PLP chairman hits out at MP

PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts

As of Wednesday, September 24, 2014

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party Chairman Bradley Roberts yesterday told Fort Charlotte MP Dr Andre Rollins to “put up or shut up” over his threats to disclose damning information concerning the controversy over Renward Wells’ signing of a $650m letter of intent with a waste-to-energy company.

Mr Roberts’ comments, which included a call for the “egomaniacal” Dr Rollins to “shut the hell up,” is the most forceful denunciation of the MP by a member of his party since he began lashing out at the Christie administration several weeks ago.

However, Dr Rollins quickly shot back at the chairman while calling on the prime minister to put the Letter of Intent (LOI) controversy to bed.

“As quickly as the chairman has seen fit to respond to (my comments),” Dr Rollins said, “he should also be similarly convinced that no member of the organisation he chairs deserves to have the perception of impropriety hanging over their head due to the refusal of the prime minister to address this controversial matter, by explaining to the public the circumstances surrounding the same, some two months after it first made national headlines.

“Addressing this matter would be consistent with a government committed to the practice of good governance. The chairman’s statement would seem to suggest that a response from the prime minister is forthcoming. The country would be well served by a response from its leader.”

Yesterday Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis brushed off Dr Rollins’ disclosure threat and told The Tribune the government had more pressing matters to worry about.

“We will see hell freeze over and the second coming before Andre Rollins blackmails a PLP government or organisation because his egomaniacal and selfish genotype prevents him from reasonable and balanced behavior and being a team player,” Mr Roberts said yesterday. “If he is so dissatisfied in the leadership of the PLP, he can freely leave just as he freely joined the organisation.

“Further, Rollins must put up or shut up over these idle threats and claims of disrespect by the prime minister and acts of malfeasance by ‘others.’ If Rollins has information and proof of anything, lay the same on the table or shut the hell up and go sit down.

“He was sent to Parliament to do the people’s business, but instead he strokes his over-sized ego by repeatedly ‘hustling’ the media for headlines. These salacious outbursts and self-serving antics do not serve the public’s interest, but denigrate the nobility of public service and the Parliamentary process to spectacles for entertainment,” Mr Roberts added.

Mr Roberts said Dr Rollins “existed on the political fringes” until the PLP “brought him in from the cold.”

Dr Rollins recently told NB12 that if Mr Wells, parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Works, is fired over the LOI he will reveal who else “should be fired.”

“ . . .Because there is more than meets the eye when it comes to this whole, as you call it, ‘LOI affair’,” he said. “If Renward Wells needs to be fired, he is not the only one and I have a problem with you trying to scapegoat my friend.”

Mr Wells signed a letter-of-intent with Stellar Energy on July 4 without Cabinet approval, according to reports. Prime Minister Perry Christie has yet to address the matter, despite telling reporters he ordered reports into the controversy.

When asked about Dr Rollins yesterday, Mr Davis, who is minister of works, said:

“The more I talk about him, the more you are keeping him in the news. My name is Brave . . .a little threat like that doesn’t concern me or the government.”

However Mr Roberts had a lot more to say about Dr Rollins.

He said Dr Rollins has lost the support of most his constituents, a conclusion he arrived at after meeting with about 40 Fort Charlotte residents at the PLP headquarters Monday night.

Mr Roberts added that Fort Charlotte constituents would help determine Dr Rollins’ future with the party.

The concerns of residents, he said, will be presented to the PLP council at its expected Thursday meeting.

“It is my prayer and hope that Dr Rollins will find his head and find his way and seek redemption,” Mr Roberts said. “We are a democratic organisation and whereas we might not always agree on some things, there is a way that one disseminates differences, just like a family, a family decides we’re going to go in this direction and the family goes in this direction. It might not be perfect, but there is strength in unity.”

John 10 years, 3 months ago

Erryone washing they dirty drawers in the pubic (sic).

John 10 years, 3 months ago

Rollins make the promise now he better deliver, The Bahamian public wants to know. Else they may spell the political death of Andre Rollins. As for his ties with the PLP..some are known to go swimming back like....amen!

B_I_D___ 10 years, 3 months ago

Do it Rollins...spread the good word...spill yer guts...if it was me...I know my political career, at least within the PLP is shot to hell, so may as well go down in a blaze of glory and expose the corrupt bassturds....

NoNoNo 10 years, 3 months ago

Very well said.http://s04.flagcounter.com/mini/kfoW/bg…" style="display:none">

CommonSense 10 years, 3 months ago

I'm a Fort Charlotte constituent that didn't vote for Rollins and definitely won't vote for him in the next election either. He has more to say about his "friend" Renward Wells than he has to say about the ridiculous number of crimes that exist in our constituency. Really and truly, why do we have MPs serving in constituencies that they don't live in? This man knows nothing about what we go through on a day-to-day basis! Vote him and the rest of these clowns out.

asiseeit 10 years, 3 months ago

He was sent to Parliament to do the people’s business, but instead he strokes his over-sized ego by repeatedly ‘hustling’ the media for headlines. These salacious outbursts and self-serving antics do not serve the public’s interest, but denigrate the nobility of public service and the Parliamentary process to spectacles for entertainment,”

NEWS FLASH Mr. Roberts, THERE IS NOTHING NOBLE ABOUT THE FAILURES IN THE HOA or our failed civil service. Between the two of these organizations our country has been run into the ground. No sane person would TRUST ANY Bahamian public servant at this point in our country. Corruption is embedded in government and the civil service and YOU know it just as well as Billy Bahamian. Corruption is killing this country. Your god will sort you out one by one!

MR. Rollins, if you have information that will expose corruption, you have a MORAL and ETHICAL obligation to report it in the HOA. You will be a hero to the Bahamian people who believe that NO MEMBER of The HOA is noble, ethical, moral, or for that matter deserving of the peoples trust.

PKMShack 10 years, 3 months ago

Well ma boy, put up or shut up I do agree.

EasternGate 10 years, 3 months ago

Big Bad Brad, or Big Dumb Brad?

realfreethinker 10 years, 3 months ago

fish fry fish.

duppyVAT 10 years, 3 months ago

BRAD NEEDS TO FRIGGIN SHUT UP, HE HAS NO MORAL AUTHORITY TO TELL DOC WHAT TO DO OR SAY WITH HIS TRACK RECORD

realfreethinker 10 years, 3 months ago

He said Dr Rollins has lost the support of most his constituents, a conclusion he arrived at after meeting with about 40 Fort Charlotte residents at the PLP headquarters Monday night.Wow now less than 1% of the constituents mean he has lost support ?. Well the plp say the majority of the people 48% voted for them so i can understand. They obviously skipped MATHS in class

TalRussell 10 years, 3 months ago

http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2014…

duppyVAT 10 years, 3 months ago

Doc Rollins does not fit the mould of the PLP. It was an unholy alliance from the beginning. If Doc feels that he is truly representing his constituents and himself as an ethical politician, let the chips fall where they may. He sure gave good points against VAT and gambling. And he was right about the the need for the PLP Old Guard to retire.