A closer look at the firing of housing minister - Kenneth Russell; the Free National Movement (FNM) Member of Parliament (MP) for High Rock - Grand Bahama

The undoing of Kenneth Russell

A closer look at the housing minister’s firing

By Erica Wells
Guardian Managing Editor

Every political leader must make decisions that please or infuriate.  Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has developed a reputation for being one of those leaders who has no difficulty making the ones that infuriate.

For example, last week he frankly told reporters that there would be some new faces in the Free National Movement’s line-up of candidates going in to the next election.  Among those would not be sitting MPs who are not seeking reelection and those who the party felt were no longer suitable fits.

This has not sat well with some long-serving party members, and at least one has come out publically against the decision.

Those who speak out publically against Ingraham usually meet the same fate.  Just ask Pierre Dupuch, Tennyson Wells or Branville McCartney.

High Rock MP Kenneth Russell last week became the latest casualty among some of those who have defied Ingraham publically.

Russell was fired last week Friday from his cabinet post.  Many immediately assumed the decision had to do with his audacious challenge to the prime minister made in the media the day before.

But party insiders familiar with the situation said that Russell’s undoing started more than a week earlier, and that Russell’s criticisms of Ingraham at a party meeting in Grand Bahama on Thursday night were ultimately what sealed the former housing minister’s fate.

“Russell doomed himself,” a party insider told Guardian National Review.  “Russell began to sow the seeds of his firing last week.”

The party insider was referring to a meeting held in Grand Bahama during the first week in December, when Ingraham and a delegation were on the island for a coming together of the top brass of the party, including MPs, branch chairmen and party executives.

It was at that meeting, said the party source, that Russell’s branch chairman raised the issue of a proposed development for East Grand Bahama and the cabinet’s decision to not approve the resort project that was touted by some as having the potential to create several thousand jobs.

Ingraham reportedly said that the project had too many issues and was not ultimately a good or viable one for the long-struggling island economy.

“The feeling was that the only way Russell’s branch chairman would have known about the cabinet’s conclusion was if Russell had told him,” said the party source.  “That was private cabinet business.  It was not in the public domain.”

“The PM could not allow Russell to undermine his authority.  Russell had lost credibility in the PM’s eyes,” the source added.

The cabinet statement announcing Russell’s termination cited that Russell was “relieved of all ministerial responsibilities arising out of conduct by Mr. Russell inconsistent with his ministerial duties”.

The statement did not provide further details; however, FNM sources point to the meeting as the sea change that ultimately led to Russell’s termination.  This combined with statements by Russell criticizing the prime minister – for not going ahead with the development – to others on the island as recently as Thursday night made for an untenable situation, according to party sources.

Hours after he was ordered to pack up his office on Friday, Russell told this newspaper: “If my push to have business come to Grand Bahama is what caused him to fire me, then so be it.  If my push to get as many houses built and change the Ministry of Housing to a better place is what caused him to fire me, so be it.”

Russell said that he knew more than a year ago that there was a rift between he and Ingraham.  He said he did not know why Ingraham had “turned away from him”.

That friendship presumably became even more strained when Ingraham made it clear that Russell would not represent the FNM in the upcoming general election.

That’s when Russell told reporters that he would run on the FNM’s ticket in Grand Bahama with or without Ingraham’s approval.

Trouble in Grand Bahama for the FNM?

Russell has deep roots within the FNM.  He is a former chairman and vice-chairman of the Free National Movement High Rock Constituency Association, and was elected to the House of Assembly for the High Rock constituency in 1997.  He was one of the few FNMs re-elected to another term in 2002.

He was a member of the Housing Commission for Grand Bahama from 1992 to 1998, and a member of the Local Government Council for Freeport from 1996 until his election to Parliament.  He also served as chairman of the Town Planning Committee for New Providence and The Bahamas between 1997 and 2001, and as a cabinet minister with responsibility for Public Works between 2001 and 2002.

Russell said that while he had previously thought that Ingraham was “more democratic” than anyone else he knew, he was learning that Ingraham could also be a “tyrant”.

“Let Grand Bahama make the selection (of who it wants to run).  Grand Bahama is [part of] a free country.  Let them make the selection.  It’s not for you as one man to do,” said Russell in an interview on Friday after he was fired.

“The prime minister painted a good picture for me, and I thought the prime minister was a democratic man, was a man who had a heart because of what he showed me in my experience with him. He was more democratic than anyone else I know.  Or so I thought.  And he was a man (who) was down to earth – don’t mind the rough exterior.

“But now, I’m learning that he could also be a tyrant.  That’s what I’m learning now.  I learned it the hard way.  Now he (has) the power; he could destroy me and he is freely welcome to do so, but God is in control of this ship.”

