MEMBER of parliament, Jennifer Edwards was yesterday sworn in as the new state minister for agriculture, replacing Fenton Ferguson who was recently reassigned to the Ministry of Transport and Works.

Prime Minister P J Patterson said Edwards’ appointment was the first time that a woman would be serving at that level in the agriculture ministry, and that he expected that her involvement would bring fresh thinking and new approaches to the sector which has always been dominated by men.

Patterson acknowledged that although agriculture was traditionally viewed as “a man’s business”, historically women had been as involved and in some cases had made a more meaningful contribution than men.

“As we seek to undertake the process of economic transformation, which must of necessity include and embrace the agricultural sector, we need to bring fresh thinking, fresh approaches and discard old myths,” the prime minister said at the ceremony at King’s House which was presided over by governor general, Sir Howard Cooke.

Edwards who is the MP for South West St Catherine, was elected in the 1997 general elections. Prior to her election as MP she served as mayor of Spanish Town and chairman of the St Catherine Parish Council since 1990. Before 1990, Edwards, who has a BSc in Public Administration from the University of the West Indies, had been deputy mayor of Spanish Town and deputy chairman of the St Catherine Parish Council.

The ministerial changes came as a result of the resignation of former water and housing minister, Karl Blythe, after a report commissioned by the prime minister disclosed questionable actions in the running of the government’s shelter programme, Operation PRIDE. Former labour and welfare minister, Danny Buchanan, has been named the new minister of housing, and Ferguson was reassigned to transport and works.

During yesterday’s ceremony, Sir Howard commended the government for the way it has been tackling the problems of the country, and said despite the “fierce” criticism of the government locally people overseas were “singing the praises of the country”.

While he welcomed criticism, he said, he cautioned against “misinformed” criticism.

“One of the good things, Prime Minister, is that criticism seems to be fierce … And I am happy to see that we are having criticism, some of it not well-informed and some of it blatantly misinformed,” Sir Howard said.

“I’m pleased to note that there is growth in culture, growth in achievements and amongst us there is an expectancy. Of course we are not satisfied with where we are,” he said.