And while the Shyne arrival was a major personal development for the Prime Minister this week, there was also a significant political event that played out in Cabinet. It was the first Cabinet meeting with the attendance of both Housing Minister Michael Finnegan and Security Minister Carlos Perdomo. You’ll recall that exactly two weeks ago, on October 15th, Finnegan “lit up” Perdomo after he took away a piece of lease land from one of Finnegan’s constituents and gave it to one of his own. It was an intra-Cabinet political hit – the kind of thing that can seem to signal unraveling at the highest level.
But the Prime Minister says it isn’t; he says fences have been mended and also took the force of the blow himself saying that, guess what? he ok’d the Finnegan Fatwa.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
“In terms of Minister Finnegan’s public appearance, I regret that that took place but that was sanctioned by me. I have apologized to the Minister of National Security because upon mature reflection, it struck me that I ought never to have sanctioned the public appearance, that I ought to have said to the Minister, let’s sort it out in Cabinet before you say anything. And the reason I was wrong is because it appears that our democracy cannot easily withstand what I would consider fairly normal stresses and strain. The course of governance like the course of true love never did run smooth. As long as there are no fundamental issues causing any disunity in our Cabinet, I am perfectly prepared to have little areas of disagreement played out even in public.
I have apologized to the Minister. The Minister of Housing has apologized to the Minister. The matter was amicably settled. They got together afterwards and I saw them engaged in what if I didn’t know better would have thought was a veritable love fest. I saw them whispering in each other’s ears and so if there was a problem, there ain’t one now.”
And while that’s how it played out at the executive level, what does it mean for Dawn Jourgenson? She’s the Finnegan constituent who lost her lot to Perdomo. Well, it means plenty; according to Finnegan, she got back her piece of land.