This latest development in the Free National Movement so close to a general election could mean trouble for the party.

Ingraham already has the reputation as an autocratic leader.  It is a trait that his opponents highlight at every opportunity.  And it was dissension in the party that some political observers said played a role in the FNM’s 2002 defeat.

However, despite the leadership fight in the run up to 2002, Ingraham was able to unify and rally the party and beat the one-term Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), which had a huge majority in the House of Assembly, including all but one seat in New Providence.

There is also the issue of whether Ingraham and the FNM have the support needed to retain the party’s seats in Grand Bahama, which some say has been “largely ignored” by this administration.

The island’s economy has been suffering for years, well before the global economic downturn.  Unemployment is at 15 percent and promises that the government made to create a ministry to specifically focus on Grand Bahama have gone unfulfilled and may come back to haunt the FNM come election time.

“It now appears that Mr. Ingraham will not have as easy a time imposing his will on the Grand Bahama FNM Council as he has done in the past,” said the Progressive Liberal Party’s northern branch in a press statement.

“The main reason for this is that Grand Bahamians in general, including members of the Grand Bahama FNM Council, place most of the blame for the state of Grand Bahama’s economy at the doorstep of Mr. Ingraham.”

But the PLP has to share some of the blame for the poor state of Grand Bahama, which struggled for years under the Perry Christie-led administration.

Russell’s termination marked the seventh time this term that a minister has left the cabinet.  Claire Hepburn, Sir Michael Barnett, Elma Campbell and Carl Bethel stepped down to take up different posts.  Sidney Collie resigned after the local government elections debacle in July 2008; and Branville McCartney, who did not get along with Ingraham, resigned in 2010.  McCartney later formed the Democratic National Alliance.

Dec 12, 2011

thenassauguardian

Caribbean Blog International

Those of us who understand the parliamentary practice of the Westminster system of government knew that the fired Minister of Housing - Mr. Kenneth Russell - had signed his own political death warrant

The firing of Kenneth Russell

tribune242 editorial



"THE Cabinet Office announces that the Prime Minister has advised the Governor General that with immediate effect the Minister of Housing the Honourable Kenneth Russell has been relieved of all ministerial responsibilities arising out of conduct by Mr Russell inconsistent with his ministerial duties.

"Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has advised the Governor General to appoint the Hon Neko C Grant as Minister of Housing in addition to his responsibilities as Minister of Works and Transport."

The December 9th Cabinet announcement was terse and to the point. Kenneth Russell, member of parliament for Grand Bahamas' High Rock constituency from 1997 was no longer at the heart of government's decision making.

Mr Russell is obviously a popular FNM representative in his constituency -- winning over his PLP opposition in the 2002 election by 314 votes, and increasing his winning margin by 548 votes in the 2007 election. However, not only was he now out of the Cabinet, but with the reconfiguration of the boundaries, there was no longer a High Rock constituency for him to represent.

Mr Russell was upset that High Rock's name had been obliterated. He made his annoyance known publicly only to be chastised on the floor of the House by the Prime Minister.

On December 8, The Tribune reported that according to reliable sources Mr Russell planned to run in East Grand Bahama -- the name replacing High Rock -- on the FNM ticket despite the party's wishes. Apparently at a party meeting the night before Mr Russell had confirmed that he intended to run in the district, but to a Tribune reporter the next day, he refused to comment on reports that his decision was not supported by Mr Ingraham.

Those of us who understand the parliamentary practice of the Westminster system of government knew that Mr Russell had signed his own political death warrant. The Cabinet announcement, which came the next day, was only a formality.

"Two key interlinked features of Cabinet are collective responsibility and confidentiality," said a paper describing Cabinet protocol. "Members of Cabinet are collectively responsible for the decisions made by Cabinet. While disagreement may be aired within the confines of a Cabinet meeting, it is a convention that Cabinet decisions will be fully and publicly supported by all Ministers, despite any personal views held by individual Ministers. Ministers and any officials are expected to refrain from public comment on matters to be considered by Cabinet. The confidentiality of Cabinet proceedings supports the principle of collective responsibility, by promoting open and free discussion including the airing of dissenting views and compromise."

Their duties are outlined in a Cabinet Handbook.

"Fidelity to Cabinet is seen as critical to maintaining the position of a Minister of the Crown, as Quick and Garran remarked in 1901, 'if any member of the Cabinet seriously dissents from the opinion and policy approved by the majority of his colleagues it is his duty as a man of honour to resign'."

