Prime Minister Hon. James Marape has this afternoon announced the acting appointments of five ministers to the roles of those decommissioned following the defection of government members to the Opposition recently.

The acting appointments are as follows:

•             Minister for Labour & Employment, Hon. Kessy Sawang as Minister for Housing;

•             Minister for Petroleum, Hon. Jimmy Maladina as Minister for Energy;

•             Minister assisting the Prime Minister on Treasury matters, Hon. Ian Ling-Stuckey as Minister for Finance;

•             Minister for Provincial & Local-Level Government Affairs, Hon. Soroi Eoe as Minister for Tourism, Arts & Culture; and

•             Minister for Education, Hon. Lucas Dekena as Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science & Technology and Sports.

Prime Minister Marape said, “The acting appointments are to watch over the respective portfolios and keep the departments running while we do Cabinet appointments.

“The opportunity provided by this Vote of No Confidence gives me, the coalition party leaders and Pangu Pati a moment to look at the construct of the Cabinet.

“We are looking at our government structure, our delivery thus far, and making a new Cabinet line-up as soon as we come out of this session of Parliament,” he said.