AFTER SUMMER RESHUFFLE, NEW GCOB INITIATIVES AS

C O N F I D E N T I A L NASSAU 000764

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/29/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR ECON BF
SUBJECT: AFTER SUMMER RESHUFFLE, NEW GCOB INITIATIVES AS
ECONOMY WORSENS

REF: A. NASSAU 623

B. NASSAU 723

C. NASSAU 71

D. NASSAU 69

E. NASSAU 711

F. 07 NASSAU 610

G. NASSAU 760

Classified By: DCM Zuniga-Brown for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Prime Minister Ingraham consolidated his
government after a cabinet reshuffle in July and launched
several new initiatives in the first hundred days since. The
new Ministry of Environment has energetically pushed
renewable energy options, while the new Minister of Tourism
has unveiled a revamped strategic plan. The Ministry of
Education adopted an Embassy-sponsored reading program for
children and expanded it throughout the country, working
closely with EmbOffs. New appointments, and an effective ban
on wooden-hulled sailing sloops, may signal a new direction
in immigration policy as well. The worsening economy is
likely to dominate the agenda going forward as the first
tourist season after the U.S. financial crisis unfolds. END
COMMENT.

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TWO NEW FACES, ONE SURPRISE RESIGNATION
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2. (C) Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham announced the details
of an anticipated reshuffle of his governQt on June 30,
slightly more than a year after naming his firQ cabinet
following the Free National Movement's (FNM's) election
victory in May 2007. In the only personnel surprise, the
Minister of Lands and Local Government, Sidney Collie,
resigned his post after a ministerial misstep led to a
court-ordered stoppage of scheduled local elections in
several municipalities. Prime Minister IngrahaQeft the
door open for a future return to Cabinet. COMMENT: This
turn of events compared very favorably with the previous
Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government's tepid reaction
to a series of internal scandals on its watch, and vindicated
Ingraham's campaign promise of "trust" and accountability in
government. END COMMENT.


3. (C) Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, an experienced and
well-regarded manager and tourism official, joined the
government as the new Minister of Tourism and Aviation,
replacing Neko Grant, who remained in the cabinet as Minister
of Public Works and Transport. Michael Barnett, lawyer and
unsuccessful FNM candidate for parliament in 2007, was
appointed Attorney General, replacing Senator Claire Hepburn,
who was appointed to the Supreme Court bench in line with her
known wishes. Former Minister of State for Immigration,
Senator Elma Campbell, was named first resident Ambassador to
China, and her portfolio was assumed by Branville McCartney,
formerly Minister of State in charge of aviation in the
Ministry of Tourism and Aviation. The former incumbent in
the Ministry of Public Works, Earl Deveaux, took over the
newly-created Ministry of Environment.

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SLIGHT CABINET STREAMLINING, CENTRALIZATION
--------------

4. (C) Structurally, only one new ministry was added
(Environment, which also took over Maritime Affairs),but a
second was spun off from an existing ministry (Youth, Sports,
and Culture from Education),and another folded into the
Prime Minister's office (Lands and Local Government). The
net effect of these changes was to increase the number of
ministries by one, from eleven to twelve, and reduce the
number of ministers by one, from 19 to 18. The Prime
Minister's twelve senior ministers are now assisted by six
junior ministers comprising the cabinet. Of the three
departing ministers, two were women leaving only one female
cabinet member.


5. (C) Several portfolios covered by junior ministers were
reassigned. In addition to the finance portfolio, Prime
Minister Ingraham's office took control of the Lands and
Local Government portfolio, assigned to (junior) Minister of
State Byran Woodside, formerly Minister of State for Youth
and Sports. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign
Affairs Symonette took charge of the sensitive immigration
portfolio, now under Minister of State Branville McCartney,
formerly under National Security. The Ministry of Labor and
Social Development (formerly: Maritime Affairs and Labor)
took over the social issues portfolio from the Ministry of
Health (formerly: Ministry of Health and Social
Development),which remained as a stand-alone. The changes
are reflected, though incomplete, on the GCOB,s web site:
http://bahamas.gov.bs .

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NEW DIRECTIONS IN ENERGY, TOURISM, EDUCATION
--------------

6. (C) Acting on the Prime Minister's orders, the new
Ministry of Environment has assumed a much higher public
profile on renewable energy since the end of the summer lull.
Following the July alternative energy events in Nassau (ref
A),the ministry has continued working with the Embassy to
concentrate attention on energy alternatives. Rising gas and
electricity costs have hit consumers hard, causing the GCOB
to step in to keep the lights on for thousands of ordinary
consumers who were falling behind in paying their bills to
the electricity monopoly. The economic hardship, along with
an increasing public consciousness of the un-sustinability
of current approaches to energy consumption and the
environment, both on the island and hroughout the
archipelago, appear to have combind to galvanize GCOB action.