In 1984, after the Commission of Inquiry into drug peddling, Hubert Ingraham and Perry Christie, then members of the Pindling Cabinet, made it known of their concern about what was revealed in the inquiry and the corruption in the PLP. So concerned were they that it was rumoured that they had planned to do the honourable thing and resign from Cabinet. Sir Lynden, hearing these rumours, out manoeuvred them and their marching orders were quickly hand delivered. They were both fired from the Cabinet with Mr Ingraham later being expelled from the party.

In Cabinet, the prime minister is described as primus inter pares -- first among equals. He is first because it is his duty to select members for the cabinet with whom he can work and who will support the government's policies. Only the prime minister can hire and fire his Cabinet. From time to time there are Cabinet reshuffles to make certain that the prime minister has around him persons on whom he can rely to carry out government's agenda.

Mr Ingraham is a decisive man. No one would expect him to have done less when confronted with a public show down from one of his Cabinet colleagues. One only has to look to England to understand how ruthless some Cabinet firings can be. Some of those fired over the years were very able men, who had the misfortune of becoming misfits on the Cabinet team.

In sharp contrast, we had the weak leadership of former PLP prime minister Perry Christie, some of whose cabinet ministers were like so many sputniks firing off in all directions. Several of them seemed to be a government unto themselves, each making his own decisions and out on his own mission.

In the end, this can be seen as one of several reasons for his party's defeat -- the chief had lost control of his Cabinet.

December 12, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Caribbean Blog International

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham on the firing of the Minister of Housing, Kenneth Russell from his Cabinet

PM: Why I fired minister


By DENISE MAYCOCK
Tribune Freeport Reporter
dmaycock@tribunemedia.net


BEFORE a packed room of FNM supporters, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham yesterday explained in detail why he fired Minister of Housing Kenneth Russell from his Cabinet.

He met with the FNM's High Rock Council and has invited members to put forth at least two names as candidates that the party could consider for the new East Grand Bahama seat in the next general.

Supporters turned out at the Foster Pestaina Hall at Christ the King Church at 4pm to hear from Mr Ingraham.

He was greeted with cheers and applause as he made his way into the auditorium. Also present were Brent Symonette, deputy leader, MP Zhivargo Laing, Senator David Thompson, and former Cabinet Ministers and MPs Maurice Moore, and C A Smith.

Prime Minister Ingraham said he did what any Prime Minister would do to a minister who acted in a manner inconsistent with the Cabinet of the Bahamas.

Mr Ingraham stated that sometime ago, he had sent Brent Symonette, the deputy leader of the FNM, to speak with Ken Russell about stepping aside.

Mr Russell, he said, had sent a message with profanity back with Mr Symonette.

Mr Ingraham said he had chosen Russell to replace Maurice Moore in High Rock, and had appointed him to his Cabinet.

He stated that the party is always in search of new and additional talent and that was the purpose of asking Mr Russell to step aside.

The Prime Minister said he spoke with Mr Russell himself and informed him that after the next election, if the FNM was successful, he did not intend to put him back in Cabinet, and suggested that he step aside so the party can nominate someone else.

"I made him an offer of what will happen for him if he did that. He told me he would get back to me next week," Mr Ingraham said.

The Prime Minister said at a meeting in Grand Bahama, Elkenny Pinder and Mr Russell had questioned him about a proposed project for East Grand Bahama.

Mr Ingraham said the matter was considered by the Government of the Bahamas on four separate occasions, and on each occasion they could not and would not support the project.

"In fact, we would love to have a project like that in Grand Bahama and in the Bahamas, but ... not everybody who comes to the Bahamas and says we got something is somebody who you could trust," he said.

After returning to New Providence, Mr Ingraham withdrew the offer he made to Mr Russell.

"I told him the offer I made last week is hereby withdrawn, because if it wasn't so near to the election, 'I would fire you for what you did,' " he said.

"He (Mr Russell) explained himself but that did not change my view. I told him I decided that he had to tender his resignation."

"He did not tender his resignation and so I dismissed him. Although I dismissed him, he is still my friend," Mr Ingraham said.

Mr Ingraham also said that Mr Russell had made a remark, "Who does Hubert Ingraham think he is?"

"I am the leader of the FNM. You elected me as your leader. I assure you I did what any Prime Minister would do to a minister who acted in a manner inconsistent with Cabinet of the government of the Bahamas.

"There is nothing personal, I did what had to be done," he said.

While in Grand Bahama, Mr Ingraham met with the High Rock, now East Grand Bahama Constituency Council, and invited members to put forward to the party at least two candidates that the party could consider to carry the party's banner in East Grand Bahama in the next general.

