The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

AMID the controversy sparked from documents filed in a Supreme Court case in which the alleged behaviour of Deputy House Speaker Dion Smith is mentioned, DNA Leader Branville McCartney yesterday called on the prime minister to make the government’s position clear on the “hard-hitting” issues.

Mr McCartney said Prime Minister Perry Christie, has up to this point, failed to speak, when Bahamians expect him to.

“I am not calling for Smith’s resignation,” Mr McCartney said, “but I am waiting, just like everyone else is, to see what Mr Christie is going to do. Will be silent? Will he be idle? What will he have to say?

“We certainly don’t want a repeat of the past when members of the Progressive Liberal Party did whatsoever they wanted to and the PM said and did nothing.” He pointed out that the PLP lost in 2007 because members, who acted like Smith is alleged to have acted, faced no penalty.

“This is exactly what the Bahamian people did not want. They voted for the PLP because they vowed that the party was a new one, but unfortunately the Bahamian people are getting the old PLP and the same old leader. This should have been a new administration.”

While the DNA has remained vocal on social issues, despite a 2012 general election defeat, speculation has risen that the party might not be a viable option in years to come or run a full slate of candidates in the 2017 elections. The DNA was the only third party in recent times to accomplish that feat in the 2012 election.

However, Mr McCartney reiterated that the DNA is a mainstay among Bahamians.

He was responding to the recent announcement of his party’s former Central Abaco candidate Roscoe Thompson, who announced that he was returning to the Free National Movement, a party that he had previously supported.

“Over the next four and a half years, there will be people coming into the DNA and people going, all that is a part of the politics, but it is by no means an indication that the DNA will dissolve or is facing challenges.

“One man does not stop the show, I don’t even stop the DNA’s show.”

Mr McCartney said he respects Mr Thompson’s decision to leave the DNA, which was an amicable decision.