Minister plays down talk of early election

NATIONAL Security Minister Marvin Dames.

As of Wednesday, May 5, 2021

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Marvin Dames urged people not “to read too deeply” into a Royal Bahamas Defence Force memo that directs departments to prepare for the possibility of an early election.

The memo, signed by Acting Captain Shawn Adderley, was sent in response to a memo from the Parliamentary Registration Department, according to RBDF Commodore Raymond King.

While some see it as evidence that Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis is gearing up for an early election, Mr Dames said this is not necessarily the case.

“Only one person can decide that and that is the Prime Minister of The Commonwealth of the Bahamas,” he said. “Now we know that these agencies would often prepare earlier than most. That is not out of the ordinary and so I won’t read too deeply into that. This is a normal occurrence. Only one person could determine the date of the election and he hasn’t yet done so.

“Everybody is speculating…(the) prime minister makes that decision and when he does, we wanna make certain that these agencies are ready in advance.”

The memo, which was signed on April 29, says: “Be advised that in preparation for the possibility of an early general election, you are directed to provide a listing of all personnel in your purview voting in the advanced poll and forward the same to the base executive officer’s office by Thursday, 6 May 2021.”

Acting Parliamentary Commissioner Lavardo Duncanson said yesterday that his department is being as proactive as possible in preparing for the next election, which he said is “scheduled on or before May 22 (2022).”

He declined to speak about the language in the RBDF memo, particularly its reference to an early election.

Commodore Raymond King told The Tribune on Monday night that the memo spoke in “like terms to the memo sent by the Parliamentary Registration” Department.

“I would not speak to any inter-agency communications, but I can say that as far as the Parliamentary Registration Department, our efforts continue to be proactive as we prepare for an upcoming general election,” Mr Duncanson said.

“So, there’s a greater appreciation of this without speaking to inter-agency communications, as it relates to the advanced poll, you have an amendment to the Parliamentary Elections Act that has increased the amount of individuals who are eligible to apply to vote during an advanced poll.

“You have persons who fall in the category of being 65 and older; those individuals comprise some 26,000 voters. Bearing in mind the amount of individuals who are eligible to apply, the Parliamentary Department is being proactive in seeking to confirm as much information as possible concerning an advanced poll or a general election.”

Mr Duncanson said 189,346 people are currently registered for the next election, including 27,997 in the Family Islands and 30,233 in Grand Bahama.

Dr Minnis has repeatedly brushed off talk of an early vote.

tribanon 2 years, 12 months ago

LMAO. Just how stupid does Minnis and his cabinet ministers think we are? Bahamian voters were fooled by many promises deceitfully made to them in May 2017, all of which were quickly broken by Minnis. We remember only too well the immediate 60% increase in the VAT rate from 7.5% to 12%, and that was only the start of the very great mistreatment we've had to endure as a nation and as a people since May 2017. The blind faith trust voters placed in Minnis and the FNM party back then will not be repeated, and rightfully so.

Cobalt 2 years, 12 months ago

Are you really Phillip ‘Brave’ Davis or Fred Mitchell?

tribanon 2 years, 12 months ago

Does either of them have a reliably tested IQ of 156+ ?

I most certainly think not. lol

tribanon 2 years, 12 months ago

Meanwhile the increase in our national debt under Minnis is well past the $2 billion mark and now approaching $3 billion. And where has all of this money gone, not to mention the millions and millions of dollars more in VAT we have paid? Of course we know a great deal of our nation's borrowing and tax dollars have evaporated in 'bad' deals cut by Minnis and D'Aguilar with their very greedy and unscrupulous foreign investor friends like the CCP controlled Hutchison Whampoa Group, Royal Caribbean and the principals behind The Grand Bahama Port Authority.

But where has all the rest of the money gone? What is there to show for it? Has it really all gone towards growing the size of our over-bloated and most unproductive civil workforce simply because the current administration is absolutely clueless about what it takes to grow jobs in our private sector? We certainly know only chomp change has gone towards our very under-resourced public health system and public education system, both of which are seriously dysfunctional and failing the needs of our people.

And while Minnis and D'Aguilar have been kowtowing to 'their' favourite foreign investor friends in the cruise ship industry, they have been kicking the proverbial can down the road when it comes to finding long-term solutions for the ever increasing financial mess that both BPL and The Water & Sewerage Corp find themselves in.

For Minnis it was never going to be the people's time or transparency in government. The blind faith trust voters placed in Minnis and the FNM party back then will not be repeated, and rightfully so.

JokeyJack 2 years, 12 months ago

So now it's time to give back our blind trust to the PLP, and hope they got new glasses to steer the boat. But, as far as I know, they still appointing a Captain from the same crew that was on board when they ran up on the rocks. Oh well. Nothing changes. Prepare for Minnis or Davis as PM. Bahamians' vision is very limited. I voting for Weatherford.

Cobalt 2 years, 12 months ago

@tribanon...... Boy this is really some PLP propaganda at its best lol. Your typical rant laced with blame-ridden accusations and misinformation is defiantly suited for the PLP campaigned trail lol. Your only problem is there are those of us out here who are trained in reason and logic. We use inductive and deductive reasoning to assess things along a practical grid against all empirical possibilities. Long story short.... a vote for the PLP at this time would be irrational and nonsensical. Not to mention a total lapse in cognition. We've only just removed the PLP from office four days ago. Why put them back? Our entire world has problem right now and our little country isn’t exempt. We are dealing with problems that won’t do away in four days (years). Nor will they be any better with Fred Mitchell and Brave Davis in office. Our country is dealing with the results of an earth moving hurricane and a deadly pandemic. Please be reasonable and rational.

tribanon 2 years, 12 months ago

You obviously don't personally know the 'real' Minnis and therefore have very little understanding or appreciation of what's in-store for our country and our people if he remains as PM. What we've experienced from him in the last four years is but a small taste of the evil that would rain down on all of us if he is given the opportunity to transform our small nation into an authoritarian led police state with the help of sinister foreign state actors like the CCP.

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