VZCZCXRO7088
PP RUEHGR
DE RUEHKG #1525/01 2841550
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 111550Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY KINGSTON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5458
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0396
RUMIAAA/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 KINGSTON 001525 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE WHA FOR JOE TILGHMAN 
INR/IAA (BOB CARHART) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL JM XL
SUBJECT: JAMAICA: MEET THE OTHER NEW CABINET MINISTERS 
 
REF: A. KINGSTON 1470 
 
     ¶B. KINGSTON 1389 
 
Summary 
---------- 
 
1.(SBU) This is the third in a series of cables introducing 
the new key players in the government of Jamaica.  The 
recently announced cabinet of the first Jamaica Labour Party 
(JLP) led government in 18 years has been criticized in the 
local media, mainly for its overall size.  However, several 
key appointees have received kudos for their selection, 
especially Don Wehby, Minister without portfolio, who was 
brought in from the private sector to assist in economic 
policy formulation and implementation.  Most of the 
selections in this group came as little surprise, as many of 
them are major players within the party. 
 
Edmund Bartlett ) Minister of Tourism 
-------------------------------------- 
 
2.(U) Edmund Bartlett was born in Westmoreland on December 3, 
1950 to Alexander Rudulf Bartlett and Olivia Lawson-Bartlett. 
He attended St. Elizabeth Technical High and the University 
of the West Indies (UWI).  Over the years he has served the 
JLP as Deputy Leader, General Secretary, Senator and 
Opposition Spokesman on Tourism, he is also a former Minister 
of Youth and Community Development as well as Minister of 
State for Information, Broadcasting and Culture and MP for 
East St. Andrew. 
 
3.(U) Ed first ran for Parliament in 1976 in the Western 
Westmoreland constituency but lost.  He re-entered active 
politics in 1980 transferring to the constituency of Eastern 
St. Andrew and winning the seat in the general elections held 
that same year.  He was appointed a Minister of Information 
and Culture, and at the time was the youngest Minister of 
State ever appointed at age 29.  In 1983 he was re-elected MP 
for Eastern St. Andrew. 
 
4.(SBU) In 1993 Bartlett, along with seven others, was 
appointed as Opposition Senator for the JLP.  Bartlett 
re-took his old seat in Parliament in 2002.  He won the seat 
again in the recent September 2007 elections by a comfortable 
margin.  Bartlett's polling success and party loyalty led new 
PM Bruce Golding to designate Bartlett as Minister of Tourism. 
 
5.(U) Ed is a member of Lions Club of Sav-La-Mar, Jaycees, 
Montego Bay chapter, the Electoral Advisory Committee and is 
the Founder and Patron of Jamaica Foundation for Children. 
He has worked in several positions including Senior 
Accountant-Revere Alumina Jamaica Ltd., Marketing Sales 
Manager-Texaco Caribbean Inc., Vice President for the 
World Conference on Cultural Policies, and Vice Chairman for 
the UN International Youth Year Advisory committee.  Ed 
enjoys playing cricket, dominoes, table tennis and dancing. 
He has been married for 32 years and is the father of two. 
 
Dr. Christopher C. Tufton ) Minister of Agriculture 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
6.(U) Dr. Christopher Charles Tufton was born on 21 January 
1968 in Manchester, Jamaica.  Dr. Tufton received his BS 
degree in management studies from UWI, has MS degree in 
Marketing from the George State University in Atlanta, 
Georgia, and his Doctorate in Business Management from 
Manchester Business School in Manchester, UK.  He has worked 
as a Lecturer in the Management Studies Department at UWI 
since 1995. 
 
7.(U) Dr. Tufton was elected to Parliament for the first 
time, representing the JLP in the South Western St. Elizabeth 
constituency.  Dr. Tufton previously served as the President 
of Generation 2000 (G2K, the JLP,s youth movement) and was 
appointed to serve as an Opposition Senator in June 2005 to 
replace Bruce Golding who resigned to serve as an MP. 
 
8.(U) Dr. Christopher Tufton is married to the former Neadene 
Shields and has three children.  He is also one of several 
JLP stalwarts who severed ties with the party to join Bruce 
Golding in the National Democratic Movement (NDM) in the mid 
1990s, but like Golding later returned to the fold of the JLP 
after the departure of Edward Seaga. 
 
Clive Mullings ) Minister of Energy, Mining and 
Telecommunications 
---------------------------------- 
 
KINGSTON 00001525  002 OF 005 
 
 
--------------------------------- 
 
9.(U) Clive Mullings is an Attorney at Law and the Member of 
Parliament (MP) for West Central St. James.  The former head 
boy of Kingston College was the Opposition Spokesman on 
Mining, Energy and Telecommunications until the recent 
September 2007 elections.  Mr. Mullings has held the titles 
of President of the Bar Association, President of the Law 
Society and Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the 
Western Regional Health Authority.  He's also the former 
Deputy General Secretary of the JLP. 
 
