Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis on Monday said the prospect of a cabinet reshuffle is “clearly a matter for the president”.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of an anti-sexism campaign, he said the matter has been “repeatedly raised and answered”.

“We, as ministers, must remain in our positions to implement the government’s programme, to implement the daily programme we have, but also – especially at this time – to implement the government’s announcements and execute all the measures to alleviate the pain, damage, and suffering that our fellow people have suffered in this disaster,” he said.

He was referring to the wildfire which tore through the Limassol district and killed two people in July, though it was his comments in the midst of that wildfire which, in part, led some to believe that he may soon lose his job.

He had said that “we had absolutely no loss of life” in the wildfire, except for the two people who did die, though he was not the only sitting minister to raise eyebrows with their comments mid-fire, as Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou saying that “the only way we could have prevented the fire was for it not to have started”.

Both Hartsiotis and Panayiotou had been appointed to their current roles in the reshuffle which took place in January last year, with Panayiotou being promoted from her previous position of environment commissioner and Hartsiotis an outside appointment.

Now, both are rumoured to be on their way out.

Last month, newspaper Politis had reported that President Nikos Christodoulides had planned a reshuffle in advance of the fire, set to be implemented after the next parliamentary elections next May.

However, the newspaper said, the fire and the surrounding crisis and ministerial missteps have brought those plans forward.

It added that during a meeting of Christodoulides and government-supporting parties Diko, Edek, and Dipa, he came under pressure to take swift action.

In response, he reportedly said that August “is a holiday month” and that a reshuffle would happen soon after the end of the month.