The Tribune

By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

Clay Sweeting, the newly announced Minister of Works and Family Island Affairs, said the merger of the two ministries will ensure that the Family islands “get the special attention they need”.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Mr Sweeting said that he was “excited” to take on his new role and that the combining the portfolios will allow a greater focus to be placed on the new developments on the Family Islands.

He said: “I’m excited about my new role. I loved my time at the Ministry of Agriculture as well.

“We’re looking at doing a lot of work through this country, especially in the Family Islands, so they will get the attention. The ministry would now be the Ministry of Works and Family Island Affairs.

“So the Prime Minister, in his wisdom, merged the two to ensure that the Family Islands were able to get the special attention they need as well.”

The Prime Minister gave a national address on Sunday where he announced several changes to his Cabinet including reassigning Mr Sweeting as the Ministry of Works and Family Island Affairs. He said that combing the two ministries “makes sense” due to the large number of Family Island initiates underway, including the $260m Family Island Airports Renaissance Programme.

He said: “As the new Minister of Works and Family Island Affairs, Minister Sweeting will oversee the significant number of infrastructural projects and upgrades that are underway. Pulling Works and Family Island Affairs together makes sense in our government, because of the scope of our ambitions for our Family Islands.

“With two new airports already opened, and 14 more to go, and major roadworks across multiple islands, we are looking at transformative change.”

Mr Sweeting reflected on some of his accomplishments in his two years as Minister of Agriculture including the $15m Golden Yolk egg production programme and $1.8m in grants to local fishermen and farmers in the last year.

He said: “I think some of our major accomplishments, would have been the Golden Yolk to reduce or eliminate the imports of eggs in this country.

“We also launched grant programmes, last year alone we allocated $1.8m in grants to the fishermen and farmers in this country, a portion of that was specified directly to climate smart agriculture.

“We named sailing as the national sport, so as a lot of things that we accomplished here.”

He added that the new Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources, Jomo Campbell will continue the support to local farmers and fishermen with an upcoming $1m initiative and the continuance of the cultivation centers in New Providence and on the Family Islands.

He said: “This year, we have a million dollars that Mr Campbell would launch and in short order, we also continue to build out the cultivation center that should be up and going in a few weeks, which would be inclusive of some food kitchens, not just here in New Providence, but in the Family islands as well, for processors.”

Mr Campbell said that he was “excited” to take on the his new role and that people can expect him to be a minister that is “open to new ideas” and willing to collaborate with existing stakeholders to ensure that ongoing and new projects are completed.

He said: “I’m happy for the transition, I’m happy for the Prime Minister expressing his confidence in me and I’m excited to be here. As we all know, agriculture is definitely an exciting ministry.

“They should expect for me to be a minister who was open to new ideas, someone who was willing to listen, I come in this knowing that I certainly don’t know everything about agriculture. Nothing can happen without the complete cooperation of the team, I’ve met some of them. I’m fully confident that together we could achieve everything that was started and bring it to fruition.”

“With regard to receiving the baton from Minister Clay Sweeting, in any relay, speed is not the only factor. [There is] also the skill and the technique of receiving that baton [that] can actually impact the outcome of the race. So what I want to do right now is, listen and learn all of the key players involved.”

In July 2022, 35,000 gallons of diesel was spilt into waters off the coast of Great Exuma when a vessel Sun Oil contracted was delivering fuel. Last month, attorney General Ryan Pinder said he would not reveal how much the government fined Sun Oil Limited the spill, a decision which sparked criticism from the Opposition and environmentalists.

Mr Campbell said that he is proud of the “heavy fines” placed on companies that pollute our environment and that when they are held accountable it lowers the likelihood of reoccurrence.

He said: “I’m extremely proud of the fact that under the Ministry of Legal Affairs, we were deeply involved in having some heavy fines levied against those persons who actually polluted our waters. And you know, that’s something to be proud of, because we are now holding persons accountable.

“Once persons realise that they’re going to be held accountable for doing these things that have negative impacts on our environment, then it reduces the risk and the chances of that happening and continuing.”