The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ lack of accountability while in office is chief among reasons why he and PLP leader Philip “Brave” Davis ought to go head-to-head in a national debate, according to Wayne Munroe QC.

Mr Munroe, the Progressive Liberal Party’s candidate for Free Town, further believes that as the Free National Movement has painted a narrative filled with “foolishness” about Mr Davis, a debate should be agreed upon to allow Bahamians to decide who is the best leader.

He was asked about his views regarding a national debate as a guest on The Revolution with Juan McCartney.

On Tuesday, Mr Davis challenged Dr Minnis to a national debate.

“We are headed for a general election,” Mr Munroe said. “The behaviour of this Prime Minister has been odd for the last year or more.

“You would recall he started out during the pandemic having press conferences where the press could engage him and we could have the fourth estate, which is the press, carry out its function upholding leaders to account and then that just abruptly stopped when some of you asked questions that were a little difficult to answer.

“Then we had this phenomenon where the emergency powers regulations required tabling and accounting of monies spent and that has not happened even though there has been an expiration of, I think, at least three states of emergency and you’ve just had a complete failure to account.

“So, the first reason for a debate is it facilitates people being accountable.

“This Prime Minister said that he would be big on accountability, and it turns out that that wasn’t the case and importantly now if you look at the FNM narrative going forward in their general election strategy they are talking about the leader of the PLP. In my judgment they’re running on with a lot of foolishness about the leader but they’re talking about the leader.

“So, why if they say it’s about leadership why would it not be almost automatic that there be a debate between the leaders?”

Earlier, Mr Munroe was also asked his views on allowing people in quarantine for COVID-19 exposure the opportunity to vote.

Mr Munroe said the government needs to figure out how to ensure these people are not disenfranchised.

“All we need to do is look around our region. Jamaica has managed to vote and permit quarantined people to vote. I don’t know of any civilised country that’s gone to an election that has not made provisions for it. It is simply a matter of determining how many people it is.

“We are told that if you observe the protocols, you can protect yourself from infection from persons who are infected. So, it is not an automatic [thing] that because you’re infected you are going to infect someone else. I don’t know of any civilized country that hasn’t been able to manage elections during a pandemic.

“We’ve been following the world in everything else, so we say. We follow the world in lockdowns. We follow the world in this, why would we not be following the world in how you deal with voting during a pandemic?”

He said people on remand at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services should also be allowed to cast ballots on Election Day.