The Tribune

By TANEKA THOMPSON

Tribune News Editor

tmthompson@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Perry Christie has shuffled his Cabinet with the government last night announcing two new ministerial appointments, including the selection of Sea Breeze MP Hope Strachan as the new minister of financial services.

Last night, Mrs Strachan said she saw the appointment as a stride for Bahamian women that she hoped would inspire others. She added that she planned to hit the ground running when she assumes her new post.

According to a statement released by the Cabinet Office, Mr Christie has also instructed Governor-General Dame Marguerite Pindling to appoint Mount Moriah MP Arnold Forbes as

minister of state in the Ministry of Works and Urban Development.

It was also announced that Nassau Village MP Dion Smith has been appointed as the new chairman of the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC) to replace Mr Forbes, who previously held that post.

The appointments all take effect on January 12. This marks the first time Mr Christie has shuffled his Cabinet since assuming office in May 2012.

The Cabinet Office also advised that Mrs Strachan, currently minister of state in the Ministry of Transport and Aviation, will serve as acting minister in the Ministry of Transport and Aviation while Glenys Hanna Martin is out of the country on official business.

Ms Hanna Martin is travelling to China with Mr Christie and a delegation for a CARICOM meeting. Last night Mrs Strachan said she was already getting acquainted with the intricacies of her new ministry. “I’m very excited about it and I anticipate that I will have quite a task (ahead) and basically building on what we have accomplished in the last two and a half years in terms of being focused on the financial services industry once again.”

She said her legal background will help her in leading the ministry. She added that she planned on building on what her predecessor had done while in office.

“Looking forward, we have quite a number of major issues on the drawing board as it relates to FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act), the WTO (World Trade Organisation) accession – those are the major issues we will be looking into. Also how to increase our market share and actually bring in new products for new areas.”

She said she will also continue the ministry’s focus on emerging markets like South America while building on existing markets such as Europe.

She also said her appointment should be an inspiration to women.

“We have five women in the House of Assembly, four on the government’s side and three now have substantive ministries. This is progress for us as women and would serve as an example to other women that as long as we persevere we can accomplish it.”

The Cabinet shuffle comes weeks after it was revealed that former Minister of Financial Services Ryan Pinder had resigned his post to accept a lucrative job offer in the private sector.

It was revealed on December 10 that Mr Pinder, the Elizabeth MP, had taken a job offer to become a senior executive at Deltec Bank. Mr Pinder said the job would bring “once in a lifetime” benefits.

His resignation took effect at the end of December.

Mrs Strachan was appointed as a senator by Mr Christie, then in opposition, in 2007. She won her constituency in the 2012 general election beating incumbent representative Carl Bethel.

According to her official biography on the government’s website, after a short stint in the banking industry between 1979 and 1982, she left the Bahamas to study at Holborn Law Tutors in London, England where she obtained an LLB (Honours) degree from the University of London.

After being sworn in as a member of Middle Temple Inn, she was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1989 and subsequently to the Bahamas Bar the same year, the website said.

Mr Forbes is a lawyer and businessman.

Mr Smith is deputy speaker of the House of Assembly and is a lawyer in his firm, Dion D Smith and Co.