By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
THE next referendum scheduled to take place later this year will only focus on gender equality for Bahamian women, Prime Minister Perry Christie said.
Out of the dozens of recommendations put forward during the consultation process, Mr Christie said the government has decided to prioritise the issue when the electorate casts votes no later than June this year.
He said last October that the amendments would be tabled by the end of 2013, however it has yet to take place. In that regard, Mr Christie said the discussions are taking place.
The Christie administration expects to amend the citizenship provision of the constitution to achieve full equality between men and women regarding the acquisition and transmission of Bahamian nationality.
He made the announcement on Friday at the Hilton Hotel as he spoke to reporters following a contract signing between the government and Santec Consultant Services to create a new framework for the 28 airports in the country.
“The government of the Bahamas,” Mr Christie said, “has signed off on the fact that the referendum was not going to be confused with any other issue than giving Bahamian women the same position as Bahamian men.
“The discussions are taking place (on when the Bills will be tabled to amend the constitution). I met yesterday (Thursday) with the Chairman of the Constitutional Commission (Sean McWeeney). I have indicated to him that my consultations with the Leader of the Opposition (Dr Hubert Minnis) did not include any deviation from gender equality (and) that the questions were supposed to be entirely to do with that. “Some new discussions have been taking place with people. I guess maybe with the leader of the Opposition who seems to want to come to Parliament on matters not to do with the Constitution, or not to do with the consultations that we have had. So I don’t know what will develop in that area.”
Last February, Mr Christie announced that the referendum to reform the country’s outdated constitution would be postponed to late November 2013. Later, just one month before in October, he announced that the referendum would be postponed to sometime before June 2014. The reassignment was the result of the Constitutional Commission’s request for additional time to complete their work.
At the time, Mr Christie outlined a schedule of deadlines, giving no specific dates, for which the referendum process was to unfold. The amending bills, he also said, will be introduced in the House of Assembly before year’s end.
Comments
ADubbs 10 years, 11 months ago
Can't these idiots just MAKE A DECISION?! Stop wasting money asking us every single thing. It's not like they follow through and do what we vote for anyway. Put the bills forward. Pass the laws. Stop this laziness you call governing, Christie! Man up. Do what you want, and then carry the blame for it.
B_I_D___ 10 years, 11 months ago
There should be no need to even ask the question on equality, make it happen. Gender slavery and discrimination is what it equates to in a patriarchal society...me man...you only get what me give you...(pounding chest like the apes that you are). Unless it MUST be put in a referendum for constitutional purposes by law, don't waste the peoples time and money on a solo referendum that should be a non-issue anyways. This one is a no brainer.
bahamasoapmama 10 years, 11 months ago
It is required by law to have a referemdum. The OPINION POLL for the gaming houses WAS NOT required by law or by logic.
B_I_D___ 10 years, 11 months ago
Fair enough...referendum it is...let's get it over with and give the gals what's right and fair.
ohdrap4 10 years, 11 months ago
Please don't. Those folks who are against oral sex will come out and vote no.
[ohdrap incarnating the tribune's most flamboyant poster]
TalRussell 10 years, 11 months ago
Bahamalanders are not buying into the government's myth about gender equality. It isn’t even a reality yet in the government's workforce where it requires no million dollar taxpayers funded referendum for approval. Why don't the daughters, wives and sisters of PLP MP's not have the same income and advancement opportunities as they and their their male counterparts have? What about prominent government men's not supporting the mothers who give birth to they out wedlock baby girls? That my dear Comrades is no myth.
B_I_D___ 10 years, 11 months ago
Me tarzan you jane...you stay home and cook...at least until I get you pregnant, then I leave you and you have to fight for yourself!!
bytheway 10 years, 11 months ago
Haven't we already been this way before - and didn't the then opposition oppose it?? Do we think it will be different this time round? Altho I do seem to recall Darron Cash supporting the recent Immigration fiasco - or did I just make that up??
B_I_D___ 10 years, 11 months ago
Referendum presented by the FNM to get this done and dusted, but the PLP launched a campaign against it and got it defeated...but hey, now everything is rosie, and they can pass what should have been passed years ago, under their watch...brilliance!!
blackcat 10 years, 11 months ago
Cash was supporting it.
And yes, the PLP did oppose this a few years back. Craziness. We want our people to stay dumb and dangerous.
sheeprunner12 10 years, 11 months ago
B-I-D
Thats NIGnorance, borrowed from Duck Dynasty!!!!!! lol
That black woman has advanced far beyond that point.
Look around.................... where do you LIVE?????????????????
We need to pay attention to the young black man of The Bahamas
He is the endangered species courtesy of the "founding fathers" of the country.
The_Oracle 10 years, 11 months ago
Insanity given the typical Bahamian Male attitude towards the fairer sex! Emancipation was apparently for men only, For Gods sake, pose the question in the negative for equality! IE Yes, we should leave things alone, NO= make it right! Bahamians do nothing but vote against, no matter the topic or sensibility! I agree, referendum only if required by the Constitution, otherwise just do it!
MassDestruction 10 years, 11 months ago
How about a referendum on CAPITAL PUNISHMENT? Better yet, how about a referendum on VAT?
banker 10 years, 11 months ago
Pure Irony. This was the issue that the PLP campaigned against when Hubert Ingraham proposed it, and now it warrants a referendum. Someone please stop the mad man.
sheeprunner12 10 years, 11 months ago
good point rory................................ lol
Perry playin wit house money
tonypratt 10 years, 11 months ago
How about a referendum to have a referendum [ lol ]
ChaseThisLIght 10 years, 11 months ago
I'm going to vote 'no' on every referendum the PLP has just for spite. This issue came up before when the FNM was in power and the PLP urged everybody to vote 'no' just because they saw political advantage to themselves for it. And all but 3 constituencies in the country voted it down, too. So they blew it for themselves - plenty of women voted no when it would have been to their advantage to vote yes. So I'm voting 'no' - I don't even care if I agree with it (and I probably will) I'm voting no anyway.
ThisIsOurs 10 years, 11 months ago
He's grasping at straws trying to find something to prove he has support of the Bahamian people. That's why the referendum has been dumbed down to a sole non controversial issue, politically he can't take another defeat.
As Minister of Finance, I don't understand what he's doing.. that warning from Standard and Poors that we could be spiralling to junk status and he doesn't even blink, he continues to drive full speed towards the cliff. Cancel this referendum, cancel the survey. They are two massive, expensive, time consuming initiatives and they are not an absolute necessity. Cut Fred Mitchell's budget. Either cancel the proposed festival or water it down. Is there enough time to properly prepare? It would be really damaging to put on an ill prepared event. Think of it, we know Junkanoo comes at the end of every year and we still haven't gotten that timed right.
We're having the relays and I know they will make money, just hoping the return is sufficient to justify the cost. I don't know if we will wow anyone into returning, Nassau is simply too unkempt, it's nasty, it needs order, the signs have to go, they're everywhere in haphazard disorganized unsightly displays, they look nasty. So shocked to see four huge billboards on that short stretch of Montague. Who allowed that? And 10 ft down the once beautiful mini hedge has now been allowed to grow into a mangy bush.
Honestman 10 years, 11 months ago
Jeez, can't this administration make a decision on anything?? Just give Bahamian women what they deserve - equal rights, plain and simple. No need to waste money on a referendum.
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