The new members of the President Hilda Heine’s Cabinet took the oath of office Monday during a swearing-in ceremony administered by District Court Presiding Judge Milton Zackios at the International Conference Center. The ceremony took place following President Heine’s submission of nominations to Speaker Kenneth Kedi for appointment as Ministers of the Cabinet, pursuant to Article V, Section 4(1) of the Constitution.
During the ceremony, President Heine announced the allocation of ministerial portfolios as follows:
• Mattlan Zackhras, Minister-in-Assistance to the President
• John Silk, Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Brenson S. Wase, Minister of Finance
• Wilbur Heine, Minister of Education
• Kalani Kaneko, Minister of Health
• Thomas Heine, Minister of Justice
• Amenta Matthew, Minister of Internal Affairs
• Tony Muller, Minister of Public Works
• Alfred Alfred, Jr., Minister of Resources & Development
• Mike Halferty, Minister of Transportation & Communication
Halftery was the only minister not sworn in because he was off-island earlier this week.
Kwajalein Senator David Paul declined a Cabinet posting when offered a position by President Hilda Heine this past week. “It’s not an easy decision to decline a Cabinet appointment,” said Paul. “I declined respectfully.
“The reason I ran (for Nitijela) was to get things going at Kwajalein, to improve Ebeye,” he added.
Read more about this in the February 5, 2016 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.