The Tribune

By CELESTE NIXON Tribune Staff Reporter cnixon@tribunemedia.net PERSONAL attacks are part of public life and MPs should not be too sensitive, Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell said. Responding to Marathon MP Earl Deveaux's contribution to the debate on the Freedom of Information Act yesterday, Mr Mitchell said that having been in public life for 20 years, he has been subjected to all manner of "vile, vicious, political attacks", and takes the criticism as part of the job - choosing not to "whine" about it. He said: "I have always taken it to be that you are in the public domain, and I don't whine about being attacked publicly. I have a voice and in a democracy I simply use all the voices I have to defend myself. "It is in my view an occupational hazard of being a public figure in the Bahamas or any other western country." While supporting the Bill as an effort to deepen the country's democracy, Mr Deveaux lamented the use of the media to spread propaganda and publicly attack government officials and in some cases their relatives. He said: "The outright attempts at character and political assassination, which have come to be commonplace in our political discourse, are a danger to our way of life." But Mr Mitchell pointed out that the media is not the only place where personal attacks are launched. He said it is hard to remain civil in Parliament while the Free National Movement is engaged in the "nastiest campaign in our political history". He said: "They make allegations of fraud, vote buying and violence, all of which I am satisfied they know to be nonsense, but doing so for purely political reasons and then expect us to come here and be civil in the House of Assembly." Mr Mitchell said he supports a Freedom of Information Act but urged the government to follow through and enforce the legislation. "I hear what you say about the philosophy of the freedom of information, but if you talk the talk, you need to walk the walk," he said.