By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis yesterday criticised Prime Minister Perry Christie for saying he has ordered an investigation into the controversy involving Ministry of Works Parliamentary Secretary Renward Wells.
Last month it was revealed that Mr Wells signed a letter of intent with Stellar Waste Management to build a $650 million facility at the New Providence landfill.
Mr Christie made his statement while speaking to reporters last week Thursday.
However, Dr Minnis expressed doubts about the investigation and called on the prime minister to take action.
“The prime minister always says he is ordering a report,” Dr Minnis said. “What has happened to (Minister of Works Philip) Brave Davis’ report?” he asked, referring to media reports from several weeks ago that the deputy prime minister had ordered an investigation into the matter.
“The prime minister just needs to make decisions. He has been given the job, so act accordingly and be decisive. How can we ask this prime minister to represent us with foreign investors when he can’t be decisive?”
Dr Minnis said he believes Mr Christie is insulting the intelligence of the Bahamian people and “making a mockery of his office.”
He said his colleagues in countries around the region are “laughing at us,” wondering what Mr Christie is doing.
“He has already left behind a legacy of weakness and of being an indecisive leader,” he said.
Dr Minnis added that he believes the government tabled the constitutional amendment bills in Parliament three weeks ago to distract Bahamians from the controversy.
“They were hoping that this would be forgotten,” he said. “I believe they brought up the referendum to deflect from the Wells issue because the referendum was not initially on the agenda that week, it was only brought after.”
Reiterating why he believes the issue needs to be addressed, Dr Minnis said: “I think it’s important because there’s a lot more than is being told and we need to get to the bottom of it and democracy must be maintained. We are a part of a Westminster system that must be followed. The prime minister has been presented here as three I’s, irresponsible, indecisive and now as the young people say, irrelevant.”
Mr Christie last told reporters that the outcome of the probe into the Renward Wells matter will “go to the root of Mr Wells’ existence as a part of the government.”
Despite reports that he would resign, Mr Wells remains in his post and told reporters recently that he has no plans to resign.
But last week, Mr Christie said Mr Well’s future depends on his final decision, while the Bamboo Town MP had the option of resigning in the interim if he felt inclined to.
Comments
ThisIsOurs 10 years, 2 months ago
Christie's inaction is weird. Wells is wrong no matter which way you slice it. He would have known that KPMG was contracted to review the energy proposals and submit their recommendations to the government. He would have KNOWN that. So he either, willfully ignored the process and signed the letter or he willfully ignored the recommendation and signed the letter. In either case he should be fired, plain and simple.
A separate question is who else has to be fired? Who asked him to sign the letter?
This situation is troubling, a PM in an increasingly weak position and a DPM right behind the curtain with Kohlrautz' will in his hand....
TalRussell 10 years, 2 months ago
Comrades being passionate about calling for yet another report has become the excuse to duck hard questions about really messy stuff - like the "Letter of Intent" committing $600 million of taxpayers hard-earned monies. But I guess, calling for a report beats saying there was no beef to the signature of the PM's parlmantry secretary?
Amen!
Honestman 10 years, 2 months ago
Read Candia Dames' article about PGC's leadership in The Guardian today. It says it all.
ThisIsOurs 10 years, 2 months ago
Yep, Candia is a one woman opposition. That is not saying that she is PLP or FNM, she is an equal opportunity coal raker. She's doing a very good job of exposing dirt and giving food for thought. Tribune reporters should learn a thing or two from her and stop delivering articles that are straight dictation.
Honestman 10 years, 2 months ago
Candia is by far the top political journalist in the country at the moment and she is not afraid to ask the questions that all sensible Bahamians are asking. I admire her fearlessness.
TalRussell 10 years, 2 months ago
Comrade Candia I do try to overlook her 'lick da red shirts brush - considering she is the only substantive investigative reporter on the scene. The rest them reporters seem to not even have to type on their keyboards anymore, having parked their journalism principals, preferring to ride Comrade Rodney's cut and post train.
Amen for saying 'NO' to cut and paste in journalists rooms or among da college faculty!
ThisIsOurs 10 years, 2 months ago
"...or among the college faculty". LOL
TalRussell 10 years, 2 months ago
Comrade you're not suggesting they teach journalism over AT COB? What about the planned University of Bahamas?
ThisIsOurs 10 years, 2 months ago
That's addressed to me? No, I was laughing at your "NO to cut and paste among the college faculty", funny
birdiestrachan 10 years, 2 months ago
Candia Dames is a woman with a very mean spirit. Dr. Minnis should find some thing worth while to do instead of asking for the resignation of Mr. Wells ..Mr. Christie should have no regard for what the Dames woman has to say she has never supported him and she never will. she is Papa Ingraham's little girl. She can not and will not write a fair and balanced report about Mr. Christie or the PLP. the fact that she won that award tells one that the news media in the Bahamas is in deep trouble. They want to see the blood of Mr: Wells the same as they wanted to see the blood of Mr. Lightbourne. As far as they are concerned Mr. Christie is dammed if he do, and dammed if he don't.
ThisIsOurs 10 years, 2 months ago
Birdie get a grip. Candia rakes Minnis over the coals as well, she calls mess when she sees it.
TalRussell 10 years, 2 months ago
http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2014…
sheeprunner12 10 years, 2 months ago
The senior PLP Cabinet members are becoming a serious liability for the reputation and international perception of this country ............... Bahamians should be very concerned....... like we witnessed back in the early 1980s................ but there is no "delivery boy" waiting in the wings now......................... SMT
SP 10 years, 2 months ago
Reward Wells IS the new delivery boy!
ThisIsOurs 10 years, 2 months ago
Maybe a catalyst, but he doesn't seem to have clean hands in this either, he agreed to do something that would have been a clear breech of protocol. My question is why, I'm skeptical that he would take the risk simply because he was "doing as told"
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