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Last Updated: May 23, 2017 - 12:37:43 PM |
PHOTO: Kristaan Ingraham / BIS
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Nassau, New Providence - Remarks Dr. the Hon. Hubert Minnis Prime Minister Commonwealth of the Bahamas Government House Swearing-in Ceremony of Minister of Works, Senators and Parliamentary Secretaries 22 May 2017
A Diversity of Talent and Experience
Your Excellency, Dame Marguerite Pindling;
Chief Justice, Sir Hartman Longley;
Colleagues and Members of Parliament-elect;
Secretary to the Cabinet;
Permanent Secretaries;
Invited Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Your Excellency:
Today completes the appointments to my government. I thank you for the appointments and your gracious hospitality since the election of my government. I again thank the staff of Government House for their hospitality.
I congratulate Mr. Philip Brave Davis on his appointment as Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. I wish him well in his new role.
Your Excellency:
The Bahamian people will be served in government by a dynamic and diverse team, blending experience and new faces and talent.
This diversity includes Members of Parliament representing Grand Bahama and the Family Islands.
The new People's Government recognizes the many challenges ahead as well as the many opportunities to harness the enormous potential of our country.
To help inspire and harness the energies of the Bahamian people I was determined to cause the appointments of a diversity of talent and experience.
Mr. Desmond Bannister, who has been sworn in as Minister of Works, previously served as Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, and as Minister of Education.
Mr. Bannister is a man of considerable talent and experience. He will bring discipline and integrity to his ministerial office.
Your Excellency:
I am now pleased to note the Government members of the Senate.
The Hon. Katherine Forbes-Smith will serve as President of the Senate. Dr. the Hon. Mildred Hall will serve as Vice President.
Both senators are women of enormous talent and diverse experience who will bring many fine qualities to the Upper Chamber.
As previously noted the Hon. Carl Bethel, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, will serve as Government Leader in the Senate.
Minister of Labour the Hon. Dion Foulkes, and the Hon. Kwasi Thompson, Minister of State for Grand Bahama in the Office of the Prime Minister, will also serve in the Senate.
Other Senators include:
The Hon. Juanianne Dorsett;
The Hon. Jamal Moss;
The Hon. Jasmine Turner Dareus
The Hon. Ranard Henfield;
The Hon. Jennifer Isaacs-Dotson
The Hon. Sharon Annafaye Ferguson-Knowles and
The Hon. Dwight Sawyer
The Hon. Kay Forbes-Smith is a former diplomat, Parliamentary Secretary, Senator, business executive and sports administrator.
She has twice served in the Bahamas Senate. Her first appointment in 2001 was part of the historic advancement of gender equality in the make-up of the Senate. She was again appointed to the Senate in 2007.
The Hon. President of the Senate served as the first Consul General for the Bahamas in Atlanta.
Prior to her appointment as Consul General, she served as Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister.
Your Excellency:
I have known and respected for many years as a medical colleague, Dr. the Hon. Mildred Hall. I am happy to now serve with her as a colleague in government.
As I have stated previously, community service and voluntarism are a major theme of my Government. The Hon. Vice President of the Senate exemplifies this spirit of service.
Her community service is impressive. She has served with: the Zonta Club of Nassau, the Nassau Chapter of Links Inc., the Bahamas Family Planning Association, the AIDS Foundation of the Bahamas, the AIDS Secretariat of the Bahamas; the PACE Foundation, the National Association of Child Birthing Centers, the Bahamas National Trust, the Bahamas Red Cross, and internationally, on the Board of the Howard University College of Medicine.
I will call on Dr. the Hon. Mildred Hall and other community-minded individuals to inspire in others the spirit of community service.
I am pleased that the Government members of the Senate reflect the diversity of our Commonwealth.
Your Excellency:
To help my government focus on the many challenges ahead I advised the appointments of the five Parliamentary Secretaries.
Mr. Vaughn Miller will serve as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development.
Mrs. Pakesia Parker-Edgecombe will as Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Communications in the Office of the Prime Minister.
Among other responsibilities, Mrs. Parker-Edgecombe will help to oversee the transformation of ZNS from a state propaganda machine under the last government, into a properly functioning public broadcasting corporation.
In 1992, the Free National Movement freed the broadcast media from state control. It is now time to liberate the state broadcast agency from political manipulation.
Bahamas Information Services will be modernized. This will include greater use of social media to help inform younger generations of Bahamians.
It is also my Government’s attention to transform the Parliamentary Channel into a public information platform similar to C-SPAN in the United States of America.
The other Parliamentary Secretaries include Mr. Iram Lewis who will serve in the Ministry of Works; Mr. James Albury who will serve in the Office of the Prime Minister in Abaco, and Mr. Carlton Bowleg who will serve as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources.
Your Excellency:
In due course, I will advise the appointments to various government boards and council. These appointments will reflect a tremendous diversity of Bahamian talent and experience.
I am especially excited to invite a new generation of young people to serve on government boards. They will bring new energy, new ideas and a new perspective.
There are many talented Bahamians, including those in their 20s, 30s and 40s and 50s and 60s, who have never been tapped before public service.
The commonwealth of talent that the People’s Government will call to service, includes the rich pool of talent of the Bahamian Diaspora around the world.
I will call on Bahamians from all walks of life and experience to help chart and steer our Bahamas in a new direction.
To make this truly a People’s Government, we must continue to do the hard work of democracy in a spirit of unity.
Colleagues:
I repeat the charge I recently made our colleagues. Fidelity to the oath you swore today is essential in order to provide the Bahamian people with a government of integrity.
Good and open government demands transparency and accountability. Good governance demands being responsible for our actions.
Accordingly, I will hold you to the highest standards of ethical conduct in the performance of their public duties.
I look forward to working with you in a spirit of collegiality and collaboration, in a government which adheres to collective responsibility.
In congratulating you on your appointments, I commend to you the values of honesty, hard work, sacrifice and an abiding commitment to the dignity of the Bahamian people.
Let us now look to this new day with confidence and courage as we embark on a new era of transformation.
Your Excellency;
Ladies and Gentlemen:
God bless the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. Thank you and good afternoon.
© Copyright 2017 by thebahamasweekly.com
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