10.(U) Clive was first elected to his West Central St. James 
constituency in the 2002 general elections.  He has been a 
very vocal MP often quoted in local media speaking out 
against the rival PNP.  After winning a second term in 
Parliament, Mr. Mullings was rewarded with the Ministry of 
Energy, Mining and Telecommunications, the portfolio he held 
as Opposition Shadow Minister during the previous government. 
 
Dr. Horace Chang * Minister of Water & Housing 
------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
11.(U) Dr. Horace Chang was born November 10, 1952 in New 
Roads, Westmoreland, Jamaica.  He attended New Roads All Ages 
School, Cornwall College and UWI.  Dr. Chang was first 
elected to Parliament in 1980 serving until 1989 in the 
Hanover West constituency.  He has previously served as Vice 
President for Young Jamaica, Deputy General Secretary for the 
JLP from 1981-1983, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry 
of Health (1983-1989), MP for North West St James and 
Opposition Spokesman on Housing and Inner-city Development. 
 
12.(SBU) As a private doctor and part of the Doctor's 
Hospital Group, Dr. Chang developed a large, successful 
prepayment Health Plan for low income workers.  He is married 
and has two children.  Dr. Chang figured in the so-called 
Western Eleven who openly opposed Seaga in the mid 1990s  But 
he patched things up in the ensuing years and remained a 
loyal party man.  After winning his seat in North West St 
James again, Dr. Chang has been selected to serve as Minister 
of Water and Housing, in the new 18-member cabinet. 
 
Pearnel Charles ) Minister of Labour and Social Security 
---------------------------- ---------------------------- 
 
13.(U) Pearnel Charles was born in 1936 in Macedonia, St. 
Ann, Jamaica.  He was educated at Lime Tree Garden Elementary 
School, UWI, and the City College of the University of New 
York, completing a Bachelors Degree in Political Science. 
 
14.(U) Mr. Charles began his political career in 1969, and he 
has served two terms as Parish Councilor in Kingston and St. 
Andrew Corporation.  He also has served two terms in the 
Senate, the Upper House of Parliament (1972-1980), as well as 
nineteen years as Deputy Leader of the JLP (1972-1991).  Mr. 
Charles has three consecutive terms as MP for St. Thomas East 
and was re-elected to a second term as MP for Clarendon North 
Central.  He has also been active in local trade unions, 
serving top roles in the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union, a 
JLP-linked trade union formed before Jamaica's independence. 
 
15.(SBU) In 1976 he was detained under the State of Emergency 
for 283 days; during his detention he wrote a book entitled 
&DETAINED8 which was published after his release in 1977. 
In 1980 he was elected MP for Eastern St. Thomas and was 
appointed Minister of Local Government.  On February 1, 1982, 
he became Minister of Public Utilities and Transport. 
 
16.(SBU) Pearnel Charles has not always been in the good 
graces of the JLP leadership.  He was named as one of the 
notorious Gang of Five, a group of top leadership from the 
JLP who tried to push then party leader Edward Seaga out of 
the top role in the early 1990s.  (Note:  This is the 
incident that led to Karl Samuda 'crossing the floor' of 
parliament to join the rival PNP and eventually leading to 
Bruce Golding's departure from the Party to form the New 
Democratic Movement (NDM) party.  End Note.)  At the time 
there was speculation in the media that Charles would be 
expelled from the party.  However, he was instead given the 
cold-shoulder by boss Edward Seaga and not given a shadow 
minister posting nor appointed to the Senate. 
 
17.(SBU) Charles has enjoyed mostly good relations with U.S. 
officials and is generally pro-U.S.  While serving as 
Minister of Public Utilities and Transport, he demonstrated a 
willingness to cooperate with our country on drug issues by 
 
KINGSTON 00001525  003 OF 005 
 
 
advocating tougher laws against traffickers who use 
commercial air or water routes.  In addition he co-chaired a 
committee responsible for monitoring Jamaican counter 
narcotics operations in the past. 
 
18.(U) Mr. Charles is married to the former Gloria Maude 
Hanson and has four daughters and two sons.  His hobbies are 
reading, debating, lawn tennis and farming. 
 
