Cabinet reshuffle to give younger ministers more responsibilty: PM
PM Lee keen to give younger ministers more exposure and responsibility
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday that he will reshuffle the Cabinet after Parliament prorogues to give younger ministers more exposure and responsibility.
This will ensure that his successor will be supported by a stronger and more experienced team that is committed to lead Singapore in the future, Mr Lee said in a Facebook post.
Sharing a brief timeline of when the Cabinet reshuffle will take place, he said the Budget debate would begin yesterday, after which Parliament sits to debate each ministry's expenditure plans.
Parliament will then prorogue for a mid-term break before reopening in May, he noted.
President Halimah Yacob is due to give her inaugural address laying out the Government's agenda for the remaining term at the opening of the new parliamentary session in May.
Mr Lee said that he is asking the fourth-generation ministers to draft the Government's agenda for Madam Halimah's address.
"It will give Singaporeans a better sense of them and their thoughts," he said.
Mr Lee had previously said no new deputy prime ministers will be appointed in the upcoming Cabinet reshuffle, which suggests that no clear front runners will be made known to the public even after the reshuffle.
The issue of leadership succession came to the fore when Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said in December last year that he hoped the younger ministers will choose their leader in the first six to nine months of this year, and that this person can be made prime minister-designate within 2018.
On this, Mr Lee said last month: "My assessment is, it probably will take a little bit longer."
In his Facebook post yesterday, Mr Lee also shared a photo from an early Chap Goh Mei dinner last Friday at the Istana with Members of Parliament, community leaders and guests.
Chap Goh Mei this Friday marks the 15th and last day of the Chinese New Year and is popularly known as the Chinese Valentine's Day.
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