Prime Minister Perry Christie on Monday lashed out at the Free National Movement, branding as “an outrageous lie” the allegation that Immigration Minister Shane Gibson personally collected a $10,000 cheque to pay for the permanent residency permit of American celebrity Anna Nicole Smith.
“You canﾒt have in the front page of newspapers that my minister picked up a cheque when itﾒs a lie, an outrageous lie,” Mr. Christie said.
“If you have to get political power by outrageous lies then it will be an attack on the Bahamian people and the discerning power that they have to know that we are in the political season when lies are the order of the day.”
An apparently angry prime minister made his statements while speaking at the opening of Excellence Estates, a new government built subdivision off Carmichael Road.
“I have a government where people are qualified for a particular privilege. My minister has the good order and is effective enough to give [an immigration permit] to them in one week or one month [and] I salute him because he is acting in accordance with the law.
“He is acting in accordance with the policy and he is demonstrating the level of efficiency in government that cause people to questionﾅwhether or not if he is so efficient he must be doing something crooked.”
The prime minister said he has always encouraged his cabinet ministers to do their jobs honestly and to the best of their ability.
Mr. Christie said he told his ministers that in 1991 he told former prime minister the late Sir Lynden Pindling that the problem with the country was the government left it to the people who were in opposition to be the friends of the people who were permanent residents and who were getting citizenship in the country.
“Without fear of contradiction they are the ones who are going out to them and getting donations and they have the temerity and the audacity to question the integrity of one of my ministers when they are the ones who are going out and collect the money from them,” the prime minister.
He said that for years he has been an advocate for improving the system under which citizenship and permanent residency are granted.
Mr. Christie said he expressed to Sir Lynden the importance of knowing who the permanent residents are and the names of those seeking that status in The Bahamas.
“I have been arguing for years to make the granting of citizenship and permanent residence more efficient, that what we are now doing will establish new records in efficiency. New systems are being introduced, new levels are being introduced and we will be moving with speed and if you donﾒt like it then lump it,” the prime minister said.
“[Iﾒm] just telling you enough to tell you donﾒt let nonsense and foolishness be the order of the day in this country where people go all over the place getting what they want, doing what they want and then try and put it on innocent people, and having a friendly press who are able to do the things to help them out.
“Well I say to the people of The Bahamas, as I say again, as I use this occasion God will determine who is the government of The Bahamas, and whoever becomes the government those of us will salute them.”
By: Stephen Gay, The Bahama Journal
