Disgruntled ministers: Fonseca too influential

While the PUP political volcano, which erupted on Friday, has now subsided to a state of occasional hissing and belching, the forces which lie beneath the surface are not expected to cool off any time soon. The resignation of Johnny Briceno from the post of Deputy Prime Minister has been confirmed, although he has agreed to act as Prime Minister until Said Musa returns from his current trip to London. Attorney General Godfrey Smith has likewise given up the information and broadcasting portfolios, the latter given to him only last week in the latest Cabinet reshuffle. The actions of both young Cabinet ministers are ostensibly unrelated, as is the earlier resignation from Cabinet of Minister of National Security Jorge Espat. Even if that hard to accept coincidence is indeed just that, what is no accident is that the essential complaints of all three disgruntled politicians–along with a number of thus far silent colleagues–are identical. That is that Prime Minister Said Musa is increasingly relying on the advice of one man–Minister of Budget Planning, Ralph Fonseca–to the exclusion of the rest of his government and party. Matters are further complicated by the recent Cabinet realignment in which the PM’s closest friend and confidant, Assad Shoman, is being brought in to head the Foreign Ministry. Despite the fact that Shoman is considered to be an archenemy of Fonseca, the feeling is that Musa will now be pulled in two different directions at once, to the further exclusion of other Cabinet members.