Framed in popular parlance, it might be kindly called a re-shuffle remix. Within
less than a week the Prime Minister went back on his own decision to shuffle
the Cabinet just so, and has re-assigned his Ministers of State.
- Servulo Baeza, who was appointed as Minister of State in Foreign Trade,
has been sent back to his previous posting in the Ministry of Natural Resources
where, we believe, he implemented the one day land title programme.
- Marcial Mes, sent last week from the vacuous post of minister in the Prime
Minister's office to the Ministry of Natural Resources, has been moved again
to serve as Minister of State in National Development where he will, nominally,
have responsibility for rural development.
- And, Mario Castellanos who had been sent to the Ministry of National Development,
has now been re-assigned to be Minister of State in Agriculture and Fisheries.
So why did the Prime Minister turn around and re-assign his own re-assignments?
Well, the best we could get is that there was much pouting and gnashing of teeth
among the ministers of state about their deployments, and the Prime Minister
capitulated. What's the meaning of it? As we gather, not too much, in fact critics
of the un-inspired executive juggling, say that it's re-arranging the deck chairs
on the titanic, but others point to the party's internal power alliances and
that fact that there's a national convention in the not distant future.