UNDOUBTEDLY, Prime Minister Simpson Miller gave her Cabinet selections a lot of thought. However, I have yet to see a credible explanation for the sizable team she eventually selected, despite not finding room for two stalwarts -- Fitz Jackson and Delano Roosevelt Franklin. Before this week, most people would have guessed that both names would have appeared on any list of nominees.

Three portfolios in which this columnist has special interest are sports, information and, to a slightly lesser extent, health. Those are the areas in which I have been engaged for most of my working life and information related to the first two continues to command most of my writing space.

I congratulate all three persons who have been named to these portfolios -- Sandrea Falconer, Natalie Neita Headley and Fenton Ferguson. All three are said to be bright and committed servants of the people. Dr Ferguson has served for some time in the shadow cabinet of the People's National Party while in opposition, so his appointment was no surprise. And his experience in the public health sector should also serve him in good stead.

I know that Sandrea Falconer is a bright and intelligent young woman with a strong background in journalism; and I expect her to give a good account of herself.

However, important as those credentials are, an effective minister of information will need to bring more than skills and experience in journalism. The minister of information is the face and voice of the Government. She will need to demonstrate cognisance of the intricacies of the public sector. She will need to have a command and a clear understanding of the operations of individual ministries; and more than passing knowledge for how government works. Also, she must know the policies of the party she represents so that she can articulate Cabinet decisions in that context.

Besides demonstrating good media relations, this minister is also expected to ensure that Government policies and programmes are transparently presented in keeping with a commitment made in the PNP Manifesto. Minister Falcolner has her work cut out for her and she does not have much time to learn.

Both Minister Falconer and Minister Neita Headley's portfolios are now housed in the Prime Minister's Office. I suppose the reasoning is that in this way the number of ministries are reduced. However, to the best of my recollection, the Ministry of Information never operated independently. But, given the magnitude and complexity of the sports portfolio, one wonders if any reduction is achieved by placing it in the PM's Office. Whatever the explanation, the link to the PM's Office seems awkward, similar to the separation of 'entertainment' from the 'culture' portfolio.

I think that this is the first time since Independence that the Ministry of Sports has been 'appendaged' to another ministry in this way.

Sure it has formed part of a complex ministry configuration such as youth and sports; youth, culture and sports, or when a super ministry portfolio was created for Mrs Simpson Miller by former Prime Minister PJ Patterson, 'Labour, Tourism and Sports'. But in all those cases, there was never any doubt that it was an independent Cabinet portfolio.

I believe I heard Dionne Jackson-Miller refer to sports as a 'soft portfolio' in one of her discussion programmes, in which the view was expressed that women were too frequently given such 'soft portfolios' as against the more production-oriented Ministries.

I don't know that to be the case. Yes, the number of women in Cabinet positions have been few, comparatively speaking, but several, such as Rose Leon, Mavis Gilmore, Maxine Henry-Wilson, Aloun Assamba, Dorothy Lightbourne, and Portia Simpson Miller herself, have all held challenging portfolios.

Interestingly, before Mrs Simpson Miller, I can't recall a woman being appointed minister of sports in Independent Jamaica. If memory serves me right, former Prime Minister Edward Seaga held that portfolio during the early stage of his political career. If anything, that ministry may be seen as a springboard to higher calling. It certainly advances the profile of the incumbent minister.

In my view, High Small was perhaps the most successful holder of that portfolio. I confess that my perspective may be influenced by a small amount of bias, as for part of that period I served as information officer for that ministry. Those were exciting days, even if the ministry then operated under extremely tight financial constraints. However, for the few years that Minister Small served in that office, he presided over the establishment of the GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport, an institution whose establishment was negotiated with the Government of Cuba. Its installation was a watershed achievement in the country's sporting history.

I recall the meticulous thinking which was channelled into its founding and launch. How he mobilised the sports, education and planning fraternities into developing the framework of its curriculum. It was also a period when the administration institutionalised the staging of international track and field meets that began with the Martin Luther King Games, succeeded a year later by the Manley Games. In moving on from that ministry, Minister Small left behind a more functional management structure for Independence Park as distinct from the Institute of Sports.

There can't be many persons who would not also credit Mrs Simpson Miller with a commendable record of performance in that ministry. The high regard in which she continues to be held by every national sports association testifies to her effectiveness. Many, like the Jamaica Football Federation and the Jamaica Netball Association, credit her for the solid support that she gave them during her tenure.

Whatever the motive for retaining that portfolio along with her other weighty responsibilities, Mrs Simpson Miller must know that this would raise some eyebrows. However, this may be the least of her concerns. For better or worse, the Ministry of Sports is no longer an independent ministry.

This is interesting, as never before in our history has this area been so poised to advance Brand Jamaica both in terms of prominence through the continued performance of our stellar athletes, its revenue-earning potential, and by recognition of its role in health development.

Interestingly, between 2001 and 2002, former Prime Minister PJ Patterson formed a national sports council including broad-based representation in the sports, education, health and the tourism sectors. That council drafted a national policy which included important programme guidelines and activities that not only targeted potentially gifted athletes, but established recreation and sports as a potential resource for health development, and the marketing of our sports products as an essential component.

Components of that policy were implemented in a piecemeal fashion and it was never used in guiding subsequent plans and programmes. Today, the draft policy lies buried in some archive of Parliament, forgotten by both administrators and the media, who kept calling on the former minister of sports to produce a policy as a matter of urgency.

Valerie Neita Headley's appointment as a junior minister in that portfolio comes almost on the eve of the Games of XXX Olympiad. She would know that her party's manifesto commits this Government to intensify all efforts to maximise the country's sports potential; to develop sports tourism as an integral part of the approach to national development, to take advantage of the performance of our outstanding sportsmen and women by producing documentaries which enhance the profile of our indigenous film industry and further promote Brand Jamaica.

I gather that Mrs Neita Headley is a graduate in Human Resource Management. She will have great need to rely on that background in dealing with this fraternity.

In the interim, we expect her to confirm, among other things, the elements of the agreement between Singapore and Jamaica, in regard to our assistance to Singapore in marketing the inaugural Youth Olympics in that country last year. The local media have been clamouring for some explanations. Also, to shed some light on the status of the operations of the Institute of Sports.

So congratulations again Mrs Neita Headley and Ms Falconer; the real work should by now be well underway.

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