Golding Clarifies Status of Junior Shadow Cabinet Amid Confusion

Confusion within the parliamentary opposition this evening over the status of its junior shadow cabinet with some members saying the body has been dissolved while others insist it remains active.

 

But in an exclusive interview with CVM News, opposition leader Mark Golding sought to set the record straight, saying the delay to reinstate the body is linked to the party's internal reorganization following the general election in September 2025.

 

 

 

 

 

It started with what was supposed to be a routine request for an interview. When CVM News contacted a junior shadow cabinet minister on an unrelated matter, we were told the junior shadow cabinet had been dissolved and as a result, he was unable to speak in that capacity.

 

Seeking clarity, our news team contacted several other opposition representatives, but instead of a clear answer, we got conflicting ones.

 

While some maintained the junior shadow cabinet remains active, others declined to comment on its status. Then an unexpected call from the leader of the opposition.

 

Golding told CVM News, “With the general elections of September last year, the tenure of the then existing junior shadow cabinet came to an end and I wanted to wait till the completion of the current political year before I reappointed a new junior shadow cabinet.”

 

Notably, the junior shadow cabinet is an internal PNP body introduced by pposition leader Mark Golding to support the shadow cabinet.

 

Like the shadow cabinet, it's typically reconstituted after a general election. Of note, the current shadow cabinet was announced days after the September 3 elections last year.

There's no constitutional or legal timeline that dictates when the junior shadow cabinet must be reinstated, but questions are being raised about the party's decision to delay its reinstatement.

 

Golding said, “The reason being that most of the members of the junior shadow cabinet come from the PNP YO, our youth organization, and the PNP Patriots, which is an affiliate of the party for young professionals. And I knew that in the course of this year, they would be having their internal elections. They'd be establishing new executives and so on. And I wanted to give the new executives the opportunity to recommend to me who they would like to put forward for inclusion in the junior shadow cabinet. So, it will be reconstituted after our annual conference which is in September this year.”

 

But how did members of the same party end up with different answers? The opposition leader weighed in on what he believes caused the confusion among his own members.

 

“The reason for that is that some of them have continued to play a role and have even though the junior shadow cabinet itself its tenure has come to an end, individual members or persons who were members of the junior shadow cabinet are from time to time asked to speak on issues of um national importance because they've established understanding of it and you know there's an opportunity for them to do so. I don't know if they were formally advised but they are aware that it's under consideration for it to be reestablished. They may not be aware of the timing, but the timing is really based on our political cycle.”

 

He's also rejecting the idea that the junior shadow cabinet was formally dissolved.

 

“There was no formal dissolution by me, as the person who appointed him in the first place. It was understood that with a general election, there are many changes. We have a new parliament. Some people who were formerly in it ran for office, as MPs. Some were successful, some weren't. There are new senators and so on. So, it's a natural juncture at which the tenure of the old junior shadow cabinet came to an end. I'm not using the word dissolved, but you know, that's the word you or he used, but it came to an end. Some of the members of the junior shadow cabinet continue to speak on areas that they had been shadowing and uh that's fine. I encourage that.”