The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE previous assertions that the impending referendum would not be successful, Fort Charlotte MP Dr Andre Rollins did not vote against any of the four Constitutional (Amendment) Bills yesterday, telling reporters that he did not want to rob his constituents of having their say on the issues.

Speaking following the parliamentary vote, Dr Rollins said while he still had “very real concerns” regarding bills two and four, he was of the view that it was not appropriate to undermine democracy because it does not end in the House of Assembly.

Meanwhile, Bamboo Town MP Renward Wells explained that he voted against bill four because he was very sure it would leave the door open for same sex marriages.

Dr Rollins said: “My reservations with respect to questions two and four still stand. I am concerned as a result of the inability of our Immigration Department to properly secure our borders.

“I am concerned that there will be, as a result of the passage of bill two, a sharp increase in the number of applications for marriages of convenience. I have that very real concern and I believe that many people in this country and many Bahamians share that view as it relates to question four. I believe that the bill could have been strengthened to rule out much of the doubt and the concerns that currently exist.

“However having said that, I do not believe that for something as important as a constitutional amendment exercise that I as a member of Parliament ought to deny or deprive my constituents of an opportunity to have their voices heard,” Dr Rollins added.

“Democracy has a very important component that also extends to voters being able to go to the ballot box to express their views.”

Mr Wells said he shared the same views as Marco City MP Greg Moss, who voted against bills two and four. He said the government’s insertion of the word “sex” in Article 26 of the Constitution left ambiguity in the amendment.

He said: “My reasoning behind it is very much in vane with what Greg had explained. I am one of those individuals as was Greg who objected to the use of the word sex and actually trying to get that incorporated into the Constitution without a proviso that says sex would not mean same sex unions.

“And you know it was interesting I intended to get up and speak to it but I thought it would have been better to speak to it out here. Not necessarily in the Parliament of The Bahamas because the member for Marathon (Jerome Fitzgerald) said that Greg was interjecting confusion into the debate but I’d like to make it quite clear that it was not Greg who introduced confusion into the debate but it was actually the (Constitutional) Commission itself.

“If we want to have a discussion on gender equality I don’t believe that there is any member of the House of Assembly that does not believe that men and women are not equal and wouldn’t seek to have that enshrined in the Constitution, but when there is the ambiguity of the potential of something else coming in through the back door (like) the PLP said in 2002, if you don’t know vote no.”

Central Grand Bahama MP Neko Grant who abstained on bill four said he did so because he was uncomfortable with the amendment.

He said: “You would recall that during the debate in Parliament I expressed some concerns with it. I was uncomfortable with it so I thought it best to abstain from voting.

“While I hear what they said about the legal argument of male female at birth that did not satisfy me. You would recall that we had what I consider an horrendous murder some years ago where a young child was abducted, raped, burnt, a block dropped on her head, rolled over by a truck and then dumped into a hole and the lords of the Privy Council said that was not the worst of the worst.

“If an incident that I have just explained was not the worst of the worst, tell me what was, and so I was uncomfortable with that ruling.”