And while those are the characters that make up the Cabinet story, who are the real winners and losers when you look at the big picture?
Jules Vasquez made his own assessment:
The biggest winner in the new slate of cabinet assignments is probably Oscar Requena from Toledo West, who will now control the ministry with the largest budget in all of government, education. His former portfolio of rural transformation, community development, labor and local government goes to Florencio Marin, Jr., who is a loser in this shuffle of the cabinet deck.
The winner there is his former minister of state, Oscar Mira, who now takes up full responsibility for the defense and border security portfolio. The other big winner is Francis Fonseca, who gets his choice ministries of foreign affairs and culture, but also takes on the heavy lifting that comes with the ministry of immigration.
The next winners are two first-term representatives. Osmond Martinez takes over as minister of state in the prime minister's office with responsibility for economic development, which is his wheelhouse as the former CEO.
And first-termer out of Corozal Thea Garcia makes a big entrance to the cabinet as the minister of human development, family support and gender affairs. It's a beefy ministry, and she gets it from her aunt by marriage Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, senior parliamentarian and proven winner, now relegated to the nebulous post of senior minister of state in the prime minister's office, an unheard of appellation up to this time.
Also relegated from being a full minister to a marking time in the PM's office is Rodwell Ferguson, formerly the minister of transport, youth and sports, now just a minister of state to the prime minister, an assignment primarily in name since it comes with no direct responsibility.
Stepping up to take over his ministries is another winner in this new alignment, Anthony Mahler. He gets youth and sports, along with his protégé newcomer and elite athlete, Devin Daley. the first time rep from Collet.
Another loser in this cabinet, Minister Shuffle is Dr. Louis Zabaneh. For five years, he was Minister of State for Education. But instead of stepping up to take over that mega ministry, he's been put in charge of affairs, constitutional and religious, along with transport, which in recent years has devolved into a total mess.
It's his job now to clean it up. Kareem Musa, who retains a difficult home affairs ministry and a vaporous new growth industry, didn't lose any ground, but for an ascendant politician, he didn't gain any either.
Notably, the PM anomalously retains the Ministry of Civil Aviation and also takes up e-governance to unusual choices for the highest office in the land.
Notably, the correct name for the Ministry assigned to Dr Louis Zabaneh is "Ministry of Constitution and Religious Affairs, Indigenous Affairs, and Transportation." An official press release had erroneously called it "indigenous constitution."
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