The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Deputy Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

CARMICHAEL MP Desmond Bannister expressed “profound disappointment” yesterday over the Official Opposition’s boycott of Parliament.

Branding it a voluntary dereliction of duty, Mr Bannister said Bahamians would also disappoint the Progressive Liberal Party when the time comes.

Yesterday marked the second sitting of the House of Assembly in which the four-member Official Opposition was absent.

“Whenever I speak in this place I look forward to hearing from the considered views of members of the Opposition, that’s what democracy is all about, sir,” Mr Bannister said ahead of a one-sided debate on an amendment to the Roads Act, which passed in the lower chamber yesterday.

“Speaker, they have a high constitutional duty to be here and to debate issues that come before this Parliament. They’ve irresponsibly and voluntarily absented themselves, sir, and there is no excuse for that dereliction of duty.

“Members of the opposite side they’re short on memory. Their comments when they were in governance when the now prime minister was suspended from this place and members of this side took certain actions as a result of what they thought was an unfair suspension, led them to make certain comments that they ought now to look back at very seriously and consider.

“Their duty, Mr Speaker, is to be here and I am disappointed and the Bahamian people as a result will disappoint them when the time comes.”

On behalf of the absent opposition, House Speaker Halson Moultrie said he would renew all matters for the minority group. In a brief statement PLP chairman Fred Mitchell said the boycott will continue until the opposition’s point has been sufficiently made.

“The PLP MPs will continue to boycott Parliament today,” Mr Mitchell said ahead of Parliament yesterday. “The FNM continues to allow the administration of justice to be made a mockery. The party will return when the point has been sufficiently made and it is judged to be in the better interests of the Bahamian people.”

“Until then we will continue to meet the people in the streets and in the people’s parliaments around the nation,” he said.

Tall Pines MP Don Saunders further castigated the opposition. He said it was a “crying shame” each of them missed another sitting.

“This honourable place is the House of Assembly and I would be remiss if I don’t start off in the same way that the good member for Carmichael started off to say that it is a disgrace, Mr Speaker.

“It is a disgrace when we come to this place to discuss the people’s business and also to discuss very important business of the people.”

He also said: “I think it’s important work being done in this country that each and everyone of us we were elected to be in this House to speak on their behalf to represent the people.

“It’s a crying shame when the members that I always see in front of me every week they’re not here.

“I want the people of Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador to know that their member of Parliament (Philip ‘Brave’ Davis) is absent. I want the people of Exuma and the cays to know that their member (Chester Cooper) is absent today. I want the people of South Andros Mangrove Cay (Picewell Forbes) to know that their member of Parliament is absent again today. The member of Parliament for Englerston (Glenys Hanna Martin) who always stands in this House and says that she is here to represent the people of Englerston and the people of Englerston’s voice needs to be heard. Where is her voice today?

“It’s a crying shame. If they want you to come to their town hall meetings then tell them to come to work every Wednesday. Don’t come to their meetings if they did not come to this honourable House to represent you.”

On February 13, Mr Davis announced the opposition decided to boycott the House in protest of “tyrannical attitudes” in government determined to use prosecutorial powers of the Crown to target PLPs.

Mr Davis said the party would not rest until these practises are forever vanquished from society, adding actions at play were not politics, but its criminalisation.

Mr Davis at the time also hit out at the manner in which the case against former Public Hospitals Authority Chairman Frank Smith, who has since been acquitted, was handled. He did not say how long this boycott was expected to last.

“I announce with no pleasure that the PLP parliamentary caucus will boycott the House of Assembly for a period in protest to mark the seriousness of where we find ourselves as a nation. We will not rest until the tyrannical attitudes and practises are forever vanquished from this society,” Mr Davis said two weeks ago during a press conference.

The press conference at PLP headquarters came shortly after all members of the opposition exited a morning session of the House.

This followed a heated row that erupted when the Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador MP attempted to raise the matter in Parliament.