Barbados PM makes second Cabinet reshuffle

The Prime Minister said all the Cabinet adjustments were taken after a series of individual consultations with the government ministers and analysis of progress in key areas of governmental activity.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, March 10, 2010 – Two Senators are out and several changes made to the Cabinet in the two-year-old Democratic Labour Party (DLP) administration in Barbados – the second reshuffle announced by the Prime Minister since taking office in January 2008.

David Thompson announced in a televised address last night that the changes are “a further step along the road of necessary adjustment”. 

He also revealed that over the next few weeks there would be a comprehensive review of the operations of various government departments. That process, he said, would entail a refocusing of priorities and reassignments of personnel at all levels, including that of Permanent Secretary.

In the Senate, Damien Griffith and Patricia Inniss are being replaced by Reverend Dr David Durant and human resource management consultant Andre Worrell. Prime Minister Thompson said the services of the former Senators would be utilized elsewhere, but he did not say where or in what way.

Also joining the Upper House is trade unionist and former Executive Director of the Barbados Employers Confederation, Harry Husbands, who has also been appointed to the position of Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of Prime Minister, with specific responsibility for Immigration and the Social Partnership. 

Senator and financial analyst Jepter Ince assumes the position of Parliamentary Secretary in the office of Prime Minister to, according to Thompson, “assist in the management of our response to administrative and economic challenges”.

“The appointments of Senators Husbands and Ince will enable me, as Prime Minister, to assume a greater oversight and coordinating role of other ministries, whose work is crucial to the overall success of our programme,” Thompson said.

As for the adjustments to Cabinet, they include giving direct oversight over the main health care facility in the island – the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) – to someone other than the Minister of Health.

Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Senator Irene Sandiford-Garner, has been reassigned to the Ministry of Health, with specific responsibility for overseeing operations of the hospital, as well as conceptualization, design and details of financing and execution of the QEH Enhancement Project. 

“I am satisfied that in addition to the current management structure and coordination by a competent Board of Directors, there is need for more direct political oversight at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital,” Thompson explained. “It is too critical an entity in the overall delivery of health services to be left to chance or for its effectiveness to be questioned.” 

He also indicated that “a substantial portion” of the proceeds from the sale of the government’s remaining shares in the Barbados National Bank would go towards the QEH Enhancement project.

Thompson has also sought to fill the void created by the recent decision to move Labour Minister Arni Walters into the position of executive chairman of the Barbados Water Authority (BWA).

“A further step along the road of necessary adjustment”
-- Prime Minister David Thompson

Minister of Family, Youth Affairs and Sport, Dr Esther Byer-Suckoo will take up Walters’ former position, while her substantive post has been given to backbencher Stephen Lashley. He will spearhead implementation of the Thompson administration’s family, youth and sports agenda.

“I am concerned about issues in relation to our youth. This government, in its general election campaign, produced a clear Charter for tackling and resolving issues of concern to young people. Irrespective of economic challenges and realities, we are determined to implement our Youth Agenda. We are resolved to promote the concept of family and the values entailed therein,” the Prime Minister said. “Sports is an area with considerable potential and which we believe should be fully exploited, especially in periods of adversity.”

Thompson also announced that to assist Minister of Economic Affairs, Empowerment, Innovation, Trade, Industry and Commerce, Dr David Estwick, in “the significant responsibility of tackling the issue of cost of living head on”, he has decided that current Minister of State in Education, Patrick Todd, will move over to Estwick’s ministry. He will have specific responsibility for overseeing issues of empowerment, entrepreneurship and small business development. 

The other change announced was that to the workload of Minister of Education and Human Resource Development, Ronald Jones.

Jones also served in the role of Leader of Government Business in the House of Assembly, but Thompson said that in order to allow him to “focus more on the priority issue of discipline among children on and off the school compound”, Social Care and Constituency Empowerment Minister Chris Sinckler will take up that role in Parliament.

The Prime Minister said all the Cabinet adjustments were taken after a series of individual consultations with the government ministers and analysis of progress in key areas of governmental activity.

But in quick reaction to the announced changes, Opposition Leader Mia Mottley said the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) was “at a loss as to what the Prime Minister was trying to achieve”.

“We are still trying to find a rational explanation for the Prime Minister’s annual Cabinet reshuffle,” she said in a statement issued shortly after the address.

Mottley was particularly critical of the decision to give Sandiford-Garner special responsibility for the QEH.

“Since the introduction of ministerial government, the primary responsibility of the Minister of Health has been the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. By giving a Parliamentary Secretary oversight of the QEH, including the refurbishing of the existing hospital or building of a new hospital, is to reduce (Health Minister) Donville Inniss to Minister of Polyclinics,” she said.

The Opposition Leader contended that the announced changes do not offer any confidence that the government is better positioned to meet the challenges facing the country.