Prime Minister Perry Christie was momentarily blocked from entering the House of Assembly on Wednesday by supporters of the Bahamas Democratic Movement and the Free National Movement protesting the governmentﾴs move to bring a resolution to parliament giving Holy Cross MP Sidney Stubbs more time to appeal his bankruptcy order.
A police officer was seen physically removing BDM Leader Cassius Stuart from the steps of parliament.
Shortly thereafter, Prime Minister Christie spoke about the incident on the floor of the House.
ﾓOn coming in this House, I stopped to have a brief word with the Leader of the Free National Movement,ﾒ Mr. Christie said. ﾓMr. Speaker, firstly, this is about oneﾴs access and privilege to walk into the House of Assembly unmolested, untouched, unharassed. This is what itﾴs about. There is a fundamental privilege of parliamentians to be able to access parliament without being deterred in any form.
ﾓThe point I want to make, Sir, is that I do not protest about what happened in coming here. Thatﾴs not my protest. I want to put on the record, Mr. Speaker, that last night as leader of my party, I determined that I would not respond to the request to bring out numbers here to counter any effort at demonstrating at the House of Assembly because of the nature of what weﾴre doing. We are only here in furtherance of a fundamental, constitutional provision that exists. Thatﾴs all.ﾒ
Mr. Christie told the Speaker, Oswald Ingraham, ﾓThe House of Assembly, yourself, and the Commissioner of Police must be well aware of what the rules mean in terms of walking back and forth through that door of the House of Assembly.ﾒ
Earlier in the afternoon, a mob of angry protestors called for the immediate removal of the embattled Holy Cross representative as the House met for an emergency sitting scheduled the night before.
ﾓStubbs gotta go, now!ﾒ the crowd of rowdy protestors chanted as they stood not too far away from where the House of Assembly was meeting.
FNM Leader Tommy Turnquest held a press conference minutes after the crowd quieted and urged the government to ﾓdo the right thingﾒ.
ﾓThe resolution which parliament proposes to debate today is a blatant abuse to our nationﾴs constitution,ﾒ Mr. Turnquest said.
ﾓThe FNM calls upon this ruthless, unfocused, and incompetent PLP government to do the right thing and force Sidney Stubbs to vacate the Holy Cross seat which became vacant when he was declared a bankrupt. We also call upon the whole PLP government to resign forthwith and save the Bahamian people from further suffering and embarrassment.ﾒ
On Tuesday evening, the media received a release from the Cabinet Office explaining that the extension would allow Mr. Stubbs the fair right to test the correctness of the rulings that have thus far been made against him by the local courts.
Minister of Labour and Immigration Vincent Peet pointed out in the release that, ﾓIn the Bahamian Constitutional context, Mr. Stubbs must be afforded an appeal to the Privy Council and that Mr. Stubbsﾴ attorney had an application for leave to appeal to the Privy Council in motion.ﾒ
Minister Peet also said in that press release that the question was not whether Mr. Stubbs was correct in his constitutional arguments, but rather whether he should be allowed the opportunity to make those arguments to the final court of appeal in The Bahamas.
Mr. Turnquest was not the only political leader to register his opposition to the process.
Mr. Stuart, the BDM leader, also shared some harsh sentiments on the matter.
ﾓIf anyone in our [parliament] can get away with this nonsense then they are in clear violation of bastardizing our Constitution,ﾒ he charged.
ﾓWe are not going to allow that to happen. Mr. Prime Minister, you should be ashamed of yourself for allowing this to come to this point. The residents of Holy Cross are disgusted at this situation.The residents of The Bahamas are disgusted by this situation and yet still you want to decide to give [Mr. Stubbs] another extension. Over our dead body.ﾒ
Mr. Turqnuest added, ﾓToday is a sad day in the history of our parliamentﾅthe FNM now gives notice that if the government continues on this path the FNM would withdraw all cooperation and political courtesy from the PLP government, which has lost all political and moral authority and legitimacy.ﾒ
Royanne Forbes, The Bahama Journal
