The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORT Charlotte MP Dr Andre Rollins will not publicly apologise to Prime Minister Perry Christie for criticising him despite PLP general council members urging him to do so.  

Speaking to members of the press in the House of Assembly yesterday, Dr Rollins said while the prime minister is due respect he is “not a god” or exempt from criticism.

He said calls for him to apologise to Mr Christie have no constructive purpose, but are merely designed to humiliate him.

He also questioned the jurisdiction of a committee PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts formed last week to review his actions.

Dr Rollins’ statements came a week after PLP council members demanded an apology from him over highly critical comments he has made about the Christie administration recently.

“The prime minister is the leader of our country and is due the respect of myself and my colleagues,” he said. “But the prime minister is not free and exempt from criticism. He is a human being and is fallible just as we all are. He is not a god or someone to be worshipped. He is someone who ultimately has authority to act on or on behalf of the people of the Bahamas. We do not live in North Korea or Cuba or China where the views of citizens are to be suppressed or the views of elected officials. We are here to cause for our democracy to thrive. If I say nothing in the hope I will be afforded a nomination by the party I’m not putting the country’s interest first.”

He added: “Now if you wish to elect individuals to politics who lack the backbone to speak truth, we might as well let the talk of democracy fall away and become a dictatorship and have a country that is no different than those we are critical of, those countries that deprive their citizenry of the right to free speech. We said Hubert Ingraham needed to go because he was a dictator and yet here we are demonstrating fully, in clear view of the Bahamian public the attributes of dictatorship. I will not be silent. I will speak what I feel needs to be said. I owe the Bahamian public no less.”

However, Dr Rollins admitted that he could be “more diplomatic” in how he presents his views about the performance of the Christie administration. He said that he would apologise to senior members of the PLP council who may have been offended by some of his recent comments.

As for Mr Roberts’ move to form a committee designed to review his actions, the MP expressed confusion over the matter, saying the constitution of the PLP already has a disciplinary committee with the task of performing responsibilities related to the discipline of any member.

He suggested Mr Roberts’ move contravenes the constitution of the PLP.

However, Mr Roberts told The Tribune that the committee he formed is designed to review Dr Rollins’ actions, not to discipline him.

“That is not the disciplinary committee,” he said yesterday. “A disciplinary committee could revoke his powers. The committee I formed is committed to sitting with him to find out where his head is.”

Asked to respond to Dr Rollins’ claim that calling for an apology is the PLP’s way of humiliating him, Mr Roberts said: “A humble child faces the grace of God.”

Dr Rollins also took issue with statements Mr Roberts had made to The Tribune on Tuesday. In the earlier interview, Mr Roberts had said even if Fort Charlotte MP Dr Andre Rollins apologises to the prime minister in the House of Assembly, there is “still a lot more” he has to do before his fate in the party is decided.