BBCCaribbean.com | Golding names cabinet of 18


Golding names cabinet of 18


Mr Golding's cabinet contained few surprises
Jamaica's new Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, has named his first cabinet.
The Deputy Prime Minister will be Kenneth Baugh, the former health spokesman for the Jamaica Labour Party.

Dr Baugh, a medical doctor, has been given the important portfolios of foreign affairs and foreign trade.

Mr Golding has taken responsibility for planning and defence.

Correspondents say the rest of the Cabinet is largely predictable.

Audley Shaw, who was the JLP's finance shadow, is the finance minister while Derick Smith is charged with tackling Jamaica's high crime rate.

Mr Golding named 18 ministers, which surprised some observers, some of whom had expected fewer based on his criticism of the size of government.

The cabinet

. Prime Minister, Minister of Planning, Development and Defence - Bruce Golding
. Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade - Dr Kenneth Baugh
. Minister of Finance and the Public Service - Audley Shaw
. Minister of National Security - Derrick Smith
. Attorney-General and Minister of Justice -Dorothy Lightbourne
. Minister of Industry and Commerce - Karl Samuda
. Minister of Education - Andrew Holness
. Minister of Tourism - Edmund Bartlett
. Minister of Agriculture - Christopher Tufton
. Minister of Energy, Mining and Telecommunications - Clive Mullings
. Minister of Water and Housing - Dr Horace Chang
. Minister of Labour and Social Security - Pearnel Charles
. Minister of Transport and Works - Michael Henry
. Minister of Health and Environment - Rudyard Spencer
. Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports - Olivia Grange
. Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister - James Robertson
. Minister in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service -Don Wehby
. Minister in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service - Dwight Nelson


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what do you guys thinks

Ladyday...I'm still in shock that Portia Simpson LOST!!! When i was in Jamaican in March the PNP was riding high..and the JLP was in total confusion.... I can't believe Golding won the election or Simpson out of order speech....

Mrs Simpson Miller was out of her depth

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

If we had any doubt that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller was not fit for the job, we no longer do. Her ungracious speech Monday night after her party's defeat at the polls was shocking, to say the least.

Conceding defeat, especially after a bruising contest, is the patriotic duty of great leaders who know that they must send the right signal to a nation that would have been divided by a long and often bitter rivalry.

Although there was only sporadic gunfire in parts of the country, Mrs Simpson Miller's stance could easily have incited greater mayhem, had angry and despondent supporters taken encouragement from her intemperate remarks and run amok.

No one is saying that defeat is sweet. But it is in defeat that one shows the true mettle of one's character. Monday night we saw a woman bereft of the new-found spirituality that she had espoused and one who had lost all care about the safety, security and well-being of the nation.

We wonder now what kind of opposition leader will Mrs Simpson Miller make if she does not understand what it takes to lead a country, as she has clearly shown.

The People's National Party (PNP), one of the truly great parties in the Western Hemisphere, must be extremely worried about its future under someone who has obviously not learnt the craft of statehood, despite her many years in the high echelons of the party and government.

With the nation transfixed on the nail-biting drama that was playing out in the ballot-counting exercise, the prime minister squandered a glorious opportunity to demonstrate that she had real leadership acumen.

The statesmanlike thing to do would have been to concede defeat to the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and, perhaps, to say that with so many of the results as close as they were, she expected to seek recounts, which could change the result in favour of her party. The country could have lived with that.

Mrs Simpson Miller's failure is not an issue of gender. We would hardly expect Mrs Maxine Henry-Wilson, the education minister, to behave similarly. Regrettably, we must conclude that the prime minister was out of her depth in the job.

That, of course, is a problem that is best addressed and resolved by the members of the PNP who elected her as leader, albeit with a minority of the votes cast in the presidential race.

Looked at positively, the time spent in opposition will allow the PNP to take a look at itself and its leadership. The party has five years in which to retool and re-image. It was not by any means wiped out by the JLP. In fact, given that it had been in office for an unprecedented four consecutive terms, it did better than should be expected by gaining 28 seats to the JLP's 32, at last count.

The PNP still commands great reserves of intellect among its membership, with members like Dr Peter Phillips, Dr Omar Davies and Mrs Henry-Wilson, among others. They will have to step forward in order to reshape and renew the party in time for the next run at the polls due in 2012.

In the meantime, we need not spell out to Mrs Simpson Miller what is the honourable and sensible thing to do at this time.

Not surprised at all to be honest, because it illustrates the fickleness of Caribbean electorate. I was more surprised at Compton getting back into power because his party was finished. Had this argument with Prof Caroline Cooper in JA who is a mad Porches fan and friend and was on the campaign trail with her.

When you look at Porche's polices and their implementation there is little to suggest it

a) creates clear light between herand the opposition

b) the implementaton of those policies were so successful as to create a new base of support or harden the targets in question to use the jargon.

I was in JA for four days during the Cricket World cup period and you could see the opposition at work and delivering licks. When the gap between the two parties are not that significant in real terms. It only takes a real hard core opposition to focus hard and go after their mark to seriously damage the encumbent and win the game and that is what went down in St Lucia and in my view same here.

And Golding aint no boy in these things and understand JA politics.

I told Prof Cooper nuff times I don't think her friend has the beef to fend off the opposition where it counts and look what happen. She would not hear of it. Going to run her now.

@fred b
during my summer hols i stayed in a jlp area of ja. he came down to the market and did all the fanfare, huge crowds came to see him, but after he had gone gunshots were heard. typical. in june pnp were leading the race but had controversy over a beauty queen candidate for local office.

jamaica needed a change in politics. lets hope the work industry can be expanded from grower to producer. if only they would stop all those holiday resorts. they have plenty as it is

LadyDay said:'jamaica needed a change in politics. lets hope the work industry can be expanded from grower to producer. if only they would stop all those holiday resorts. they have plenty as it is'

It shows you how weak the PNP grasp was if they can lose an election over just issues like that and shows their underlying base is not there or the underlying party corruption nastiness is alive and well. Bu the thing with tourism you can't stop people investing their money how they want. It's theirs to invest ,gain or lose.

But the thing is this the structure of interests in tourism from Butch Wilkins, the banking and financial sector, retail sector, national aviation etc works in a way that once there is money in it they aint budging jack....Too much big boy money inna dat...

JA needs to rebuild its manufacturing and export capacity which can create proper jobs for people and have a wonderful effect on Caribbean trade and commerce period given the potential size of its outputs.