GUSSIEMAE INGRAHAM ISN’T SERIOUS

Mr. Ingraham’s comments about the Cabinet changes effected by Prime Minister Perry Christie are disingenuous in the extreme, when he says that he is concerned about the administrative costs of changing Ministerial portfolios.

This cannot be the man who in 1997 created what is believed to be the largest Cabinet in the history of the country.  The public will remember that under the Ingraham administration the term ‘Gussimae Cabinet’ was invented to describe the size of that Cabinet.

This cannot be the same man to now complain about how some Ministries don’t fit with other Ministries when, as Prime Minister, he had the Ministry of the Public Service and Culture joined together.  He had a Ministry of Consumer Affairs joined with aviation.

In the years between 1997 and 2002, Mr. Ingraham had three Ministerial changes.  He has obviously had a memory lapse, and the former Prime Minister’s statements should not fool the Bahamian people.  It is spurious.

Prime Minister Christie has had one refining change, which he describes as tweaking the portfolios and realigning them, having had the experience of the previous three years and nine months.

We also reject the claim that some of the parts of Ministerial portfolios do not seem to go with other parts of the portfolios.  It was the Prime Minister's judgment, which he is free to make under the Constitution, to allow Ministers who were involved in important particular projects to carry those projects forward with them to completion.  One example is Minister Leslie Miller who takes with him the LNG project to allow that matter to be carried forward by him since he has already done considerable work on it.

I wish to assure the public as the Minister responsible for the Public Service that the work is already in gear co-ordinating with the Secretary to the Cabinet to effect the Prime Minister's changes.  It does not impose any extraordinary burden on the public service or on the resources of the Government.

It is fascinating how when an Opposition leader who has been calling for various changes, sees the changes, suddenly finds that everything is wrong with them.  He forgets what he himself did when he was Prime Minister imposing the cost of his ‘Gussiemae’ Cabinet on The Bahamas, and often playing musical chairs with his Ministers and calling it reform.

For example, during his term, Mr. Ingraham would simply remove a Minister from the Cabinet but make him an Executive Chairman, paying him the same salary that he would have earned as Minister, thus saving no money at all.  Now he pretends to be concerned about costs.  Mr. Ingraham cannot be serious.
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Hon. Fred Mitchell MP
Minister of Foreign Affairs & The Public Service
23rd February, 2006