The last few weeks have revealed a lot about the leadership of Prime Minister Christie and his colleagues and their apologists in Messrs Tennyson Wells and Pierre Dupuch. I feel obligated to comment on these important matters because I believe they expose the dangerous direction in which the PLP Government is taking our country.
A lot was revealed by the grant of Permanent Residence to Anna Nicole Smith. A lot more was revealed by their responses to the fight between Messrs Kenyatta Gibson and Keod Smith in the Cabinet Room.
When the PLP won the election in 2002 many people here and internationally warned that “the boys were back in town”. They meant that dealmakers – those for whom standards and principles are always negotiable – were once again in charge in The Bahamas. The action by the PLP leadership in granting permanent resident status to Nicole Smith and the lack of a suitable reaction by the PLP Leadership to the fight between two of their Parliamentarians confim that standards for these fellas are indeed negotiable.
The Good Book says: “If you are not against us, you are for us”. Clearly, when it comes to Tennyson Wells and Pierie Dupuch, they are certainly not against Perry Christie and the PLP and so we must all acknowledge what their actions have been suggesting throughout –the past four years: Wells and Dupuch are for Perry Christie and for the PLP.
Letﾒs admit it. The grant of a Certificate of Permanent Residence to Anna Nicole Smith on an expedited basis (or any basis at all) could only be justified on the basis that it was done as a favour by the Government to a close friend of Minister Gibson. No one who has ever had dealings with the Department of Immigration believes that the grant of Permanent Residency is now being efficiently dealt with on the basis of a three weeks turnaround. It is simply not true.
The granting of a Certificate of Permanent Residence to Ms. Smith cannot be justified. Her only apparent connection to the Bahamas is that she has visited this country in the past three three months and bought a home on the Eastern Road. The home is not exceptional and could have been purchased by any middle class Bahamian professional or entrepreneur. It’s now off the market and Bahamians are deprived the opportunity of buying it.
Ms. Smith’s celebrity status is derived from the fact that she was a Playgirl bunny who bared her wherewithal for all to see and at age 26 persuaded an 89-year-old billionaire to marry her for love and companionship.
Later Ms. Smith became the host of a reality TV show filmed in her own home. Segments of the show cast serious doubt that she is a fit and proper role model for young women.
On another occasion Ms. Smith had to be assisted away from the podium of a televised awards show because of her rambling, incoherent speech. How the PLP can square this woman’s reputation with its Christian supporters is a mystery to me.
This woman is not seeking to change her way of life. It is my opinion that she is neither embarrassed nor sorry for her behaviour. She gave birth to a baby girl in The Bahamas in circumstances where two men publicly proclaim themselves to be the father of the baby.
Certainly it is not a matter of public policy that Ms. Smith fits the profile of persons who should be granted the right to live permanently. in our beloved country. If that is the standard, who are we entitled to refuse?
No it could only be justified as simply a favour by the Cabinet of The Bahamas to Minister Shane Gibson, who is obviously a close friend of Ms. Smith since he visited her in her hospital room and at her private residence, on Eastern Road.
Prime Minister Christie’s only defence to the questions as to the propriety of Mr. Gibson’s conduct and the justification for the special treatment obviously afforded to her is that Mr. Gibson should be praised for dealing with the application in an efficient basis. It is laughable and symbolic of the contempt that he must have for the sensibilities of the Bahamian people.
There is no new efficiency in the Department of Immigration. It still takes longer than three weeks to have an application for a work permit considered and there are many applications for Permanent Residency made long before that of Ms Smith that are still outstanding; some for the spouses of Bahamian citizens.
No. The grant of a certificate to permanently reside in The Bahamas should not be granted by the Cabinet of The Bahamas in such a cavalier manner and the Christie government’s approach to the matter in the circumstances of this case tells us a lot about the stupidity in his administration.
That brings me to the, fight, in the hallowed Cabinet Room of The Bahamas last Monday night.
That there was a fight between Messrs Gibson and Smith cannot be denied. It was witnessed by more than 15 persons and was simply too scandalous for them to have kept it a secret. Moreover, the disarray and damage caused by the fracas in the room could not be swept “under the carpet”.
Think about it. Two members of Parliament, Kenyatta Gibson who is at least 6′ 3″ and Keod Smith who is about 5’8″, in a fight in the room where profound decisions are made that affect the welfare of the people of The Bahamas. Their colleagues had to have been both shocked and scandalised!
When the Prime Minister learned of the incident (which must have been late on Monday evening or early on Tuesday morning), he should have called both men into his office, reprimanded them for the conduct, required of them an apology to their colleagues and to the Bahamian people and requested their resignations from the appointed posts of Chairman of the Gaming Commission and Ambassador for the Environment. Then he should have told the nation that he had been informed of the fight and that he was taking appropriate action as leader of his party and of the country.
For Prime Minister Christie as late as Wednesday morning to have denied the fight and then to have downplayed it by saying that the reports of the matter were being exaggerated was not the kind of leadership the people of the Bahamas ought to have received from the Prime Minister.
The statement from the PLP read by Minister Peet aggravated the matter further. That two grown men, Members of Parliament sworn to make laws for the peace order and good government of The Bahamas should seek to resolve their “strong disagreement” by a fist fight and wrestling with each other deserved the strong unambiguous and unequivocal condemnation of the Prime Minister and of the PLP hierarchy.
The statement should have stated that the behaviour was unacceptable and would not be tolerated.
Instead we got from both the Prime Minister and Minister Peet a feeble attempt to downplay the gravity of the matter.
The reaction of Mr. Tennyson Wells and Mr. Pierre Dupuch to both these matters is equally revealing about them. Rather than condemn the behaviour of their colleagues in Parliament and question the propriety of the grant of the Certificate of Permanent Residency to Ms. Smith they adopt the position that the Opposition should ignore both matters as minor and deal with other issues in The Bahamas.
It is the position of both these independent MPs that a fight among Members of Parliament to settle “a strong disagreement” and the grant of Permanent Residency in three weeks to a personal friend of the Minister responsible for Immigration are both matters that should be ignored by the Opposition.
Yet these men would have the Bahamian electorate believe that they represent a standard of integrity and responsibility worthy of their holding public office.
Mr. Wells and Mr. Dupuch have displayed that their hostility to Mr. Hubert Ingraham and the FNM is such that they have lost objectivity in dealing with matters of public importance. Clearly honour, honesty, responsibility, integrity and accountability are not values that either Mr. Wells or Mr. Dupuch believe are required from those who hold high office.
Their behaviour and that of their friends in the PLP leadership is not the behaviour that the people of The Bahamas are entitled to expect from their leaders in Parliament or otherwise in public life.
Yes. The last few weeks have told us a lot about Prime Minister Christie and his government and a lot about Mr. Wells and Mr. Dupuch and their role in the political life of the Bahamas.
By: Jeanette Miller
Source: The Bahama Journal
