Byron Buckley, News Editor 
SIMPSON MILLER
ANALYSTS SAY if Portia Simpson Miller wants to ensure that her party wins the next general election, she has to unite the party following her victory in a keenly fought four-man contest a week ago.
"The need for continuity, a consolidation of unity and a focus on the fifth term, would be the ideal approach for the remaining time in office," reasoned trade unionist Danny Roberts. "It is important that she secure her own mandate for the five-year term and build on the momentum and goodwill."
Adds social scientist Charlene Sharpe-Pryce: "Simpson Miller's greatest task now is that of
keeping the machinery oiled and running, and rebuilding professional relationships within the party after a year of strife and bickering, to assist in the image of oneness/unity the party
wishfully wants to portray."
Notwithstanding the caution to Simpson Miller to avoid a purge of her detractors, Roberts and other analysts anticipate "minor Cabinet adjustments". The
consensus is that there will be no place in a Simpson Miller Cabinet for the sharp-tongued Foreign Affairs Minister, K.D. Knight, who threw verbal barbs at the lone female presidential candidate on the campaign trail. His position, suggests Sharpe-Pryce, should be taken by Ambassador Anthony Hylton, who formerly held the foreign trade portfolio before losing his seat in the 2002 General Election. Therefore, his proposed return to the Cabinet has to come through a Senate appointment, raising the question of who will be dropped from the Senate.
HIGH-STAKE CONTEST
Education Minister Maxine Henry-Wilson is also expected to walk away from the Cabinet in disappointment over the outcome of the high-stake presidential contest, in which she was co-director for Dr. Peter Phillips' 'Solid as a Rock' campaign. "She is very bright and hard working; she understands the issues of public policy very well, but her soft skills are not yet honed. She would do very well in academia," advises Sharpe-Pryce, who is chair of of the history department at Northern Caribbean University (NCU).
Another likely departure from the Cabinet, according to economist Errol Gregory, is Health Minister John Junor who has already signalled his impending retirement from active politics. He would make way for Dr. Karl Blythe, who has been out in the wilderness for some time. Blythe's training as a medical doctor could serve him well in heading up the Health Ministry.
In order to achieve a 'leaner, meaner government' and to inject the Cabinet with 'some new energy and dynamism', Gregory also recommends the dropping of Works Minister Robert Pickersgill, and Attorney-General A. J. Nicholson.
The economist also wants the commerce science and technology portfolio to be abolished, and he is advocating the reduction of the Cabinet to 11 as recommended by the Nettleford Committee in the early 1990s.
Meantime, Sharpe-Pryce, in a quest for fresh approaches to governance, is encouraging the incoming prime minister to go "way out of the box and court a few of the young, bright Opposition parliamentarians, who would put country's interest above party's. Thus, she needs to enter the Jamaica Labour Party camp and ... march out with a person like Andrew Holness." The university administrator says Simpson Miller should attempt to earn the trust of the widest possible cross section of Jamaican including co-opting outstanding professional and business individuals as well as academicians.
One such person, Sharpe-Pryce identifies, is University of the West Indies professor of government, Trevor Munroe.
STRENGTHEN LABOUR
LEGISLATIONS
A trade unionist and Government senator, Munroe could be a likely replacement for Labour Minister Horace Dally, who has had a rocky relationship with labour leaders. Labour leaders could, probably, rely on Munroe, a former president of the University and Allied Workers' Union, to be labour friendly. Roberts from the National Workers' Union, for example, "anticipates that a Simpson Miller administration will continue to strengthen labour legislations so as to protect the workers from the exploitative actions of some employers in their quest for global competitiveness."
Another likely addition to the Cabinet is Richard Azan, campaign manager for the victorious 'Team Portia'. Stung last year by violence, which took the life of a relative, Azan has argued strongly for the resumption of capital punishment offering to man the gallows in Spanish Town. He seems a likely candidate to assume the national security portfolio. No doubt, Dr. Peter Phillips, the incumbent national Security Minister would welcome a move to a less troubling ministry.
Who will take over Simpson Miller's current portfolio responsibility for local government? A likely candidate is Central Kingston Member of Parliament, Victor Cummings, who has served previously as councillor in the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation. He also has done academic studies in the area of local government.
And who will be Simpson Miller's deputy prime minister?
Analysts suggest Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davies, arguing that he could keep his fingers on the daily running of government, giving Prime Minister Simpson Miller time to build rapport with the electorate and important interest groups ahead of local and general elections.
The composite Cabinet pick by analysts
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller
Deputy PM/Finance Dr. Omar Davies
Education Dr. Peter Phillips
Foreign Affairs/Trade Anthony Hylton
National Security Richard Azan
Agriculture Roger Clarke
Local Government Victor Cummings
Labour and Social Security Dr. Trevor Munroe
Health Dr. Karl Blythe
Information Burchell Whiteman
Land/Environment Errol Ennis
Transport and Works Robert Pickersgill
Industry and Tourism Aloun Assamba
Investment and Commerce Phillip Paulwell
Attorney-General A.J. Nicholson
