The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

OPPOSITION leader Dr Hubert Minnis criticised the government for continuing to delay releasing the questions and date for the upcoming constitutional referendum.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Perry Christie said the government still plans to hold the national poll in November and suggested it will likely address issues of gender discrimination.

Mr Christie also said he would be seeking the consensus of the opposition over what the questions will be.

However, Dr Minnis said he has yet to hear from the Prime Minister and questioned whether or not this referendum will be be as confusing as the gambling referendum.

“The educational process should have begun already, November is right around the corner. If you do not educate the people, as simple as the questions may seem, it will only confuse people. The public still needs to know so they could be informed on what they are voting on,” he said.

“Time is running out, I do not think adequate time is left. No one knows yet what the questions will be or how many questions there will be. You do not want the public voting on something they have no idea about. This is something that needs to be taken seriously. Persons will be voting for future generations. The problem is if there are a bunch of questions and the public doesn’t understand them all, they might just vote no for all or yes for all. It is not fair to the future generations and not fair to themselves.”
Dr Minnis said he hopes the government deals with gender equality first – an issue he says the Free National Movement supports 150 per cent.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Christie said the referendum to reform the country’s outdated constitution has was postponed to late November to “foster the widest possible dialogue and public education well in advance of the referendum”. But no such dialogue had begun to date. The Prime Minister had initially set a deadline for March 31 – ahead of the 40th year of independence celebrations.