The continued buzz on the anticipated announcement of changes to Prime Minister Freundel Stuart’s Cabinet must be analysed at a level that takes us beyond speculation of “who will go where”.
Indeed, the very persistence of the buzz itself is an even more critical issue that needs to be unravelled if a deeper understanding of the current moment in Barbadian political life is to be reached. In this regard, therefore, the more urgent question that needs to be raised is why the reshuffle buzz has continued unabated ever since Stuart’s swearing in.
There are obvious reasons why public expectations of a reshuffle would have accompanied Stuart’s accession to the leading office. A reshuffle was simply the politically-wise thing to do. It was not only essential, but also entirely expected and normal, that the new Prime Minister would have moved post haste to immediately reconstruct a government of his liking, as a necessary step in stamping his authority on the government.
His failure to do so following both the 2010 budget and the January, 2011 St John by-election instantaneously transformed a run-of-the-mill political decision into a problematic one.
It certainly is not good politics to have the public clamour for something which is easily deliverable, but withheld without strong rational explanations.
Indeed, the Prime Minister’s response, following the swearing-in of Mrs Mara Thompson as a Member of Parliament, that “one step is enough for me” provided a personal explanation rather than a solid political one to the burning question of when the new Cabinet would be announced.
I wish to submit that it is the inadequacy of the explanations which accounts in part for the public’s continual demand for discussion, where the Prime Minister feels that the case is closed.
Moreover, the most recent resurgence of the reshuffle expectation can only be blamed on the Prime Minister himself, since by announcing his intention to accommodate the two Denises in the Cabinet, he upped the ante on the reshuffle expectation.
Ironically, by publicly stating his intention he inadvertently opened the questions of when? and how? By not acting as rapidly as he has spoken, by not allowing words to coincide with action, the Prime Minister has opened spaces for public speculation and rumour mongering.
The reshuffle buzz is also an indication of public uncertainty. By delaying what has already been announced, the Prime Minister might have inadvertently contributed to such an environment.
He may have also contributed to speculation about his own constrained nature within the Cabinet, for why else would a Prime Minister fail to do what he has already announced and what is well within his power to do?
What is more, the buzz itself far exceeds any anticipated rumblings of the expected reshuffle, since no big changes are expected.
Delaying, therefore, brings Stuart no advantage.
