Assembling the 'fifth-term' Cabinet
published: Sunday | March 5, 2006

TEN OF the 17-member Cabinet publicly opposed Portia Simpson Miller's candidacy as party president and, by extension, Prime Minister; only two ­ Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke as well as Commerce and Technology Minister Phillip Paulwell ­ backed her presidential bid.

Despite this disaffection by her colleagues towards her going into the presidential election, political commentators are cautioning incoming Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller against shedding political blood in putting her Cabinet together. This, they argue, could undermine the People's National Party's (PNP) chance to win a fifth successive term in general election constitutionally due late next year.