By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

THE chairman of the Free National Movement has accused his counterpart in the Progressive Liberal Party of inciting violence against Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis.

In a circulated voice note, PLP chairman and Senator Fred Mitchell said the populace could not wait to get rid of Dr Minnis by way of the ballot box. But the voice note also warned: “Don’t push this population too far before we see what happened in Barbados, in St Vincent and Antigua happen here in The Bahamas.”

FNM chairman Carl Culmer took exception to the contents of the voice note and attributed them to inciting violence.

“Fred continues every day to make statements that are divisive, racial in meaning and they also incite violence,” said Mr Culmer. “I am amazed, but not surprised, that Fred Mitchell will send out a voice note saying that the PM needs to be careful before something happens to him or happens in the country like what happened to the Prime Minister of Grenadines and other Caribbean leaders.

“He is inciting Bahamians to pick up and do harm to anyone who speaks out against the PLP. When you have persons inciting injury against our leadership, this is wrong. This is the kind of thing that Fred is used to. He has been doing it from he was in high school. He is a parasite on the Bahamian people. He has never had a real job and he has lived off the Bahamian people all these years and he continues to do so,” Mr Culmer claimed.

“He has missed the life of jetting through the world on Bahamian people … building up frequent flyer mileage, living high off the hog. It’s time for him to go off the scene and stay off the scene. We don’t need that type of leadership in the country today. We need persons to encourage others, whether they are black or white.”

The FNM chairman also accused Senator Mitchell of continuously making divisive, racist remarks.

Earlier this week, Mr Mitchell accused the Minnis administration of trying to take credit for the Christie administration’s plan to replace the Queen’s image with Arthur Hanna on the $100 bill. He also said the FNM should replace Sir Stafford Sands with Doris Johnson on the $10 note if they are “brave”.

“I think it’s time for Fred to take a back seat because The Bahamas does not need to be separated along racial lines,” Mr Culmer said. “We need leaders who will encourage Bahamians to unite forces to build this country. Fred Mitchell, over the years and even more recently, continues to encourage division, violence and racial separation in this country.

“Again we are heading into (an) election and Fred is trying to use this white and black issue, just like the PLP did in previous elections to divide black and white Bahamians along the line. Sir Stafford has done more for this country than Fred has ever done. We are still using the models on tourism and banking to operate this country. Sir Stafford Sands had set up those models.

“Furthermore, the question everyone must ask is, ‘Is Sir Stafford a Bahamian?’ Sir Stafford is of Eleuthera descent. He was born in Eleuthera and migrated from Eleuthera to New Providence. He is a Bahamian. Fred cannot call the kettle black. He is calling Sir Stafford a racist, but he is also a racist as he is trying to divide black Bahamians against white Bahamians.”

Senator Mitchell responded to Mr Culmer’s comments in the Senate yesterday.

“I see the chairman of the party has launched another vicious attack on me personally so The Tribune calls me to respond to that,” he said. “Why should I be responding to foolishness? It’s just rubbish! All I made was a simple point which was supported by the Central Bank of The Bahamas not the Progressive Liberal Party.

“They are the ones who said we have been working on this since 2016, not us. Then there’s all this petty and this and that and all the rest of it. Now today The Tribune is saying that the chairman of the FNM is saying I am fermenting violence. Where? In which country? Where did it happen? This is nonsense!

“Because I take a philosophical approach and ideological position from you in regards to these orders. The orders are about civil liberties. That’s what it is. And, in every country there has been this push back saying, ‘look, you are going too far.’”

Disturbed by the accusations, Senator Mitchell sought to clarify what he meant in the voice note and what brought him to say what he did.

“There are riots in France over vaccination and non-vaccination,” he explained. “Down in Antigua, the police had to use tear gas to disperse people from attacking the vans with vaccines. Mia Motley has every seat in Parliament, but there’s a huge demonstration in Barbados. ‘Mia must go!’ over vaccines. In St Vincent, unfortunately, the Prime Minister during a debate on vaccines gets hit in the head by a rock.

“So Fox Hill Day, I get called to a scene in Step Street in Fox Hill. This curfew thing has been moved back from 10 o’clock to 9 o’clock. Lord only knows what difference ten and nine makes. So three police cars pull up and say to these people who are celebrating Fox Hill Day that they have to stop. And, that they are waiting until the COVID police comes because if they don’t go everybody is going to get fined or written up for a ticket.

“All I’m saying is if you push the population too far, you are going to have a push back. That’s all I said. So pull back on this stuff. Understand that people are sick and tired of this. You have to understand that human beings are social creatures and you cannot bottle up the population forever.”