The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Progressive Liberal Party Cabinet minister George Smith yesterday came to the defence of Prime Minister Phillip Davis for comments he made last week about the 1972 constitutional conference, saying he did not believe that Mr Davis would deliberately seek to mislead Parliament.

Mr Davis was scolded by former Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes last week after he told the House of Assembly that the opposition left quickly on the completion of the conference.

In a 2014 Tribune editorial, it was reported that Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell also described the FNM members’ hurried departure from London on the completion of the 1972 independence conference at Marlborough House.

The inference in this remark is that the FNM did not wait for the end of the talks, but rushed to the airport, leaving the government to dot the “i’s” and cross the “t’s” on The Bahamas’ most important document.

 When contacted by The Tribune, Sir Arthur said not only were the Prime Minister’s comments false but it was a discredit to him and his fellow colleagues such as former opposition leader, the late Kendal Isaacs.

 He also called for an apology from Mr Davis.

 In a statement released yesterday, FNM leader Michael Pintard echoed similar comments and said the Davis-led administration “falsely wished to monopolise credit for the building of the modern Bahamas.”

 The opposition leader added that “no matter how often they tell untruths, it won’t change historical facts.”

 Yesterday, Mr Smith said he didn’t believe that Prime Minister Davis would intentionally make a statement that seeks to misrepresent the facts.

 He recalled when the PLP delegation, which he was a part of, along with former opposition delegates went to London to attend the Constitutional Conference.

 “The conference was technically over,” he told this newspaper yesterday. “The FNM delegation left and so did four members of the PLP delegation because the six remaining PLP members of the delegation ie, Sir Lynden Pindling, Arthur Hanna, Paul Adderley, Carlton Francis, Loftus Roker and myself, George A Smith, were the last remaining.

 “And it is seen in a photograph that is often published in the supplements leading up to independence, where Sir Lynden … and Arthur Hanna on his right, who was the then deputy prime minister, signing the instrument, the same instrument that the FNM delegation had signed and the other PLPs who were in the delegation had signed.

“I had signed. Carlton Francis had signed. Loftus Roker had signed. Paul Adderley had signed and AD (Hanna) had signed. The last person to sign was Sir Lynden Pindling and that signing was the last act that had to happen.”

 He added: “Now, later on, after we returned to Nassau in late December, Arthur Hanna and Paul Adderley went back to London to meet with the people who were drafting the constitution. So, it is wrong to say that the FNM delegation left in advance of the talks’ completion because they signed on the signature page and so did the rest of us.”

“Now, some of them left London in advance before the six of us. That could be true, but it didn’t mean that they left the conference because they had to fix their signatures as did the others to authorise the British to proceed to independence.

 “So, to suggest that the FNM left in advance of the completion of the work, that would not be true, and I was there at all material times, in the campaign before election, in the election campaign, making paper the green paper and all of the other documents that we had assembled to share with the Bahamian people and at the debate at the House of Assembly.”

 Last week, Mr Davis told Parliament: “The FNM was on the side and they were arguing no to independence. That’s the point he made now, after the people rejected the view of the FNM.

 “Right, and then the issue of the constitutional conference came up. It was only right for the opposition to have their say in the crafting of the constitution.”

 Mr Davis added: “They left; Christmas was coming. They signed off and said ‘Sir Lynden whatever y’all say’... And they came back home, that’s all part of the record.”