There is a school of thought that Prime Minister Perry Christie’s administration lacks focus. And political pundits have identified several wild cards in the cabinet who they say must go.
But the dealer of the deck, Prime Minister Christie, has not given much credence so far to the street talk about firings or a reshuffle. That may be because moving or sacking a minister is not so easy politically.
“Every time you fire a minister you make an enemy,” said a source close to the situation. “You make an enemy of that minister, as well as the minister’s friends and supporters.”
And in point of fact, such sackings have been relatively rare events in Bahamian politics, and are usually evidence of huge underlying problems…like the late Sir Lynden Pindling’s firing of Transport Minister Warren Levarity and Tourism Minister Arthur Foulkes just before the 1970 PLP split which eventually led to the creation of the Free National Movement.
In 1975 Sir Lynden reluctantly sacked Works Minister Simeon Bowe after a long drawn-out scandal over kickbacks from a government purchase of PVC pipes. It was one of the first times that opposition forces in parliament had been able to score against the Pindling government.
Then, in 1984, Sir Lynden fired two of his most promising ministers (who were threatening to resign in protest over allegations of government corruption) – Hubert Ingraham and Perry Christie. He also accepted the resignations of Kendal Nottage and George Smith, who were implicated in the allegations, as well as Arthur Hanna, who resigned as a matter of principle.
Mr. Ingraham too, in his time as prime minister, came into conflict with three of his top ministers…Tennyson Wells, Pierre Dupuch and Algernon Allen. Allen, a contender to the throne, was fired – once again, evidence of major political faultlines which in fact led to the defeat of Mr Ingraham’s government in the 2002 election.
Ministers in the Christie government have been accused of the unauthorised over-spending of millions of tax dollars, conflict of interest, and engaging in unseemly personal vendettas. Meanwhile Education Minister and Attorney General Alfred Sears holds down two critical jobs but is reported to want out of both.
It will be interesting to see how Mr Christie ﾗ who has a reputation for being much less decisive than his predecessors ﾗ handles this most delicate of political tasks – cabinet discipline.
Editorial, The Nassau Guardian
