The Tribune

WITH the newly elected MP for North Abaco scheduled to be sworn in to the House of Assembly today, Prime Minister Perry Christie said that his administration is considering having the first time MP permanently based in his constituency so as to continue the work that his predecessor, former PM Hubert Ingraham, left in place.

“One of the options I have is to decide to place Mr (Renardo) Curry in Abaco because of the need to have continuity of the work that Hubert Ingraham did as Member of Parliament,” Mr Christie remarked.

“For a new Member of Parliament like Curry, perhaps it would be more convenient for him to be based in his constituency but that requires mobilising an administrative set up for him.”

Having promised that he would have Mr Curry sitting around the “decision making table” during the by-election campaign, many political observers have questioned whether or not Mr Christie would make the MP a Minister of the Government and add him in some capacity to what is already perceived as a “bloated Cabinet.”

This concern, however, was quickly shot down by the PM who said there was no thought of a “Ministry of Abaco.”

“Any office of that kind has to be an extension of the Office of Prime Minister who has that responsibility,” he said.

Mr Curry beat out the FNM’s candidate Greg Gomez in the hotly contested race, with 2,367 of the 3,887 votes counted to Mr Gomez’ 1,513. Seven votes were cast for the election’s third candidate Bahamas Constitution Party (BCP) servant leader Ali McIntosh. The seat had previously been held by Mr Ingraham for 35 years.