Rudyard Spencer ) Minister of Health and Environment 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
19.(U) Rudyard Spencer was born in Grange Hill, Westmoreland, 
Jamaica on February 23, 1944.  He was educated at Medgars 
College and Cornell University.  Rudyard is a former 
president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) a 
labor union formed by the founder of the JLP whose name the 
group bears.  Mr. Spencer is a specialist in financial sector 
worker representation and negotiations and a former member of 
the Caribbean Congress of Labour.  His first government 
service was as an Opposition Senator in 1993, after he failed 
to win a Parliamentary seat in the general elections of the 
same year. 
 
20.(U) Rudyard first won a seat in Parliament in the 2002 
general elections.  Rudyard is married and has two children. 
He has been announced as the Minister of Health and 
Environment in Prime Minister Bruce Golding's Cabinet. 
 
Olivia &Babsy8 Grange: Minister of Information, Culture, 
Youth and Sports 
---------------------------- 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
21.(U) Olivia 'Babsy' Grange was born April 27, 1946. Ms 
Grange is a self-made woman of humble origins, being born in 
a poor section of West Kingston to a dressmaker mother and a 
shoemaker father.  'Babsy' took exception to her neighborhood 
being called a 'ghetto' and has strived to work hard and make 
a difference. She attended All Saints Primary, Gainstead High 
and Ryerson University in Canada.  She is the Director of the 
Edward Seaga Research Institute as well as a Director of the 
Jamaica Association of Composers, Artists and Producers 
(JACAP). 
 
22.(U) 'Babsy' is also a Former Minister of State responsible 
for Information and Culture (1985-1989), Former Deputy 
General Secretary, Former Chairman of Public Relations for 
JLP, Former Senator (1983) and Former Deputy Leader.  She is 
the present MP for St. Catherine Central, and one of eight 
women elected in the recent national election.  'Babsy' is 
sometimes compared to outgoing Prime Minister Portia 
Simpson-Miller, another veteran female politician who comes 
from humble roots. 
 
23.(U) Ms Grange won her first seat, ironically, against 
Bruce Golding in the 1998 general elections when Golding was 
representing the National Democratic Movement (NDM).  (Note: 
Golding requested a magisterial recount of the votes, 
delaying Ms Grange's entry into Parliament at the time.  End 
Note.) 
 
24.(SBU) 'Babsy' is a 60 year old mother of one, grandmother 
of three, music executive communications consultant, and long 
time member of the JLP.  She is also considered a party 
loyalist and a survivor.  She was a successful businesswoman 
in the entertainment industry, formerly representing well 
known Jamaican performers and also known for being the 
coordinator for official funerals for both Bob Marley and 
Peter Tosh. Olivia 'Babsy' Grange has not only paid her dues; 
politics has extracted its pound of flesh from this daughter 
of the inner city.   During the heyday of the political 
madness that characterized the politics of the 1970s she was 
detained on trumped-up charges, spent some seven months in 
detention, and was only released on the condition that she go 
into 'voluntary' exile. 
 
 
Michael Henry ) Minister of Transport and Works 
------------------------------------ ----------- 
 
25.(U) Lester Michael Henry was born June 18, 1935 in Spanish 
Town, St. Catherine, Jamaica and is the son of the late 
Lester Osmond Henry and Lucille Leon Henry. He is an 
Author/Publisher by profession and is Chairman of Kingston 
Publishers Ltd. Mike was educated at St. Jago High School, 
Beckford & Smith and Ealing Technical College in the UK.  He 
 
KINGSTON 00001525  004 OF 005 
 
 
migrated to Britain in 1955, spending nine years in the UK 
before returning to Jamaica in 1964. 
 
26.(U) Mike Henry first ran for Parliament in for the JLP in 
¶1976.  He was successfully elected as MP for the Central 
Clarendon constituency in 1980. A seat for which he was 
easily re-elected in the recent September 2007 general 
elections.  He has now been announced by Prime Minister Bruce 
Golding as the Minister of Transport and Works. 
 
27.(SBU) Mike Henry previously has served as Minister for 
Information, Minister of Tourism and as Minister of 
Agriculture. However, he has not always been in high favor in 
the JLP, having always publicly supported Bruce Golding.  He 
was quoted in the local media in 1999 stating that Golding 
should never have left the party and that he would strongly 
support his return to the JLP.  Later that same year, after a 
much publicized dispute over seating arrangements in the 
House of Representatives, with then-party boss Edward Seaga, 
he received a one year suspension from holding any position 
within the party. 
 
28.(U) Mike is married with four children.  Mike is a member 
of the Kiwanis Club, Jamaica Library Service Board, Board of 
the Institute of Jamaica, Kingston Cricket Club and the 
Jamaica Motoring Club. 
 
