The Tribune

By RUPERT MISSICK Jr

FNM chairman Darron Cash warned Prime Minister Perry Christie not to rush the constitutional reform process in his desperation to secure a legacy for himself.

The opposition was responding to reports the Christie administration was about to present a set of constitutional Bills before parliament shortly.

This will be the second time the Bahamas has attempted to address the controversial issues of gender equality and citizenship by correcting the discrimination entrenched in the Bahamian constitution.

Mr Cash said that the reason the country failed the first time was largely because of Mr Christie’s “finger in the wind” approach to reform.

“The then Leader of the Opposition, Perry Christie, voted in favour of all the bills in Parliament. He then went outside and took a different position — urging the people to vote no. Many Bahamians have not forgotten this duplicity. FNMs in particular saw Mr Christie’s move as a purely crass political move. Feelings of betrayal still loom large.

“Today, if he proposes to come forward with new constitutional referenda, the Prime Minister will have to do a lot of work to heal old wounds. In that regard the PM is lucky that Hubert Minnis is the leader of the FNM,” Mr Cash said.

The FNM chairman said that the prime minister’s haste to push forward with a supposedly “single-issue” referendum seems to have been a “one-man-band” unilateral declaration without regard to the public’s desired priorities.

“This point is the main reason why the Prime Minister needs to take a step back and actually listen to the Bahamian people. Regrettably, this is where the Prime Minister’s history might come back to haunt him,” Mr Cash said.

Mr Cash said that the “rush” to constitutional reform is a result of the prime minister attempting to complete his “legacy check-list”.

“At the moment the list is very short because much of his effort, by necessity, has to be focused on reversing a damaging reputation for being a “low productivity” chief executive. Constitutional reform can be a feather in his cap, but even on that issue his record to date has not inspired confidence,” Mr Cash said.

The opposition chairman chided Mr Christie for never making time to address the Constitutional Review Commission.

He said that Mr Christie’s indifference gave the impression that the Prime Minister had no horse in the race and no “North Star” so anything that emerged from the Commission would be fine with him.

“He passed up the Commission’s invitation to address them around the same time he told the press he was “too tired” to answer questions after a less significant speaking engagement.

“Neither the Commission nor the Bahamian people had a chance to hear their Prime Minister’s thinking about which desired constitutional changes should be on the Commission’s agenda as our country prepares for the next century,” Mr Cash said.

Since the Commission’s report was presented to Mr Christie, there has been no parliamentary debate on the report’s recommendations.