7. (C) Another notble policy move three months after the
governmen reshuffle is the Ministry of Tourism's strategicplan to revamp the Bahamian tourist product (ref B). Minister

Vanderpool-Wallace announced the new tourism strategy, amidst
declining visitor arrivals and a generally softening economy,
October 8 after cancelling an anticipated media appearance
the previous week due to the financial crisis on Wall Street.
The new Attorney General announced an audit of the huge
criminal case backlog upon taking office in July. This, like
a plea-bargaining bill introduced into parliamentary
procedure before his predecessor's departure, is consistent
with the GCOB's attempts to grapple with rising crime and a
dysfunctional criminal justice system (ref C).


8. (C) At the start of the new academic year, the Ministry
of Education adopted an Embassy-sponsored reading program for
primary school children. Embassy volunteers, including the
Ambassador and senior staff, sometimes joined by high-profile
Bahamians, have regularly visited classrooms in an elementary
school in a deprived section of Nassau for the past several
years. The Ministry of Education, working closely with the
Embassy and U.S. NGOs, has now expanded the program
throughout New Providence, Grand Bahama, and several other
islands. The program was initiated by the previous Ambassador
and spearheaded for the last year by Ambassador Siegel. It
seeks to involve government and community representatives in
a consistent effort to mentor young children and improve
their reading skills and has paid enormous public diplomacy
dividends for Post.

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BIGGEST SHAKE-UP IN CIVIL SERVICE, IMMIGRATION
-------------- -

9. (C) In terms of the effects on day-to-day operations,
perhaps more significant than changes at the top were the
reassignments of 16 permanent secretaries (PS) -) the top
civil servants in each ministry. The new PS in the MFA, for
example, appeared highly engaged on the newly-assigned
immigration issue at initial meetings with the Embassy in
August, at least initially giving short shrift to
international concerns. With the appointment of a young,
energetic Minister of Immigration, the reported retirement
and reassignment of the veteran director of immigration as
ambassador to Cuba (ref D),and the appointment of the former
immigration minister as ambassador to China, a change in
immigration policy may be in the offing. The effective ban
on wooden-hulled sailing sloops instituted in August
indicates that any new direction will include vigorous
enforcement, possibly coupled with tough action against
employers of illegals and internal corruption. Repatriations
of interdicted migrants to Haiti resumed in mid-October after
a short-lived suspension (ref E).

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
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10. (C) Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, Minister of Tourism )-
--Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization in
Barbados (2005-8),the first Bahamian appointed to the
prestigious post;
--Director General in the Ministry of Tourism under previous
FNM governments (1993-2005),the youngest person ever to hold
the position;
--Served as Chairman of the National Tourism Advisory Board,
Director of the Central Bank of The Bahamas, and Director of
The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce;
--Worked in the private sector (Resorts International Bahamas
Ltd., previous operator of the Paradise Island resort and
precursor of Atlantis, 1982-93),rising to the position of
Senior Vice President;
--Served in the education and tourism ministries (1975-82);
--Born in Nassau, he was educated at Harvard University and
the University of Miami (MBA, 1981).

Michael Barnett, Attorney General and Minister of Legal
Affairs --
--Lawyer, called to the Bahamian and English bar in 1978,
partner in the law firm of Graham, Thompson, and Co.;
--Former Acting Magistrate, Acting Judge of the Supreme
Court, President of The Bahamas Bar Association, Chairman of
the Industrial Relations Board, and Chairman of the Water and
Sewerage Corporation;
--Past Chairman of the Catholic Board of Education;
--FNM candidate in the Fort Charlotte (Nassau) constituency
in the May 2007 elections defeated by PLP incumbent Alfred
Sears;
--His wife, Camille Barnett, is President of the AIDS
Foundation of The Bahamas;
--Born in Nassau, he was educated at Georgetown University
and Lincoln,s Inn Law School, London.

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COMMENT
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11. (C) The reassignment of so many senior civil servants
along with the cabinet reshuffle may indicate that the
Ingraham administration is completing its "hostile takeover"
of the recalcitrant bureaucracy left over from the previous
government (ref F). The greater concentration of portfolios
in the hands of the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister
also indicates a firmer grip on the reins. High-profile new
government initiatives, on sustainable energy, tourism, and
education, continue to reflect the key importance of the
GCOB's relationship with the U.S. They also come in the face
of painfully high energy prices for consumers and a rapidly
softening tourism economy, leading to increasing insecurity
about jobs. Visitor arrivals have declined even more steeply
than usual in the traditional off-season, according to
newspaper reports and anecdotal evidence, leaving premier
Bahamian tourist destinations nearly empty and hotels
struggling to fill rooms. The fractious opposition lacks a
coherent social program or a response to the current,
unfavorable economic trends (ref G). Nevertheless, the
economy is likely to dominate the agenda in the next few
weeks and months as the first tourist season after the U.S.
financial crisis remains poor.
SIEGEL