The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

WHILE Peter Turnquest’s resignation from Cabinet presents a challenge for the government, the country’s economic recovery does not rest on the shoulders of one man, a top banker asserted yesterday.

Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive, told The Tribune that Bahamians needed to depersonalise the conversation surrounding the East Grand Bahama MP’s resignation from the posts of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.

He said there also didn’t need to be an exaggeration of what Mr Turnquest’s departure would mean to the operations of the Ministry of Finance.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis accepted Mr Turnquest’s resignation Wednesday evening, ending nearly a week of political intrigue after the East Grand Bahama MP was named – although not joined as a defendant – in a Supreme Court lawsuit relating to an alleged $27m fraud.

Dr Minnis said in a brief statement that he will serve as interim finance minister before a substantive appointment is made to that post. Mr Turnquest said he will continue to serve out his term as MP.

“The role of any Cabinet minister is to prepare for succession planning,” said Mr Bowe.

“No one individual is irreplaceable. The reality is the Ministry of Finance is a function and whilst the Minister of Finance would be the chief executive officer, the actual executive team which would be his financial secretary, his advisers, the deputy financial secretary report to him. They should still be in existence and it’s really from the perspective of saying there would have to be a new chief executive officer so we have to say that his leadership and his planning for the future is one that we hope is already put in place and they are the same people that he would expect to run it even if he was there.

“I think it’s important to note that he would not be doing calculations personally. He would not be drafting budgets personally. He would not be doing elements that would be creating our economic strategy personally. His primary role would be to review, provide input, produce ideas, guidance and provide direction.

“Will we miss that? I think we certainly will because he’s been in the room for three plus years. The personnel would have already become accustomed to his working style. They would be accustomed to the nature of information that he would have requested and also the instruction of how things get executed.”

Mr Bowe continued: “So, I think that we have to depersonalise this conversation that we’re having that the Ministry of Finance is an institution. The chief executive officer, meaning the minister is himself an institution because it changes as there are changes in government or changes in ministerial assignment.

“Ultimately, we should be looking at this from the perspective as saying the overall leadership of the Cabinet is going to be tested at this point in time because the deputy prime minister and minister of finance could have vacated for a number of reasons. It could have been an untimely passing. It could have been illness. It could have been a personal matter and he pulled away and sought leave of absence and so we have to be careful to not exaggerate what his departure will mean to the operation of the Ministry of Finance.”

Mr Turnquest’s resignation came as a surprise even to his Cabinet colleagues, with one minister telling The Tribune Wednesday night that he was “devastated and shocked” by the outcome.

The Tribune understands Mr Turnquest’s Cabinet colleagues largely wanted him to remain the steward of the country’s fiscal affairs as the nation battles the economic fallout from the COVID-19 crisis.

His departure from Cabinet comes several months after Elizabeth MP Dr Duane Sands resigned as Health Minister under controversial circumstances.

He is the third Cabinet minister to resign from the Minnis administration, after Brent Symonette quit his post as Minister of Immigration and Trade last year.

Elected deputy leader of the Free National Movement in 2014 during the party’s tumultuous time in opposition, Mr Turnquest stood by Dr Minnis’ side when Loretta Butler-Turner led a revolt against the Killarney MP in 2016. Despite this, the pair did not enjoy a strong relationship and Mr Turnquest was not in the Prime Minister’s circle of most trusted colleagues, sources said.