Reshuffling the PM's deck - No jokers, please!

Dr Orville Taylor, Contributor

Not in my Cabinet! Well, if the story in The Gleaner of April 16, 2013 is true, Prime Minister (PM) 'Queen' Portia Simpson Miller is on the verge of shuffling her cadre of ministers and moving: jack, kings and jokers. A.J. Nicholson is said to get his official retirement, to continue doing the work that he was doing in the foreign affairs ministry.

A Cabinet reshuffle is oftentimes a bad sign for an administration, because it is an admission that the ministers who are moved were not doing a good job, or that there are persons who could perform better than the incumbent. However, please tell the Portia detractors that she will not shuffle herself out.

Roger Clarke, a man who, unlike me, knows the difference between a pumpkin and a mango, seems well planted in his portfolio. True, he has been more visible since the F- grade he received in January, but he still has not outlined an overall development strategy for agriculture. In fact, the most pointed comment he has made in recent times has been about the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government destroying the potato farmers. (By the way, did you know that Irish potatoes are not Irish? They are really Peruvian in origin and were first cultivated by the Inca.)

Nevertheless, let's get back to the Cabinet. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Maas Roger will finally 'rice' to the occasion and deliver the answer that we need as to how Jamaica's agriculture will be a critical part of our growth and development strategy. This is his final chance to do so, even if he has to get Jake to assist him.

Finance Minister Peter Phillips is, doubtlessly, solid as a rock and wedged into his position. His former academic colleague, Omar Davies, a man who FINSAC'd Jamaica back to financial stability in the 1990s and presided over economic growth figures of -1.7 per cent to a low of -0.4 per cent between 1996 and 1999, but an eventual improvement to 2.3 per cent in 2006; and the net international reserves (NIR) moving from US$1 billion in 2000 to US$2.3 billion in 2006, is to be given an enhanced role. This dyad, with the smarts and brilliance of Simpson Miller, should take the country to the next level.

PAULWELL SAFE, AZAN DEFIANT

Phillip Paulwell, who is tight with the PM, is now showing what he is worth; and, a far cry from January, is giving a much clearer picture of what the technological and development path is. Another Portia devotee, junior minister in the transport, works and housing ministry, Richard 'Tears of Joy' Azan, although he has admitted wrongdoing, seems to have built a more sturdy backing from the PM than the flimsy structures he inappropriately ordered constructed at the Spaldings Market and will not be moving unless he takes the overpriced byway built just up the road.

Doubtless, any removal of Peter Bunting from the security ministry would be a dagger in his heart and another reason for him to be brought to tears. An apparently, overwhelmed Bunting, fresh off an enviable short vacation in fair company, experienced the long arm of crime when his companions were robbed during the season when we get bun and cheese. Making a 'God help us' speech which seemed full of resignation in more senses than one, the normally unflappable, debonair minister eventually stated that he was merely echoing the deep religious sentiments we share as a God-fearing nation. Nonetheless, it gave the wrong message and suggested that he was admitting his inability to cope.

Coming off a positive rating in January, Bunting must understand that to fight crime in Jamaica, one needs to get on top of the threesome of social intervention, effective policing, and citizen enlistment. However, moving him might not the best thing for the Government right now.

It is also reported that in will come Horace Dalley, following a zigzag path into this senior position. Dalley's greatest challenge is to be straight with the police and other security workers, who are worried sick about the difference in what he and government spokespersons have said about pension reform and what the unions seem to understand. Before even contemplating replacing Bunting, he needs to clarify the dialogue with the correctional officers' unions, the police federation, and other similar organisations.

'Portiaphile', attorney Anthony Hylton, is said to be headed back to Foreign Affairs. This is a better fit for him, because he apparently seems to better communicate with foreigners than his locals. True, he has finally kept his campaign promise to reopen the scrap metal trade, but he has said nothing about the tainted tissue which his charge, the Bureau of Standards, has discovered. Interestingly, legal semi-omniscient K.D. Knight has demanded full disclosure. However, a medical doctor who heads the board of the bureau, seems to have a better knowledge of the law than K.D. and says it muzzles it.

THE PRYCE IS RIGHT

Youthful Raymond Pryce is following his namesake and is said to be going up. A vocal backbencher, but no benchwarmer, Pryce is a rare intellect and is likely to add balance to a Cabinet that has too many of the wrong old men and other selfish officials. This Jack could be her saving ace in the hole with his reputation for out-of-the-box thinking and efficiency.

Another youth who is now ready for full ministerial charge is indeed Julian Robinson. An articulate deputy general secretary who seems to know how to connect with the people, he is a sensible choice.

So, by the way, shouldn't we shuffle out the governor general (GG) too? A devout man who once headed the Seventh-day Adventists (SDA) for this hemisphere, he could have been the SDA's equivalent of the Pope by now. Having decided to render unto Caesar as his number one job, he must be now judged on secular grounds as well as religiously.

As a man of the cloth, he understands that scripture makes him responsible for what his wife says. Ephesians 5:23 states, "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church ... ." Furthermore, 1 Timothy 2:12 declares, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet."

While, I would not dare, in 21st-century Jamaica, tell a woman to keep silent - although some wish the prime minister would sometimes - both the GG and Lady Allen are reproachable for utterances that she, as the wife of the head of state, made. It is unforgivable that the person who is one with the first citizen could publicly tell the world that she "... didn't want to be in Jamaica anymore".

Understandably, she, like us all, was mourning the death of Detective Sergeant Courtnie Simpson, but such looseness of tongue is not for the GG's household. Worse, given the fact that he is the representative of the other Queen in Jamaica, it can easily be interpreted as an unpatriotic comment.

Nevertheless, there might be no reassignment at all, and the only shuffle is like Muhammad Ali's ringcraft. Indeed, it could simply be Portia's rope-a-dope.

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in sociology at the UWI and a radio talk-show host. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.