Barrow: Musa must accept blame for Cabinet meltdown

The changes in Cabinet have prompted reaction from just about every sector of society, but the most vocal response–not surprisingly–has come from the Opposition United Democratic Party. This morning, U.D.P. Leader Dean Barrow maintained that the P.M. must take the blame for the latest fracture in his Cabinet.

Dean Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
“I just don’t follow how he can be so determined not to accept blame and not to be prepared to account himself to the people and how instead he would prefer to destroy his Cabinet and to in fact destroy any last remaining shred of credibility that he might have had by turning on the ministers who tried to do something principled.”

With the announcement of the new Cabinet line-up, talk has turned to who Barrow would tap for ministerial portfolios if his party is successful in the next election. The Opposition Leader stayed away from specifics but did confirm at least one prominent name as well as which portfolio he’ll handle himself.

Dean Barrow
“We do feel that it’s going to be an overwhelming victory, but there is that element of unpredictably in terms of who exactly the players that will win. But I think you can make a fairly informed educated guess and so in the context of certain seats that you believe are sure, you do start to play around with the various fits in terms of who would serve best where. And so that is an exercise that in that sort of a fashion is being done.”

Janelle Chanona
“And are you looking as well at the Senate possibility of bringing in Ministers that way. We saw the Prime Minister doing that with Ms. Shoman.”

Dean Barrow
“Well I can say that for sure, Manuel Esquivel is going to be Senator and going to serve in the Cabinet. And I can say that because I’ve discussed this with the party and so this a position that’s publicly known within the party. Apart of that, no, I haven’t thought about any other Senate possibility that would then become ministers. And I would suspect that exactly because it is likely to be a huge victory, the numbers won’t allow for too much more of that to happen. In other words, there is going to be the kind of pressure that those large numbers bring to try and ensure that your Cabinet comes overwhelmingly from among those that have been elected. That is not to say that it’s a closed issue, but being realistic I would like to think that the likelihood of more than one minister being drawn from the Senate is not particularly high.”

Janelle Chanona
”But you would be Minister of Finance?”

Dean Barrow
“Yes, I’ve made up my mind that the circumstances have changed since the last election and that even from the point of view of the symbolism that it would in fact entail, it is critical that I say here and now with absolute clarity that that is what would happen.”

And while the U.D.P. plans for the future, the party’s efforts to coordinate a united call for the Prime Minister’s resignation continue. According to Barrow, while the unions have already promised a mandate from their members within the month, the business community is taking a wait and see approach.

Dean Barrow
“We look at the next kind of marker, if you will, being constituted in the disclosure that the court has ordered for the fifteenth of June. I believe that the Chamber is anxiously awaiting that disclosure as well to see whether those documents will contain the kind of revelation that might make the Chamber executive feel that it wants then to talk to its members about joining the call for a resignation.”

“So we believe that the process is developing steam and that we will soon be at a juncture where there is critical mass in terms of this call for him to do the proper thing, I insist the proper thing under the constitution, and fix the date for elections.”