The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Immigration Minister Loftus Roker said yesterday that Central and South Eleuthera MP Damian Gomez should make the circumstances surrounding his resignation from Cabinet clear.

On Monday, Prime Minister Perry Christie suggested that Mr Gomez chose to resign from the post of minister of state for legal affairs for financial reasons, adding that politicians had not had a pay increase in 30 years.

However, on Tuesday Mr Gomez told reporters that he resigned for ethical and personal reasons. A day later he moved to clarify this statement saying that the “ethical” concerns he referred to “do not relate to any impropriety on the part of any of my Cabinet or parliamentary colleagues. Any suspicion that that is what I was insinuating or implying would therefore be completely mistaken.”

When contacted for his view, Mr Roker said: “They want you to believe that there is a financial problem but then on the other side Mr Gomez has said something about ethics.

“In the early days of the PLP the reasons for resigning were clear. When someone did, everyone knew and understood why. Today you don’t know and may never know why someone leaves Cabinet. Gomez needs to be clear on why he resigned. This is an intelligent man. He knew what the salary of a minister was when he took the job but being a minister should have nothing to do with what you are paid.”

Mr Roker added: “You go there and you know what you are going to make. It is a sacrifice, but you prepare to do that because you want to give service to the public.

“You know the money there will not be what you can get in private practice.”

Mr Roker served as immigration minister in the Pindling administration.

On Wednesday Mr Gomez revealed to The Tribune that his resignation from Cabinet relates to an ongoing matter with a government entity.

Sources told The Tribune the matter is tied to financial issues that the attorney has reportedly run into with a commercial loan from the Bank of the Bahamas (BOB).

When asked about this, Mr Gomez said he could not comment on the specifics of his situation. He said it would not be in the best interest of ongoing talks to divulge details of this sensitive matter.

He told the House of Assembly this week that his departure from Cabinet had nothing to do with being unsatisfied with his salary.

“Mr Speaker, rumours have been abounding,” Mr Gomez told the House on Wednesday. “For the record, I am not dissatisfied with the emoluments which have been provided by this House and it is unfortunate that discussions about pay have arisen in recent days concerning me.

“I have asserted in this place and outside of this House the ethical standards that are expected of members of this place. I adhere to them and whatever becomes of me is as a result of my adherence to the standards that I learnt from my colleagues. I say no more than that and I hope that that suffices to quiet the rumours.”

Mr Gomez is the second Cabinet minister to resign this term, following the departure of former Minister of Financial Services Ryan Pinder who quit his post last December to take up a senior executive job at Deltec Bank & Trust.

It was revealed this week that Mr Pinder has accepted a new job as partner in the law firm Graham Thompson & Co. The Elizabeth MP starts his new job next month.