The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE question of allowing Bahamians to gamble in hotel casinos alongside tourists will be considered by the Constitutional Reform Commission.

Former Attorney General Sean McWeeney, the commission’s chairman, said Prime Minister Perry Christie preferred the question to be handled by them.

It comes after Mr Christie confirmed that there had been a widespread backlash by Bahamians after the issue’s exclusion from the original planned referendum on gambling.

The new decision was revealed before Opposition Leader Dr Hubert Minnis appeared before the commission at the Hilton hotel yesterday to make suggestions on possible reforms to the Bahamas’ constitution.

Mr Christie had announced previously that the Bahamas’s constitution would be reformed ahead of the country’s 40th year of independence.

The commission is expected to present a report to the government in March. A referendum on recommended changes could happen as early as June 2013, Mr McWeeney said.

He said yesterday: “The Prime Minister recently indicated that this was not going to be a referendum question it wasn’t going to be included in the gambling referendum because it was a matter that he would have preferred to be dealt with by the constitutional review commission in the context that the provision of the constitution which at least purports to justify the exclusion of Bahamians from casino gambling as one of the exceptions to the provisions against discrimination.”

Mr McWeeney said the commission will also hold a one day session in January to hear the concerns of religious leaders before consulting the general public.

While the opposition supports the commission during this process, Dr Minnis cautioned them to listen to the voice of Bahamians.

He said a failure to remain sensitive to the concerns of citizens was a major reason for failed referendum attempts in the past.

He said these included the initial political reaction to the D’Arcy Ryan Citizenship controversy in the 1970s, the popular rejection of the 2002 Constitutional Referendum, and the Adderley/Tynes Commission’s Report “Options for Change” in 2003.

He said the FNM had failed to acknowledge a clearly-emerged national consensus which was sufficient to stop the advancement of national and social development.

Dr Minnis told the commission his party would fully welcome any changes which

support equal rights to Bahamian women and citizenship issues.

In addition he suggested that attention be paid to reforms in the structure of the judicial system and the fact that the Chief Justice, as the constitutional head of the judiciary, is not the head of the Court of Appeal.