Appointed as a senator two weeks ago, Morris Dixon will be Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) with responsibility for skills and digital transformation.

That appointment is among some of the changes within the Cabinet which Holness noted now has one less member.

Veteran politician Karl Samuda resigned from the Cabinet ahead of the reshuffle, and colleague Audley Shaw has been axed from the top decision-making body nationally, this after featuring for years in several JLP administrations as a Government minister.

Holness acknowledged the services of Samuda and Shaw over the years.

Floyd Green, Member of Parliament (MP) for St Elizabeth South Western, who resigned as Agriculture and Fisheries Minister in the wake of controversy surrounding his involvement in a birthday party on a no-movement day during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, and returned months later as a minister without portfolio, has returned to his old stomping ground, but with a new addition.

That portfolio has been rebranded as Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining.

With Green as minister, Franklin Witter will continue to serve as the Minister of State.

Other notable changes to the Cabinet include Pearnel Charles Jr, who will now head the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, which Karl Samuda headed up to last week.

Dr Norman Dunn will leave the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce as State Minister, and join Charles Jr at Labour and Social Security, also as State Minister.

Daryl Vaz is to head the newly created super ministry of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, with JC Hutchinson serving as Minister of State.

Despite talk that she would possibly be removed from the Education and Youth portfolio, Fayval Williams has survived the Cabinet reshuffle.

She will be assisted by Marsha Smith, who was previously State Minister in the Finance and the Public Service Ministry, and will be replaced in the latter ministry by Zavia Mayne.

Also surviving the reshuffle is Dr Horace Chang, who will be assisted at the Ministry of National Security by Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn, formerly the State Minister in the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

Dr Christopher Tufton will now solely steward Health and Wellness at the ministerial level.

Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, Kamina Johnson Smith, remains in that position, with Alando Terrelonge, formerly State Minister in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports, being shifted to assist Johnson Smith.

No other change was made relative to any other Cabinet position or at the level of state minister.