The Tribune

PRIME Minister Christie, who in 2002 successfully led his party to defeat the FNM’s referendum that would have given equality to Bahamian women, boasted at the time that Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham could not get such a referendum through, but he – Perry Christie — could and would.

Since then he has had many opportunities to do just that — especially after winning the government in 2002 until his 2007 defeat – but until now he has failed to even attempt it.

Last week, he said he had no intention of proroguing the House until he was satisfied that he had the Opposition FNM’s full support to get the women’s rights Bills through parliament ready for the people’s vote in a referendum.

Although earlier this year, the Opposition leader Dr Hubert Minnis did question the wording of the bills, he made it clear that he fully supported gender equality.

“My commitment to gender quality has never been in doubt and has never and will never change,” Dr Minnis had said in August. “I support gender equality, but I want the wording and intent of the bills right, so that they will not have a deleterious effect and unintended consequences on present and future generations of Bahamians.”

On August 19, Dr Minnis assured Bahamians that he and Mr Christie were once again “on the same page”.

Earlier, Mr Christie had said that Dr Minnis’ dramatic change in position — the questioning of one of the amendments – was surprising because in the consultations with the Constitutional Commission and the government in the lead-up to the opening of the debate on the bills, Dr Minnis had expressed no concern about the legislation.

Why should this have surprised Mr Christie, at least Dr Minnis had the good manners to inform Mr Christie of his unease before the matter went to the people in referendum. Surely Mr Christie recalls how he and his party, then in Opposition, agreed all aspects of the FNM’s proposed referendum on the floor of the House. The question was:

“Should Bahamian men and women be equal and should they both be able to confer nationality on their spouses and their children?”

In fact, a section of the proposed referendum was eliminated to accommodate the Christie faction. However, to everyone’s surprise, then Opposition leader Christie and his political colleagues went to the public, condemned the referendum and did everything in their power to defeat it. In fact, they did defeat it. At least Dr Minnis had the decency to express his concerns on the floor of the House and before the vote was put to the people. However, in February 2002 it was Mr Christie, who having fully supported the Bill on the floor of the House, when it was time to go to the people urged them — women included — to vote “no”?

At his first town meeting to help inform Bahamians what the referendum question meant, Mr Christie announced: “If I knew then what I know now, I almost certainly would have taken a different position on the bills.”

In August this year, Dr Bernard Nottage, leader of Government Business in the House, made it clear that government would not move forward with the referendum unless it had the FNM’s unanimous support.

Really this is just a lot of political tomfoolery that Bahamians are wise to and are now more than sick of. No wonder so many Bahamians are fed up with politics and politicians.

Instead of putting the rights of women first, the government is more concerned about what will be said about them when history is written.

It was the PLP in Opposition that defeated the proposal to give women the same rights as their men. And so, in 2014 – as night follows day – the Christie government wants history to record that the FNM, when its turn came to do right by Bahamian women, also condemned their rights to the dustbin. However, there is a difference between the referendum proposal now before parliament, and the proposal in 2002. In 2002, the FNM government needed the PLP Opposition’s votes in the House for the Bill to go to referendum. Today, the PLP as the government has such a large majority in the House (29 to 9), that it can pass the four proposed Bills without looking across the floor of the House to beg even one vote from the Opposition. So what is Government waiting for — it was Mr Christie, who 12 years ago said that only he — not Mr Ingraham — could get such a vote passed. The way is now clear for him to go ahead and deliver what he promised.

This is the danger of having such an unbalanced assembly. Government can do whatever it wants, and, other than the Opposition voicing dissent, Government has sufficient votes to push all its programmes through. This is why it is important to have, not only strong, but informed public opinion to hold politicians’ feet to the fire.

The referendum had been planned for November 6, but was cancelled on the pretext that the Opposition was not in full agreement. More time was needed to achieve consensus, said Government.

PLP Party Chairman Bradley Roberts announced that the House would be prorogued before its next meeting, which was scheduled for November 19.

Not so, said the Prime Minister. He said he does not want to prorogue the House until the gender equality bills have been passed.

Prorogation of the House would mean that whatever is left on the agenda of the old House will die. Of course, it can be resurrected in a new House, but Mr Christie wants to make certain that these four Bills are out of committee and passed before the death notice is pronounced on the present Assembly.

Mr Christie says he wants to wait until after the FNM leadership elections on November 21 to make certain that he has the unity that the Opposition promised.

Dr Minnis, current FNM leader has pledged his support. And if deputy opposition leader Loretta Butler-Turner on November 21 replaces him as leader, she has pledged that she is willing to stand on the bridge and hold the two sides together in the fight for equal rights for women and all Bahamians.

But really it is a mystery — other than politics — as to what Mr Christie is waiting for. He can go ahead regardless of the FNM leadership decision. If he truly believes in equal rights for women, the Bills could have been passed and the referendum decided by now.