s new Cabinet.

On Saturday at President House’s Phillip Watts was appointed as Sport and Youth Affairs Minister. He successfully contested the La Horquetta/Talparo seat for the United National Congress (UNC) at the general election on April 28, defeating former MP and People’s National Movement (PNM) candidate Foster Cummings, who previously held the portfolio of Youth Development and National Service. Watts had also served as the chairman of the PNM’s constituency executive for La Horquetta/Talparo before joining the UNC. It was a post he held for 14 years.

Marcelle, in a post on his Facebook page yesterday, described the merger of both ministries by the Prime Minister as “a backward move for youth development in Trinidad and Tobago”.