 
Don Wehby ) Minister without Portfolio (Ministry of Finance 
and the Public Service) 
-------------------------------------------- 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶29. (U) Don Wehby, vice-chairman of one of Jamaica's most 
powerful companies, has been named Minister Without 
Portfolio, to work alongside new Finance Minister, Audley 
Shaw.  The appointment of Don Wehby to the Ministry of 
Finance has been helpful in calming financial circles at home 
and abroad.  Don Wehby, deputy head of GraceKennedy Limited 
and CEO of GK Investments, has taken a two-year leave of 
absence from his job in order to bring fresh strategies to 
managing Jamaica's struggling economy.  Wehby has stated that 
his first task will be tackling Jamaica's debt problem. 
 
30.(U) Don Wehby's appointment is significant. In order to 
find its way through this globalization maze, GraceKennedy 
has had to go through deep makeovers to convert itself into a 
more global company. Don Wehby is more than a super 
accountant. He knows from experience how difficult change is. 
 When he first took over Grace's Financial Services Division 
in 1998 it turned a profit of about J$150 million (about 
US$2.2 million); by 2002 profits had increased to J$450 
million (about US$6.6 million).  In past media reports Wehby 
credits his success to a capable staff and hard work. 
 
31.(U) Donald George Wehby, Jr. was born on July 14, 1963. 
Wehby joined GraceKennedy Limited in 1995 as Group Finance 
Manager and was appointed Deputy Finance Director in 1997. 
The following year he was appointed Group Chief Financial 
Officer and in 1999 undertook the additional role of Chief 
Operating Officer for the Financial Services Division. 
 
32.(U) Mr. Wehby serves as Chairman of Hi-Lo Food Stores 
(Jamaica) Limited, Deputy Chairman of First Global Bank 
Limited and First Global Financial Services Limited, and as 
Board Member of several GraceKennedy subsidiaries. He also 
serves on the board of his alma mater St. George's College. 
In January 2003, Mr. Wehby was appointed to the Executive of 
the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (PSOJ) as Honorary 
Treasurer. His prior association with the PSOJ was that of a 
member of its Economic Policy Committee. His other 
professional affiliations include the Jamaica Stock Exchange 
Council and the board of Food for the Poor.  He holds both a 
Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in 
Accounting from the University of the West Indies and has 
completed an Advanced Management College certificate course 
at Stanford University. 
 
33.(U) Mr. Wehby is married with three children. He is an 
avid cricket fan and a member of the Kingston Cricket Club. 
 
Dwight Nelson ) Minister without Portfolio (Ministry of 
Finance and the Public Service) 
------------------------------------- 
-------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
34.(U) Career trade unionist Dwight Nelson spent more than 25 
 
KINGSTON 00001525  005 OF 005 
 
 
years at the head of Jamaica's Bustamante Industrial Trade 
Union (BITU).  One of Jamaica's largest unions, the BITU has 
historically been closely associated with the JLP, having 
been founded by Sir Alexander Bustamante three years before 
he established the JLP.  Nelson was heavily involved in 
politics during the 1980s and 1990s, once serving as 
Opposition Senator for the JLP during the 1980s and again in 
the most recent Senate (2002-2007 also serving as the 
Opposition Spokesman on Information.  He has represented the 
BITU at both regional and international labor conferences, 
including the International Labor Organization conference in 
Geneva. He left the BITU and organized labor briefly in 1993 
to join the private sector, however he returned to the BITU 
in 1997 as chief negotiator. 
 
35.(U) Nelson was born on July 22, 1950.  He earned a BA 
degree in mass communications in 1981 from the UWI.  He also 
attended St George's college of Jamaica, the Trade Union 
Education Labor College of Canada, Ruskin College and Oxford. 
 Nelson has also taught and lectured at the Trade Union 
Education Institute at UWI.  During the 1980s he held several 
posts in the BITU, including assistant island supervisor, 
education officer and senior negotiator. 
 
36.(U) Nelson is married to the former Pauline Maria 
Gillespie and has five children.  His hobbies include 
reading, writing and photography. 
 
Conclusion 
------------ 
 
37.(SBU) While the above figures constitute the second tier 
of the new executive cabinet, they are an interesting group 
which includes some people such as Nelson, a key leader in 
Jamaican labor unions for many years, and some astute veteran 
politicians with long tenure in the JLP.  The appointment of 
Wehby as Minister without portfolio drew some initial 
criticism from the media; however, after he officially 
resigned from GraceKelly and gave an interview to the media 
about his desire to help out the country, the criticism 
appears to have died down.  One question that remains: can 
Wehby make a difference if he serves only two years? 
HEG