I will now state who are the persons and key ministries I believe they should hold.
- Minister of Finance – Mark Golding. This guy is brilliant and is my pick for this ministry. Now he is not an MP but I am sure the PNP can figure something out.
- Industry and Commerce – Peter Bunting . Good business head and can garner investments ( FDI)
- Minister of National Security – Peter Phillips – One tough cookie and should go back to this ministry.
- Minister of Transport and Works - Julian Robertson
- Information Minister – Lisa Hanna
- Minister of Tourism – Wykeham McNeil – Do have some concerns here, but may be the best fit right now.
- Minister of Education – Damion Crawford – Good guy who is not afraid of a challenge.
- Minister of Health – Dr Fenton Ferguson .
- Minister of labour and social security – Dr Omar Davis. He should be allowed to exit gracefully .
These are the ones I am willing to suggest at this stage and represents a mixture of youth and experience.
Well there you have it, Jay’s selection for a portion of the new PNP cabinet.
Additional suggestion
10. Justice Minister – Ronald Thwaites
Filed under: Politics
Firstly, the Minister of Finance must be elected…..and did you know that Mark Golding is a Lawyer not an Economist?
Secondly, Peter Phillips was never at Finance.
Thirdly, why should the most experienced person if Finance, Dr. Davis, be allowed to exit gracefully?
Should we not focus on competence and qualification rather than some nebulous notion of “good guy who’s not afraid of a challenge”
I thought we would have learned from the recent placing unqualified persons to head the ministries of Finance, Education, etc
Note : This error was corrected, when I sent he should ” go back to this ministry, it actually was referring to the MNS.
Just a bit of info. Mark Golding is the financial genius behind the success of DB&G as well as Proven.
Damion is currently a lecturer at UWI as is very qualified for this position
Being a lecturer does not qualify you to deal with matters of education..All of Damions Qualifications are in tourism..he also lectures tourism…An understudy to McNeil in tourism, Maybe.
Point taken.
Now who do you believe is suitably qualified in the matters of education to become that minister. I am open to suggestion, remember we are looking for what’s in the best interest of the country.
The Minister of Finance first must be a Member of Paliament! Why do you name two persons to be Minister of Finance? Dr Davies is an able and capable Minister of Finance. He will be needed for the IMF matters and to ensure we do not have three and more budgets per financial year a la Audley Shaw.
I’m in total agreement here! Dr. Omar Davies is the best Finance Minister Jamaica has ever had, despite the nonsense people post about his connection to the financial meltdown of the 1990s. In fact, he was the person P. J. Patterson supported to take over the reign after he step down as Prime Minister…not PSM, not Peter Phillips…Dr. Omar Davies!!
Jay… you have two Ministers of Finance….maybe just an honest mistake…don’t think that the PNP needs two Ministers in that porfolio, unlike the JLP, that had three at one time.
Thanks truth, my mistake
Likely PNP Cabinet as seen in the Gleaner (http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20111230/lead/lead9.html) which I think has some merit:
Prime Minister/Min of Defence -Portia Simpson Miller
Finance, Planning & the Public Service – Peter Phillips (he is already opposition spokesman on finance and the finance portfolio is often the effective “prime minister in waiting position” in a lot of Westminster parliamentary systems unless the person filling it has other plans)
Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade – A.J. Nicholson (Sen)
National Security- Peter Bunting
Attorney General/Min of Justice – Patrick Atkinson (unless they keep the AG and Min of Justice posts separate which would be nice – in that case Patrick Atkinson might be the Attorney General and Mark Golding might become Minister of Justice as he is opposition spokesman on Justice)
Mining, Energy & Technology – Phillip Paulwell (oh bwoy. This wil probably be a problem)
Transport & Works – Omar Davies (until 2014 I would think)
Industry & Commerce -Anthony Hylton
Housing & Water – Dr. Morais Guy
Lands & the Environment – Noel ‘Butch’ Arscott (or Pickersgill who is opposition spokesman on the portfolio)
Tourism – Wykeham McNeill
Agriculture & Fisheries -Roger Clarke (we all know it will be him)
Education – Ronald Thwaites
Labour & Social Security – Derrick Kellier
Health – Dr. Fenton Ferguson (this to me would be the BEST pick as he studied medicine. Why on Earth did the JLP have TWO medical doctors in government but give neither of them the health portfolio? That was senseless. Instead they gave it to a union man and the end result was a blood bag crisis since the poor fella had little experience with medical issues).
Local Government – Colin Fagan
Youth & Culture – Lisa Hanna (I think she would also be given the Sports portfolio)
Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister (With responsibility for Information & Special Projects) – Colin Campbell (I don’t see this though since Campbell didn’t win)
Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister (With responsibility for Planning & the Public Service) – Mark Golding (he may be given this with a view towards putting him in as Finance Minister eventually).
When Davies exits the scene we would probably see Julian Robinson becoming Transport and Works Minister.
I really don’t see Portia being PM before the next election due in 2016. So at some point we will probably see:
Prime Minister – Peter Phillips
Finance Minister – Mark Golding
Transport and Works – Julian Robinson
National Security – Peter Bunting
It would be good though if Damion Crawford got a portfolio, probably the Education one as jay suggested. It’s time for some new faces.
One possibility I haven’t seen suggested but which I think is constitutionally possible would be to have Christopher Tufton as a minister.
Yes, I know he lost his seat but he could still be appointed to the Senate on the advice of Holness who will be Leader of the Opposition. Doing so would go a far way to breaking the mold of the current nature of our politics while still being entirely legal and allowing for the full exploration of the potential of the constitution and the abilities of the persons in Parliament.
Until Portia’s retirement this would probably be the best cabinet one could hope for:
PM – Portia
Finance – Phillips
Transport and Works – Julian Robinson
Education – Thwaites/Crawford (maybe have Crawford as a minister without portfolio with responsbility for Education and then move Thwaites out and Crawford in)
Agriculture – Tufton (Senator)
I find it strange that there is no mention of Horace Dalley in the suggested cabinet… no PNP cabinet is complete without Horace Dalley (Water and Housing probably)