The Free National Movement on Sunday continued to criticize Prime Minister Perry Christie for his response to the fight that took place between Mount Moriah MP Keod Smith and Kennedy MP Kenyatta Gibson in the Cabinet Office last Monday night.
“It was a disgraceful episode and news of it was all over the country ﾖ from Abaco to Inagua ﾖ in short order. There was a Cabinet meeting in that same room the following day ﾖ Tuesday,” the FNM pointed out in a statement.
“But, lo and behold! Wednesday morning Prime Minister Christie had not heard about it! Or so he said.”
The FNM was referring to the prime ministerﾒs interview with The Bahama Journal during which time he said while he had heard about “disagreements”, he had not heard any reports about any fisticuffs between the two PLP MPs.
Mr. Christie said he had even laughed about the matter with the men and he suggested that reports of the incident had been overstated. Both Mr. Gibson and Mr. Smith also said reports had been exaggerated and denied that they had exchanged any blows when they appeared on the Love 97 programme “Jones and Company” on Sunday.
The FNM said the two PLP MPs who were engaged in that “brawl” in the Cabinet room last Monday probably took their cue from Prime Minister Christie and tried to cover up the whole thing.
Minister of Financial Services and Investments Vincent Peet, who chaired the parliamentary meeting on Monday night, refused to say whether a fight had taken place when he made an official statement on behalf of the government on Friday.
The FNM said the incident was no laughing matter.
“People will forgive their favourite politicians a lot of things,” the statement said. “But the one thing they will not forgive is when a politician takes them for fools. And that is exactly what Mr. Christie did when he tried to cover-up the incident.”
The statement added, “In the process, Mr. Christie, who has so prided himself on his integrity and honesty, did grievous ﾖ if not fatal ﾖ injury to his credibility. Nobody believes he did not know, even if he did not see any cuts and bruises he must have noticed that one of his MPs couldnﾒt use his right arm! And, he must have seen evidence of an altercation in the Cabinet Room.”
The FNM said Mr. Christieﾒs response was all song and dance, “a clumsy and, frankly, foolish attempt at covering up.”
The two MPs, the prime minister, and Minister Peet have all said the matter had been overstated, and Mr. Gibson and Mr. Smith said it had been sensationalized.
But the FNM said in its statement, “When two MPs get into a fistfight in the Cabinet room, or anywhere else, that is already sensational news and does not have to be sensationalized.”
The FNM said, “If the whole thing has been overstated, perhaps the two MPs should now give the public a word-by-word and blow-by-blow description so the public can judge whether the media have overstated the “those events”.
But Mr. Smith and Mr. Gibson refused to give any details about the incident when they appeared as guests on “Jones and Company” on Sunday.
The FNMﾒs statement added, “Mr. Christie should now change his dance step from the Christie Shuffle to the Electric Slide because that is what he and his colleagues are doing. Everything is allowed just to slide,” the statement said. “But the Bahamian people ﾖ including some very angry PLPs ﾖ are also waiting just to slide the whole lot of them out of power.”
On Wednesday, the prime minister told the Journal, “I believe that most of these things are accentuated by rumor and talk and that as Bahamians move forward today and tomorrow they will see that it is more apparent than real.”
He also said, “I was not at the particular meeting where it is alleged to have taken place. I did hear about some disagreements being expressed, but I did not hear of fisticuffs that Iﾒve seen in the newspapers and I have seen both members of parliament and [we] have laughed with each other, laughed at that occurrence in the sense that it is, you know, people are making what they would wish of it, but I didnﾒt see any bruises, bite marks or evidence of any kind of fight.”
The Bahama Journal
