Portia takes office March 30
Portia Simpson Miller will take office as Jamaica’s first ever woman prime minister on March 30 when P J Patterson tenders his resignation to Governor-General Professor Kenneth Hall. The date bears historic significance for Patterson who on March 30, 1992, was first sworn in as prime minister, replacing the ailing Michael Manley.
Yesterday, Simpson Miller told the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House that she would be naming her Cabinet on March 31, while Patterson said that the transition from his Cabinet to Simpson Miller’s will be a “seamless process”.
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Parliament will also be prorogued on March 31 and the ceremonial reopening, which will be highlighted by the tabling of the 2006/2007 budget and the first Throne Speech by Governor-General Hall, will be held on April 12 at Gordon House.
“It is extremely important, particularly at this time, that it (the Cabinet transition) be a seamless process, because it is not taking place after a general election, it is taking place within the life of one particular administration,” Patterson told reporters.
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“The Cabinet ceases to exist the moment the governor-general has to give notice that he is appointing a new prime minister, and that includes people who have very, very important functions to perform, for example, the minister of national security and the minister of finance. It is for the new prime minister to appoint the new Cabinet,” said Patterson.
He added that an agreement has been reached on procedures which would ensure that the moment his resignation is handed in, the new appointment is made and the swearing-in takes place simultaneously. The new prime minister, he said, would then be in a position to have her new Cabinet sworn in the following day.
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Patterson also announced that he would be passing the baton of leader of the People’s National Party (PNP) to Simpson Miller at the Sunday, March 26 meeting of the party’s National Executive Council (NEC).
He said that between now and the transition he would be dealing with policy matters on which there has been agreement within the Cabinet, or which are required to be brought to a satisfactory state of realisation.
Patterson said, too, that there were many matters on which Simpson Miller needs to be fully briefed, including some of an external nature, as well as matters pertaining to intelligence and security. There were also bills pending, he said, and a decision had to be taken on the ones to be taken in Parliament this session and which ones will be left for 2006/2007, as well as preparing the Throne Speech and the 2006/2007 budget.
On February 28, Simpson Miller received the backing of all government members of Parliament to replace Patterson as prime minister after she won the majority of votes in the February 25 presidential election of the ruling PNP.
