The Tribune

THE Office of the Prime Minister has issued a statement about the appointment of former Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald as a senior policy advisor, saying the office is pleased that Mr Fitzgerald is joining the team.

“As we finish a very busy two weeks in office, we continue to build a team capable of addressing the country’s significant challenges,” the statement noted on Friday.

“Jerome Fitzgerald was a very effective minister of education and we’re pleased he will be joining the team at the Office of the Prime Minister. Our team is determined to implement the policies outlined in our Blueprint for Change, even while we manage the multiple crises facing our country.”

Last week, The Tribune reported that — in a now deleted tweet — the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit announced that Mr Fitzgerald is the new senior policy advisor and head of the PMDU.

When contacted for comment last week, OPM said the appointment had not yet been finalised.

The appointment was expected to draw criticism because of the controversy that ensnared Mr Fitzgerald’s career near the end of the last Christie administration.

At the time, Mr Fitzgerald confirmed that he sought contracts from Baha Mar for his family’s business after The Tribune exclusively revealed that he requested brokerage, trucking and limousine contracts worth millions. Critics claim that he breached the Manual of Cabinet and Ministry Procedure, which states that a minister must not “solicit or accept any benefits advantage or promise of future advantage whether for himself, his immediate family or any business concern or trust with which he is associated from persons who are in, or seek to be in, any contractual or special relationship with the government.”

Shortly before the 2017 general election, The Tribune published emails showing that Mr Fitzgerald advocated on behalf of Bahamas Cargo & Logistics, a company he said was formed by his father years ago.

Alleged PLP corruption was a prominent theme of the Free National Movement’s 2017 general election campaign and the Minnis-led party seized on the revelations about Mr Fitzgerald while making its pitch to Bahamians. The FNM won that election by a landslide and Mr Fitzgerald lost his re-election bid to the Marathon constituency.

In February 2019, Mr Fitzgerald announced an end to his political career, telling PLP members at a meeting for aspiring candidates in Marathon that he would not seek a nomination. He said his political career had been “active and exciting, rewarding and painful, dynamic and challenging, but most of all…gratifying.”

Mr Fitzgerald would not comment when contacted yesterday.