Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

NELSON

THE ACTING national security minister, Senator Dwight Nelson, is seeking to assure that this new assignment would not affect the conclusion of the negotiations for the third public sector Memorandum of Understanding (MOU3).

Nelson, who is a minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, is leading the negotiations on behalf of the Government for MOU3 with unions representing public sector workers.

"We are at the stage where we are making a determination in terms of signing the MOU. It means that a lot of the personal presence that would have been necessary (no longer is). It is because it is at this stage that I am able to divert my focus at this time," Nelson said.

The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) announced yesterday that Prime Minister Bruce Golding had asked Nelson to temporarily take over the portfolio from National Security Minister Derrick Smith.

Minor surgery

Smith underwent what the OPM referred to as "minor surgery" on Monday night. He is expected to be released from hospital this week.

Senator Arthur Williams, who remains the junior minister in the national security ministry, appears to have been overlooked by Golding.

Yesterday, Dr Peter Phillips, the Opposition spokesman on national security, told The Gleaner it was the prerogative of the prime minister to appoint whomever he felt was best suited to act in the post.

"We don't have a problem with it. It is the prime minister's responsibility to appoint persons and he has duly exercised it," Dr Phillips said.

Nelson told The Gleaner that he would not question the reason Golding turned to him to act as national security minister. Instead, he said he intends to give of his best until Smith returns.

"As a Cabinet minister you don't make value judgments on the prime minister's appointment," he said. "You just carry out the job effectively, efficiently and expeditiously, and I am sure that is what the prime minister expects me to do."

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com