While it remains to be seen if Prime Minister Philip Davis' Cabinet reshuffle this week will have any real impact on national development, one does wonder if it represents a missed opportunity.

When he attempted to explain his announcement of the largest Cabinet in Bahamian history in 2021, he cited the enormity of the challenges the nation faced coming out of the pandemic.

Yet, it seems that even those minsters who did not preform well in their roles get to keep their jobs even as they have proven ineffective in addressing any challenge in particular.

It also appears that the reward for unacceptable behavior is to be simply moved around as opposed to being moved out.

We can grasp the thinking behind some of his choices, but the prime minister's reasoning behind others seems flawed.

To begin with, the prime minister would have been better served getting rid of former Minister of Immigration and Labour Keith Bell, not because Bell was necessarily an ineffective minister, but because he betrayed the public's trust.

His swearing in as Bahamian citizens of a woman and her children at her husband's funeral in June made a mockery of our system.

And his ordering the release of a group of Chinese workers found to be working in The Bahamas illegally was widely condemned and an embarrassment for the Davis administration.

Many in the prime minister's own party felt that Bell should go.

There would have been very little pushback had the prime minister fired him, and he would have come off as having little tolerance for errant behavior.

Instead, Bell is now in charge of the country's public housing program.

Perhaps the prime minister believes Bell has learned his lesson.

We shall see.

Former Minister of Works Alfred Sears was also a disappointment, particularly with regard to his inability to address the multitude of issues that plague Bahamas Power and Light (BPL).

He is now minister of immigration and national insurance.

Immigration is a large enough responsibility to occupy a minister.

The National Insurance Board (NIB) is critically important and needs the undivided attention of a dedicated minister to stabilize the future of our social security fund.

We do not see the wisdom in this decision.

Former Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and Family Island Affairs Clay Sweeting is now minister of works and family island affairs.

Sweeting will hopefully perform better than Sears and bring order to that ministry.

Former Minister of Housing and Transport JoBeth Coleby-Davis is now minister of energy and transport with responsibility for BPL.

Coleby-Davis' specialty as an attorney was energy law.

We have no confidence that the Davis administration is capable of fixing BPL, but Coleby-Davis will hopefully be able to guide Cabinet in making better decisions about the state power provider than it has so far.

The prime minister also reassigned former Minister of State for Education Zane Lightbourne.

Lightbourne spent his entire professional career in the public education system.

We fail to understand how he could possibly be more valuable as minister of state in the Ministry for the Environment.

Basil McIntosh, the former Minister of State in the Ministry for the Environment, has been appointed Minister of State for Aviation.

McIntosh did not distinguish himself in his former position, but it is hoped that his background in civil engineering will be of better use as minister of state for aviation.

Minister for the Environment Vaughn Miller has also been a disappointment, but he has been allowed to keep his job.

Jomo Campbell has been moved as minister of state in the Ministry of Legal Affairs and is now minister of agriculture and marine resources.

Campbell was a very competent attorney whose expertise could still be put to good use in legal affairs.

However, he may prove talented in his new role.

Pia Glover-Rolle, who was minister of state for the public service, is now minister of labor and the public service.

Glover-Rolle has proved adept at labor relations thus far.

She deserves a chance to demonstrate if she can helm a ministry of her own.

The Davis administration has appeared to approach the two-year mark of its administration with a view to shaking things up.

Cabinet has been reconstructed, Parliament has been prorogued and a new governor general has been sworn in.

But what matters far more than the optics surrounding all that is the ability to deliver for the Bahamian people.

The jury is still out in that regard.

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