Shifting Ministers not the solution - PNP

The Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) says it is unacceptable for Prime Minister Andrew Holness to adopt a strategy of shifting around Ministers who are guilty of policy breaches or wrongdoing to Jamaica House and to new portfolios and keeping them in the cabinet to oversee the same policies.

In a statement this afternoon, PNP General Secretary, Julian Robinson, said it was the second time within a month that the Holness had given new portfolios after he has determined that the Ministers are guilty of breaching policy at the level of the government and cabinet.

He said the Opposition views this as unacceptable and runs counter to Ministerial sanction in the face of wrongdoing, including corruption, nepotism, and cronyism.

The PNP says it does not regard Ministerial portfolio changes as sanctions and as such these changes should not be considered punishment for wrongdoing.

Reshuffles are in keeping with normal Prime Ministerial administrative powers and discretion.

“First it was Minister Vaz, who was involved in the Holywell protected lands issue, and now Minister J.C. Hutchinson, involved in a clear act of nepotism concerning the Holland lands, who have been given new responsibilities, despite the Prime Minister acknowledging egregious breaches of policy,” Robinson said. 

“In fact, you can’t put the mongoose into the chicken house,” he continued.

The PNP General Secretary said the party wished to register its most forceful repudiation of this method of disciplining or sanctioning of Ministers who rightfully ought to be removed from the cabinet.

Consequently, the Opposition again calls for Holness to remove Hutchinson from the cabinet for “clear breaches of established procedures”, which are set out in detail in the Prime Minister’s statement this afternoon. I

If Holness refuses to do so, it can only be assumed that under the principle of collective responsibility, the entire cabinet supports his action and intends to exist with this nauseating scourge of corruption over its head, Robinson contends.

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