MARCH 30 INAUGURATION OF PORTIA SIMPSON MILLER AS

UNCLAS KINGSTON 000645

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CAR (BENT)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PINR PGOV JM
SUBJECT: MARCH 30 INAUGURATION OF PORTIA SIMPSON MILLER AS
PRIME MINISTER OF JAMAICA


1. On March 30, Portia Lucretia Simpson Miller became
Jamaica's seventh Prime Minister (and the first woman to hold
the office) when she was sworn in by Governor-General Kenneth
Hall at King's House, in front of an estimated crowd of
6,000-10,000 guests. Former Prime Minister PJ Patterson
submitted his resignation to the Governor-General earlier the
same day.


2. In addition to the entire outgoing Cabinet, prominent
guests at the ceremony included former Governor General Sir
Howard Cooke; former PM Edward Seaga; Trinidad and Tobago PM
Patrick Manning; Barbadian PM Owen Arthur; St. Vincent and
the Grenadines PM Ralph Gonsalves; Chief Minister of Turks
and Caicos Michael Misick; and delegations from the Bahamas,
Bermuda, Antigua and Barbuda. A U.S. Congressional
delegation, led by Rep Darrell Issa and including Rep Sheila
Jackson-Lee, Rep Diane Watson, Rep William Clay and Rep
Gregory Meeks, also attended. (Spetel reports on Codel
Issa's subsequent meeting with PM Simpson Miller). Nation of
Islam leader Louis Farrakhan was another prominent attendee,
but conspicuously missing from the event was Opposition
Leader Bruce Golding, who left the venue shortly before the
ceremony began when he and his wife found their seats had
been occupied by interlopers who refused to move. (The MFA
Protocol Office later publicly apologized to Golding for the
screw-up.) The ceremony was followed by an official
reception at King's House, and by an unofficial "Inaugural
Ball" at the Pegasus Hotel.


3. Hall introduced Patterson, who briefly addressed the
gathering and expressed his best wishes to the new
government. Simpson Miller began her address with a prayer,
then called for unity and an end to corruption. She
committed herself to addressing the nation's poverty by
improving job prospects through better education and more
effective crime fighting in poorer communities. The new PM
pledged to expand Jamaica's commitment to CARICOM, and
specifically welcomed the presence of Codel Issa, among other
delegations, at the ceremony. In a pointed rebuke to outgoing
FM K.D. Knight, who had repeatedly criticized her during the
recent campaign as intellectually unsuited to be PM, Simpson
Miller said, to knowing applause: "Learning should not make
one person more important than the other, nor should class,
color, or gender."


4. At midnight on March 31, Prime Minister Simpson Miller
announced the members of her cabinet: Robert Pickersgill,
Housing, Transport and Works; Omar Davies, Finance and
Planning; Peter Phillips, National Security and Leader of
Government Business in the House of Representatives; Maxine
Henry-Willson, Education and Youth; Roger Clark, Agriculture
and Land; AJ Nicholson, Attorney General, Justice and Leader
of Government Business in the Senate; Dean Peart, Local
Government and Environment; Phillip Paulwell, Industry,
Commerce Science and Technology; Anthony Hylton, Foreign
Affairs and Foreign Trade; Aloun Assamba, Tourism,
Entertainment and Culture; Hoarce Daly, Health; Derrick
Kellier - Labor and Social Security; and, Collin Campbell,
Information and Development. Campbell and Hylton, who are
not members of parliament, were appointed senators in order
to be given cabinet portfolios.


5. Septel to follow on the new Cabinet.
TIGHE