"As you know Grand Bahama is important to the FNM. It is important for the FNM to renew itself by bringing in new additional talent.

"Maurice Moore made it possible for Ken Russell; David made it possible for Zhivargo Laing, and I got in Abaco because Charles Bootle made room for me," he explained.

"We want for this election to put forward the best team that we can. In order to do that, some of our members who are now in the House are going to retire.

"Some have asked to go on their own volition, and some are going to be asked not to go again," Ingraham said.

The leader of the FNM said he will unveil to the Bahamas in the coming weeks, the FNM's line up for the next general election.

"I am asking Grand Bahama to continue to support us. We are the best party for Grand Bahama and the best for the Bahamas.

"The evidence of our goodness in Grand Bahama can be seen, heard and touched. Your choice in the general election is going to be very simple, PLP or FNM; Hubert Ingraham or Perry Christie would be Prime Minister of the Bahamas.

"Never mind the noise in market. It is, will be, PLP or FNM. You are in safe hands with the FNM.

"Grand Bahama, we want to inject in our parliament some new blood.

"We ask Grand Bahama to accept the new blood. We want you in GB to select at least two names for the seats in Grand Bahama," the Prime Minister said.

Mr Ingraham said the seats that were reconfigured in Grand Bahama were done in response to the feedback from the people

"We have not reconfigured Marco City and Pine Ridge, we reconfigured those seats for a reason. We listened to your cry in Grand Bahama and much of what we do is in response to what you say," he said.

"There is nothing sinister about what we are doing. We do have your best interest at heart," he told residents of Grand Bahama.

Mr Ingraham then asked supporters to stand in recognition of the late FNM stalwant Ron Darville who died yesterday.

December 12, 2011

tribune242

Caribbean Blog International

Former Housing Minister Kenneth Russell says: Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham is a “dictator” who should not be allowed to run the Free National Movement (FNM) as a “one man show”

Russell responds to being fired

Says PM Ingraham a 'dictator'

By TANEKA THOMPSON
NG Senior Reporter

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham is a “dictator” who should not be allowed to run the Free National Movement as a “one man show”, charged former Housing Minister Kenneth Russell, who was fired from his post yesterday.

The High Rock MP said there was no good reason why he was booted from Ingraham’s Cabinet and told The Nassau Guardian he had exceeded the government’s expectations for the Ministry of Housing.

“If the prime minister decides to fire me for whatever reason, that’s his business, but I don’t consider myself as doing anything wrong to be fired,” Russell said.

“If my push to have business come to Grand Bahama is what caused him to fire me, then so be it.  If my push to get as many houses built and change the Ministry of Housing to a better place is what caused him to fire me, so be it.”

Russell suggested that the only reasonable explanation he could give for his sudden firing was his refusal to leave frontline politics when the prime minister told him to retire.

Russell said Ingraham called him on Monday and told him he was not going to be a part of the FNM’s 2012 election slate.

The MP said he told friends of his displeasure with Ingraham’s plans – something Russell thinks did not go over well with the prime minister.

“The prime minister called me on Monday and indicated that he is not going to run me anymore,” Russell told The Nassau Guardian from Grand Bahama, about an hour after he flew to that island after leaving his former ministry in Nassau.

“I told some of my friends about it and I said to them, ‘I don’t know who the prime minister thinks he is, one man in the party telling me he [isn’t] running me anymore’.

“On Wednesday, he said to me he wanted to see me at his house at 8 o’clock that night.  I couldn’t make it because I was going to a function with the Torchbearers (the FNM’s youth arm).

“On Thursday, I had the opening of the Pride III (subdivision) and the groundbreaking for the other subdivision... He only could see me this morning (Friday).

“So I came to Freeport, had a meeting last night (Thursday) with my executives and I flew back to Nassau this morning.  I walked into his office at about 9:30 (a.m.).

“He said to me, ‘You said to somebody, who I think I [am]?’  He said, ‘I will show you who I am.  Give me your resignation by 12 o’clock.’  I said, ‘Or what?’  He said, ‘Or I will do what I have to do.’  I said, ‘Fine, do what you have to do.’  I shook his hand and left the room.”

Although his firing seems sudden, Russell said he knew more than a year ago that there was a rift between himself and the prime minister.

He added the prime minister’s recent actions were the actions of a tyrant.

“I told the prime minister a year and a half ago that he is still my friend, but obviously he no longer has me as a friend.  The moves that Ingraham has made so far with the boundary cuts and what he told me about he’s not running me anymore and what not, they are moves of a dictator,” Russell said.

“I worked with him a long time and this is the first time I have seen this negative side of him.

