MINISTER OF THE Environment, Water Resources and Drainage Denis Kellman is “convinced” Prime Minister Freundel Stuart will soon make a decision concerning the political futures of both himself and Denis Lowe.
However, he said he was just as convinced such a decision would not be made hastily.
In likening the job of the Prime Minister to that of a chief executive officer (CEO), Kellman said: “When you have a functioning Government and ministers, then it is for the CEO to watch and time his interventions, but I can assure you there will come a time when the CEO will talk and there will come a time when the CEO will make his announcements.
“When one watches what is happening, it is quite obvious you can speak too early, and I am happy he has not spoken too early, but I can also assure you he will speak in time, and I am quite convinced that time will be soon,” he said, adding that Lowe was “still very much a minister”.
Kellman, speaking to the DAILY NATION after the launch of a sustainable land management project at the Natural Heritage Department in Sturges, St Thomas, also chastised the public for seemingly not sympathizing with the responsibilities Freundel Stuart had as Prime Minister.
“What people in Barbados have to recognize is that running a Government cannot be done like in previous years. Managing ministers is now a job and people must understand the same way the private sector is run, Government has to be run also,” he said.
Kellman said the same way a CEO in the private sector was not tied down to any one managerial position yet still had wide responsibilities, so too did a Prime Minister.
“He must be able to manage his managers and still travel throughout CARICOM and internationally, but I don’t think people understand the wide remit the CEO in Government has,” he said.
“I do not know of anybody in Barbados with the same remit as the Prime Minister of Barbados, but yet people speak like they do not understand the amount of responsibility which falls on his shoulders.
“The Prime Minister as CEO has that remit [concerning himself and Lowe], and I have no control over that [nor will I] question my CEO,” he said. On January 4, Kellman was sworn in as a minister after Lowe fell ill late last year and had to be hospitalized. Lowe has since been released from hospital but has yet to return to ministerial duties.
