Cabinet appointments to strengthen ‘core’

Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s remodeling of Cabinet has been done to enhance governance.

That is the view of political scientist Dr George Belle, who believes Mottley’s changes have been influenced by her first term in office and the need to strengthen “the core” around her.

The Prime Minister announced her new Cabinet this evening, naming Santia Bradshaw as Deputy Prime Minister and three other longstanding members of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) as senior ministers.

Speaking to Barbados TODAY shortly after the news broke, Dr Belle said Mottley’s decision to reduce the size of the Cabinet also showed she had been listening.

“I think that the Prime Minister is refining the Government in relation to her experience over the last three and a half years. She has also listened to comments about the character of the last Cabinet, particularly the size, and I think that she has brought about changes to reflect that. So that the changes seem to me to strengthen the core around herself in terms of administration of Government by appointing senior ministers and also to reward those people who are important to her maintaining leadership of the Government. Likewise, the appointment of a Deputy Prime Minister would also fit in that,” Dr Belle said.

“The only exception to that is the departure of Cynthia Forde who I would have seen as part of the political core for the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Government, but the Prime Minister said she had requested to take leave of Cabinet duties.”

Dr Belle lauded the appointments of Kay McConney and Shantal Munro-Knight to the Cabinet.

He also pointed out it was interesting that some senior members of the party were not appointed this time around.

“I think other than that the rest of the appointments is moving people around to different areas for experience and so on. I think the appointment of Kay McConney as Minister of Education is quite deliberate and I think it is a good appointment. I think the bringing of Shantal Munro-Knight into the Cabinet is a good appointment as well, although she is not known for her politics up to this point but I know that she is a very bright girl because she was one of my students on campus so I know her to be a very capable person.

“Not all of the people who have been left out of Cabinet might be of significance. I don’t see Dr [William] Duguid in the Cabinet and he was in the last Cabinet so that obviously sends the message that he should step back as well and some of the people who were removed on the last occasion have not returned, so likewise there seems to be a determination by Ms Mottley to keep them in another role in Parliament,” Dr Belle suggested.

The retired Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, also lauded Mottley for her planned move to appoint 18-year-old Barbados Scholar Khaleel Kothdiwala as a senator.

He said the Prime Minister’s proposal to amend the Constitution to allow for him to serve was admirable.

“I think that is a positive development as well if you are reaching out to the young people and the young fella is quite promising in terms of potential so that what she is doing is encouraging him while at the same time using him as an example for other young people to see what might be done for the youth,” Dr Belle said. (RB)