Minister of Financial Services and Investments Allyson Maynard-Gibson on Sunday refused to repeat controversial statements about Registrar General Elizabeth Thompson, which she made recently in the House of Assembly.
The Minister, who had been branded a coward by Leader of the Official Opposition Alvin Smith for attacking Ms. Thompson in parliament, was also challenged by the Registrar General to repeat her charges outside the House, as she cannot be sued for anything she says inside parliament.
Her blistering attack on Ms. Thompson during her contribution to the budget debate last month was made even after Attorney General Alfred Sears had announced that the matter was being appealed to the Court of Appeal.
But Minister Maynard-Gibson, who appeared as a guest on the Sunday programme “Jones and Company”, said that because the matter was before the high court, she could not go into certain specifics of the case.
The show’s host, Wendall Jones, challenged her on that point, reminding her that she still attacked Ms. Thompson even though the matter was being appealed.
She also declined to give details about the process that led to the firing of Ms. Thompson, but she explained that the reason why she made certain controversial statements on the matter in the House of Assembly recently was to protect her integrity.
In addition, the Minister said, “I would say to the public, even the court has recognized that Shane Miller is the acting registrar general. The validity and the legality of his appointment has never been questioned by the court. Now, there may be people who wish to make political hay – that is their option; this is a democracy.”
Asked by Mr. Jones in which way did the court recognize that Mr. Miller was the registrar, Minister Maynard-Gibson invited him to read the judgment.
In early June, Justice Hugh Small ruled that Ms. Thompson had been unfairly terminated.
In rejecting a bid by the Attorney General last week for a stay of his earlier ruling on the matter, Justice Small pointed out that Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Financial Services and Investments Shiela Carey for the first time stated in an affidavit to the court that Shane Miller had been appointed acting registrar general in January.
The judge then said, “I break the sequence of the procedures leading up to this application to state that this is the first information in this case that an appointment was made following the termination of [Ms Thompson]. I do so against the background of my observation in the 6 June judgment that I was left to doubt whether there was full disclosure with all the cards face up on the table.”
It was the only point he made in his ruling last week that was a direct reference to Mr. Miller.
“How is your Ministry dealing with Ms. Thompson showing up to work on a daily basis?” Mr. Jones asked.
The Minister then stressed that she as Minister does not hire or fire the registrar general, but that such action is taken by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission.
She said, however, that, “It is an unsatisfactory situation that my team at the Registrar General’s Department is faced with at this moment and I would hope that the relevant government agencies proceed as quickly as possible to have this matter resolved by the Court of Appeal.”
Minister Maynard-Gibson was also asked to answer the charge that the government “botched this whole matter of Elizabeth Thompson.”
She responded, “The Cabinet of The Bahamas does not deal with matters before the courts. That is specifically in the domain of the Office of the Attorney General.”
The Minister also denied that Mrs. Thompson was fired on her recommendation.
“I don’t hire and I don’t fire, and Ministers don’t give any recommendations about hiring and firing,” she said. “I just want to emphasize that the matter is before the courts and I have to confess that as a lawyer, I am tempted to go further and I want to avoid that.”
Mr. Jones shot back, “But you did go further in the House of Assembly and I’m trying to get you to repeat some of those things you said in the House of Assembly, but you seem not to be prepared to do that today.”
Minister Maynard-Gibson then said, “I will defend my integrity in every forum. In parliament, as in the courts, an accurate record is kept of what is said. It doesn’t matter the spin that is put on what is said by the press. The accurate record of what is said [is kept.]”
She explained that she wanted to defend her integrity “in a place that will be recorded for history.”
While making her contribution to the budget debate last month, Minister Maynard-Gibson shot back at Ms. Thompson, who had made certain statements against her in a sworn affidavit.
Among the claims was that Minister Maynard-Gibson had made provocative comments about her mother.
The Minister told House members, “Numerous complaints were made that she completely ignored phone calls of important clients of the registry. When this was raised with her she responded that she didn’t have time for that.
“She found time to conduct marriages, however, sometimes pocketing up to $600 for each even though she had been given a directive to stop taking this work from other marriage officers. She spoke to the staff in a rude and disrespectful manner, sometimes quite literally bringing them to tears.
“She arbitrarily walked out of staff meetings. She made it clear that she did not intend to be a team player. There is more, but I don’t think I need to go further.”
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
