By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE proposed Office of the Spouse of the Prime Minister has been approved by Cabinet, with Patricia Minnis expected to take up a non-paying post alongside a clerical staff member “in a few short weeks”.

Foreign Affairs Minister Darren Henfield announced during his mid-year budget speech yesterday the office will operate out of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Tribune reported in December that Patricia Minnis, the wife of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, pushed for the office last year in a bid to raise the profile of women leadership in the country.

She made the announcement at a luncheon hosted for spouses of senior government officials, revealing at the time that she had submitted a proposal for the office to cabinet.

Yesterday, Mr Henfield said Cabinet decided on the proposal several weeks ago, adding Dr Minnis recused himself from the meeting when the matter was raised.

Mrs Minnis will not receive a salary for her new role, he said; however, the office will host her and just one other employee, a “clerical worker” who will assist her in her duties.

That person will be transferred to her office from another department within his ministry, he said.

In addition, Mrs Minnis will receive the benefits typically given to government officials when they are travelling abroad to represent the Bahamas, Mr Henfield said, including a foreign service representative.

Critics yesterday observed that in some ways the Office of the Spouse overlaps with the Ministry of Social Services, particularly the Department of Gender and Family Affairs which evolved from the Bureau of Women’s Affairs to focus on families more broadly.

When former Social Services Minister Melanie Griffin announced the evolution of that department in 2016, she said its creation was consistent with United Nations’ sustainable goals.

Yesterday, Mr Henfield said the Office of the Spouse “will focus on the health and well-being of women, girls and adolescents, as enunciated with respect to general equality in goal five of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, adopted at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in September of 2015.”

He said: “It is our view that the weight of that office––which will engage in the forum of First Ladies and Spouses of the Region––will help to bring more focus to issues such as promoting the health and well-being of adolescents in the Caribbean and reducing adolescent pregnancy; expounding on the prevention of various forms of cancer that are prevalent among women; encouraging the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and congenital syphilis in the region, and more.”

Mr Henfield mentioned that Mrs Minnis addressed the First Ladies and Spouses of CARICOM forum in Belize last September during the launch of the Spouses of Caribbean Leaders Action Network (SCLAN).

“Just recently, in Haiti, Mrs Patricia Minnis also participated in an event with school children of that country at the invitation of the First Lady of Haiti, Martine Etienne Joseph,” he said. “The prime minister’s spouse will receive no pay for her efforts in this regard, but will simply be supported by my ministry as she engages with CAWAC Action Group and the CARICOM Secretariat, and various United Nations agencies and others.”