Christie said he disagreed with the notion that making changes to his Cabinet was a must because it is a sign of good governance
No Cabinet Reshuffle
03/05/2004
Saying that he does not want to disrupt major projects underway in various ministries, Prime Minister Perry Christie has shelved plans to make "adjustments" to his Cabinet.
"I have to have a real purpose for changing because the results are important," said Mr. Christie, who was a guest on the Radio Love 97 Programme "Jones and Company" which aired Sunday.
He said he disagreed with the notion that making changes to his Cabinet was a must because it is a sign of good governance.
Rumors regarding the prime minister's planned Cabinet reshuffle have been rife over the past several weeks, with Mr. Christie indicating to the Journal at the beginning of the year that he planned to make changes to his team.
At the time, he said, "The prime minister must always examine his government with a view to making adjustments and most certainly I am looking at making adjustments."
But on the Sunday programme, Mr. Christie revealed a change of heart.
He explained that he did not want to draw attention to a small number of ministers and ministries by making one or two changes.
"So as not to put undue pressure on one or two ministries by making adjustments, I decided to wait for a certain process to complete itself," the prime minister said.
He indicated that he is generally pleased with the job being done by his ministers, pointing to several examples.
"I realized that in tourism, for example, I had a minister in the middle of new marketing programmes that have resulted, that will continue to result in, an improvement of [the industry]," the prime minister said.
He added that if he were to make changes to the portfolio of Works and Utilities Minister Bradley Roberts, it could further delay the New Providence road improvement programme many people are anxious to see start and finish.
Pointing to Labour and Immigration Minister Vincent Peet, Mr. Christie said in considering whether to make adjustments, he realized that, "I had a Minister of Labour who had proven to be acceptable on the part of and had credibility with labour unions."
In addition, he pointed to what he indicated was a fine job being done by Minister of Housing and National Insurance Shane Gibson.
"I had a Minister of Housing who, in 22 months had build 558 houses, [compared to the former government] that built in ten years 780 houses," Mr. Christie said. "So I had a minister who was functioning efficiently."
In recent weeks, government officials have been pointing to their record on building houses, as an example of what they say is significant progress being made by the administration.
In the case of Transport and Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna Martin, Mr. Christie said it would be difficult to change her right now, given that she is working to meet a crucial international July deadline for the upgrade of port security throughout the country.
He also said that it would be unwise to reassign Youth, Sports and Culture Neville Wisdom who is working on very important youth projects, including the implementation of a National Youth Service.
Mr. Christie said, "I had to take stock of what I call the complex nature of governance and judge what I do by the results I hope to achieve and the results I hope to achieve will be attainable if I delayed what I intended to do."
