Back in 2011, Philip “Brave” Davis, then Deputy Leader of the PLP, took aim at former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham’s Cabinet and branded it a “Gussie Mae” Cabinet — a phrase intended to suggest something bloated, oversized, and unnecessarily expensive. He went further, calling it “a waste of public funds.”

Strong words. Especially considering that at the time Hubert Ingraham’s Cabinet consisted of 17 members.

Fast forward to today, and the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government now boasts a Cabinet of 29 members under Prime Minister Davis, just four less than PLP elected members of parliament — a figure so historically generous it appears less like a Cabinet and more like a convention with assigned portfolios. And we are now being told, with a straight face, that this unprecedented size is necessary to fulfill the government’s mandate.

Now politics does occasionally require flexibility. Circumstances change. Priorities evolve. But there is a difference between evolving and performing ideological gymnastics so aggressive they deserve their own Olympic category.

Because if 17 ministers represented reckless waste in 2011, what exactly does 29 represent in 2026? A public-sector family reunion? A buy-one-get-one-free government promotion? At what point does a Cabinet stop being an executive body and become a cruise ship excursion group?

And setting aside the obvious issue of political amnesia — because Bahamian politics often treats past statements the way people treat gym memberships in February — there is a more obvious question: Why exactly is such a massive Cabinet necessary now?

After all, Davis and the PLP are not newcomers arriving at an abandoned worksite with shovels in hand. This is not a government stepping into a blank slate. The Prime Minister himself has repeatedly argued that much of the “heavy lifting” for national development occurred during previous PLP administrations.

Which raises an awkward question: if the foundation was already poured, the machinery already assembled, and the difficult groundwork supposedly completed under prior PLP stewardship… why does finishing the job suddenly require enough ministers to field a small football league?

Because from the outside, it begins to resemble one of those situations where government starts to look less like an exercise in efficiency and more like a group project where somehow everyone insists they deserve equal credit for writing the title page.

Apparently, what was once called “wasteful excess” has undergone one of politics’ most remarkable transformations: it is now being sold as essential leadership.

Funny how government expansion always seems to become more acceptable once you’re the one handing out the chairs.

If this is the route for of this Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government and if this is the how “progress” looks; then unfortunately we are in are a long ride.

END