“The prime minister was my friend.  In fact, we are related.  The same aunties and uncles he has in Cooper’s Town (Abaco), so do I.

“I don’t know why he turned this way, but I have no problem with it; it’s his choice to make. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord is always with me, and even though Ingraham would attempt to slay me, I still love him.

“I was surprised at the way he handled this and what he is doing.  He may have justifiable reasons in his mind; I don’t have any.  I thought he was a good leader... I told people [under] the rough exterior he was a compassionate man.

“I told people that Ingraham will give you the shirt off his back if necessary.  I will stand by that for the time being until he proves to me otherwise.”

The MP said he still is a member of the Free National Movement and plans to apply for a nomination on the party’s ticket for the new East Grand Bahama constituency.

“The FNM is my party.  I’ve been there from the beginning and I will continue to work with the FNM, and I intend to seek the nomination of the East Grand Bahama constituency for the FNM in the next general election,” Russell said.

As for what he will do if he is not selected as an FNM candidate, Russell said: “I will cross that bridge when I get to it.  Right now I am the FNM member of Parliament for the High Rock constituency and I will be seeking the FNM nomination for the new Eastern Grand Bahama constituency.

“We have the right to apply.  It should be no one man show, one man selecting who the candidates are.  The candidate’s committee and the council of the Free National Movement should be selecting the candidates for the FNM party.”

Russell said he plans to be in Parliament when it meets Monday, but does not know where he will sit.  Prior to his firing, he sat next to Ingraham.

Earlier this week, a defiant Russell — a member of Parliament for 15 years — said his party could lose thousands of votes if he is not renominated.

Yesterday afternoon, the Cabinet Office announced that Russell had been relieved of his ministerial responsibilities because of conduct inconsistent with his duties.

Minister of Works and Transport Neko Grant has assumed Russell’s portfolio.

Dec 10, 2011

thenassauguardian

Caribbean Blog International

Kenneth Russell: Minister of Housing and Member of Parliament for High Rock was fired from Hubert Ingraham's Cabinet

KENNETH RUSSELL FIRED FROM CABINET

By PAUL G TURNQUEST

Tribune242 Chief Reporter

pturnquest@tribunemedia.net

MINISTER of Housing and Member of Parliament for High Rock Kenneth Russell was fired from the Cabinet of the Bahamas at 9.30am today, The Tribune can report.

According to party insiders, Mr Russell’s termination came as a result of him “breaking Cabinet protocol” and allegedly discussing Cabinet decisions in the media. Reportedly Mr Russell’s challenge to his party leader, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, that he would be running in High Rock despite his party’s wishes was the “final straw”.

The Minister of Works and Transport, Neko Grant, will now take over responsibility of the Ministry of Housing.

FNM Chairman Carl Bethel told The Tribune yesterday that he could not comment on Mr Russell’s termination as it was a Cabinet decision and “not a party matter”.

However, PLP MP for Fox Hill  Fred Mitchell said that there is no question that the FNM Cabinet has “collapsed”.

Claiming that there is a tremendous amount of resentment in the FNM, Mr Mitchell called on Mr Russell, Clifton MP Kendal Wright and Eight Mile Rock MP Verna Grant to join with the PLP and vote Mr Ingraham out of office. 

“The handwriting has been on the wall for days, the collapse of the FNM Cabinet as we knew it. Constitutionally, the position has now been regularised with the dismissal of Kenneth Russell from the Cabinet,” Mr Mitchell said.

Recalling his earlier statements published in The Tribune, Mr Mitchell said that he questioned how Mr Russell could remain in the Cabinet given the fact that he publicly dissented from a decision of the Cabinet and was chastised by the Prime Minister for doing so in the House of Assembly.

“I understand that the situation became more untenable for the former Minister when he made his position pellucidly clear about opposing the will of the Prime Minister at the meeting of the party held last evening in Freeport,” Mr Mitchell added.

“The Prime Minister acted this morning to dismiss him once he heard the content of his comments. Mr Ingraham had to act to help to frighten the other troops and keep them in line. My concern is for the stability of the government and ultimately the country. What we see happening is only the tip of the iceberg, a desperate attempt by the Prime Minister to save himself.

“This is 2002 revisited. Firing ministers, attacking his own people. Mr Russell, Kendal Wright and Verna Grant should join us in the PLP and vote Mr Ingraham out. The government is operating on a knife’s edge. It is time for the Prime Minister to go to the people and put himself out his misery and allow the PLP the opportunity to govern. I remind the Prime Minister that in the circumstances when the new Parliament meets, the maxim will be: the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Mr Mitchell said.

 December 09, 2011

tribune242

Caribbean Blog International