In light of the alleged Kenyatta Gibson-Keod Smith fist-fight fiasco, a major apologist for the Progressive Liberal Party, knowingly or not, has suggested that the Bahamas government does not adhere to “conventions.”
Rendering a scathing criticism of the alleged brawl which took place last Monday in the Cabinet office between the Chairman of the Gaming Board and the Ambassador of the Environment, Bahamasuncensored.com, a local champion for the PLP cause, questioned the government’s next move in handling the two “first timers.”
“The question is what should be done,” the article asks. “Will the apology be enough?”
“In any other system, the two should offer their resignations to the Prime Minister forthwith as Chairman of the Gaming Board (Gibson) and Ambassador for the Environment (Smith),” said the article’s writer.
However, the article continues, “as proper as that is, it is, given our lack of adherence to these conventions, unlikely to happen.”
The article goes on to criticise members of the PLP party as being “slack” for revealing to the public a “private matter” that took place where the “Parliamentary Caucus of the PLP was meeting.”
In what may be seen as an unprecedented move, the article acknowledges that there is a general concern among senior PLP party members over the attitude of many of the younger male members of Parliament who, because they were able to win seats during the party’s sweeping victory in 2002, “have a misplaced sense of entitlement.”
And now, as these same young PLP parliamentarians prepare to seek public support in their re-election bids, the article’s writer may have hit on a general concern among constituents at large in saying: “there is not a bone of humility in some of them. The power appears to have gone to their heads.”
Making note of a proposed Sunday afternoon radio appearance by both Ministers, Bahamasuncensored.com said that “no doubt it will be a combination of contrition and patchwork public relations in order to dampen the public ire about what happened.”
As this matter filled local headlines last week, the Free National Movement publicly called on the Prime Minister for an explanation of the situation which transpired in the Cabinet office. But the Prime Minister, in a public statement, downplayed the matter saying: “Most of these things are accentuated by rumours and talk.”
Over the weekend, independent MP Tennyson Wells blasted the Free National Movement for making “a big deal” out of the supposed brawl and said: “They need to get serious and deal with serious issues and stop picking at things because one segment of the public is laughing at them.”
However, one member of the public said that if this issue is not a serious matter, then Mr Wells ought to say what he considers to be a serious matter.
As implied by Bahamasuncensored.com, the general concern within the general Bahamian community is that “two grown men, MPs at that, can’t hold theirs (tempers) in a situation where the homicides in the country are being fed by people who can’t resolve conflicts peacefully.”
Coming from Bahamasuncensored.com, the most recent address on the “fight in the brotherhood” seems surprising, as many of the sites writings have been attributed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell.
In the past, Mr Mitchell, however, has denied any association with the online site, which before he became a Cabinet Minister was fredmichelluncensored.com.
By MARK HUMES, The Tribune
