The Tribune

By PAUL G TURNQUEST

Chief Reporter

pturnquest@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Perry Christie lashed out at critics who questioned whether his administration’s desire to continue with a national referendum was a form of “repayment” to numbers bosses for financial assistance received during the recent general and by-elections.

Mr Christie said that if his government were acting in response to the wishes of persons who donated money to it to bring about a desired result, his administration would go out and “produce that result.”

“But interestingly enough, we said that in fairness to the people of this country we were not going to put the whip on our people, we were going to allow people to have an unfettered right to answer the question or questions that are asked,” Mr Christie said.

Having initially announced that only one question would be placed before the public on the issue of gambling in the Bahamas, Mr Christie announced last night at his Cabinet Office that the postponed referendum will now hold two questions – the first being a “Yes” or “No’” vote to a national lottery, and the second a “Yes” or “No” vote to the legalization of local webshops.

“If the PLP wanted to have a stake in the outcome of this debate we would do it in the same way we did the Elizabeth by-election, the same way we did the general elections, and the same way we did the by-election in Abaco,” Mr Christie said.

“Oftentimes when people say you got money from this one and that one, I say you know, we have a tradition in our country where if ‘X’ gives us money or ‘Y’ gives us money we won’t disclose that. Everyone knows that the recent elections led to reports to cause the government to consider electoral financial reform.

“I feel that I would be making a mistake, for example, to get caught up in something where people who make donations to you do not expect you to disclose those donations – even though the implication would be that I have something to hide.

“The PLP didn’t have to say we are going to have a referendum. We did not have to do that. But we know that governance in this country requires leadership and we knew that both parties had arrived at a position where they would consult the people of the country as to what decision they wanted to make with respect to the issue.”

Mr Christie stressed that his administration has not lifted a finger to influence anyone with respect to the upcoming January 28th vote.

“Nobody has given us anything to cause that to happen. And even if we had a donation, God almighty, what do you think I would say when people in my predecessors’ government were sitting down making millions through their companies and not a single talking about that or asking a question about.

“We are going to do our very best to bring this to a proper conclusion and we sincerely hope that we are able to assist both sides, the proponents and the opponents to this, to arrive at the best decision in the best interest of the country.”

Mr Christie added that moving forward, he believes it is important for the public to remember that this industry employs thousands of Bahamians. In fact, Mr Christie said he believes it is important that the people of the country have the benefit of knowing the research put in by the Ministry of Finance in respect to this mater.

“So when you ask the question I think it is important for me to speak about that but also to say it is going to be important for people to understand also what a ‘No’ vote means because there are people who may well believe sitting down in their homes punching the buttons they will be able to continue even if the vote is ‘No’. And I think people must be very careful in arriving at a conclusion as to what a ‘Yes’ means, and what ‘No’ means. And I think we have a duty to apprise them of it. And I don’t know what the proponents of or the opponents think about our saying now the 28th of January. I have not spoken to the stakeholders of this with respect to the date because it is not for me to do so,” he said.