The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Social Services Minister Loretta Butler-Turner yesterday criticised female PLP parliamentarians saying they could have done more to advance the “forgotten” constitutional referendum, which seeks to enshrine equality into the Bahamas’ guiding principles.

Nearly two years since the referendum was initially promised, the Long Island MP said it was “disappointing” and “unfortunate” that the Christie administration had not lived up to its promise to ensure women are considered equal to men in the Constitution.

Mrs Butler-Turner said it has become evident that the Christie administration has lost the political will to bring changes to the Constitution.

Prime Minister Perry Christie had initially set the constitutional referendum for June 2013 but later changed the date to November 2013.

However, the matter was postponed again and was expected to take place before the end of June 2014. That deadline was missed and in July 2014 Mr Christie announced the vote would take place on November 6.

The latest delay came last September with Bain and Grants Town MP Dr Bernard Nottage’s announcement that the referendum would take place sometime in 2015. Earlier this year, Mr Christie said he wanted to hold the referendum in June.

The government has said very little of its plans to hold the equality vote since then.

Mrs Butler-Turner said: “The women on the other side could drive this process. I think that more could have been said from them publicly.

“I feel I have done so much in reaching out and holding back on things to remove the political barriers and there is very little that is being said.

“The women on that side are too busy putting out political fires. It is now just so unfortunate that here we are here at this point with no movement.”

She added: “It seems that the women are not heralding this and I hate to say this because I have stood hand in hand. So the entire handling of this equality referendum is so very disappointing. I just don’t see the political will.”

She also questioned if the government’s education campaign, which began last July across the country, was still going on.

“It is a little disconcerting to know that they are putting so much into carnival and bringing in generators and partying and frolicking. There is not prioritisation for this referendum,” Mrs Butler-Turner said.

In February, Mrs Butler-Turner suggested that government “incompetence” is to blame for any further delays to the proposed referendum on gender equality.