The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Deputy Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis insisted his decision to reassign four Cabinet portfolios just 14 months after taking office does not mean he lost faith in any of his ministers, adding they performed “exceptionally well”.

Cabinet Office announced yesterday afternoon Renward Wells will be minister of transport and local government; Frankie Campbell, minister of social services and urban development; Michael Pintard, minister of agriculture and marine resources, while Lanisha Rolle will assume the portfolio of minister of youth, sports and culture.

These ministers currently hold portfolios in the Ministries of Agriculture and Marine Resources; Transport and Aviation; Youth, Sports and Culture and Social Services and Urban Development respectively.

The ministers will officially take up their new posts tomorrow.

When he was asked about the changes before the release of the official Cabinet Office notice dated July 1, the prime minister insisted it was not a shuffle, but a transfer to give individuals “exposure”.

However, Official Opposition Leader Philip “Brave” Davis rejected this decision. He further singled out Mrs Rolle for attack, saying “mercifully, the poor, hungry and dispossessed are relieved of the disaster visited upon them in Lanisha Rolle as social services minister”. He said she should have been dispatched to the back bench.

He said the prime minister’s

move condemned his own government for incompetence and ineffectiveness.

“I’ll be transferring individuals and the Cabinet Office will release a statement this evening,” Dr Minnis said yesterday morning on the sidelines of the official launch of the Public Employment Services Unit at the Department of Labour on Madeira Street.

“There will be quite a number of Cabinet ministers who will be relocated to other ministries and quite a number of permanent secretaries who will be relocated to other ministries and we will establish a new office in the Office of the Prime Minister, which is a modernisation unit so that we can modernise and transform the public service and the entire government. That will be their mandate.

“Ministers would be moved as I think is necessary to give them the necessary exposure,” Dr Minnis also said, adding he did not plan to make such changes every year.

Asked by The Tribune why he decided to make Cabinet changes, Dr Minnis said: “It gives individuals exposure and experience in all the different ministries. That’s why I don’t have any ministry. I have no ministry so I can look at all and learn about all.”

In rating the work of the ministers, Dr Minnis said: “I think they have done very well and I am certain that they would carry that skill to whichever ministry they move to. My Cabinet ministers have performed exceptionally well and I am sure they will continue to perform exceptionally well.”

He would not comment on whether any of the ministers willingly embraced the changes, saying: “I won’t go into all of that detail.”

The Cabinet Office’s statement said the prime minister advised Governor General Lady Marguerite Pindling to reallocate the portfolios. It also noted, “The prime minister acknowledges and thanks the ministers for their contributions in their former ministries and looks forward to the work they will do in their new ministries.”

The Cabinet Office also announced several transfers of permanent secretaries and acting Permanent Secretaries. These will come into effect on July 30.

These included the reassignment of Jack Thompson from the Office of the Prime Minister to the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture; Donella Bodie to the Ministry of the Public Service and National Insurance from the Ministry of Education; and Elise Delancy to the newly formed Public Service Modernisation Unit from the Ministry of the Public Service and National Insurance.

Lorraine Symonette-Armbrister will now serve in the Ministry of Education from the Ministry of Transport and Local Government; Nicole Campbell to the Office of the Prime Minister from the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and Sherrylee Smith to the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development from the Mnistry’s Urban Renewal Commission.

Acting Permanent Secretary Cora Bain-Colebrooke will be transferred to the Ministry of Transport and Local Government from the Ministry of Social Services.

In response to the Cabinet changes, Mr Davis said: “The changes in portfolio allocations announced by the prime minister amount to nothing more than political musical chairs. It accomplishes nothing of substance and is merely shuffling the deck of bad cards.

“One year into the government, the prime minister’s moves condemn his own government for incompetence and ineffectiveness. . . The PLP is not impressed by any of it. One day into imposing a whopping 60 per cent increase in tax on the Bahamian people, our prime minister seeks to distract us from real problems imposed by his government with this nonsensical Cabinet shuffle.”

• SEE TUESDAY'S TRIBUNE FOR MORE