The Tribune

By LETRE SWEETING

Tribune Staff Reporter

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Immigration Minister Shane Gibson said he always administered citizenship oaths, adding that the ceremony granting the status has sometimes been performed in people’s homes.

His comments came after former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis called for Keith Bell’s dismissal from Cabinet for granting citizenship to three people at a funeral over the weekend.

 Mr Bell swore in three people during a funeral for Franck Racine, a man he said came to The Bahamas from Haiti in the 1990s. In granting citizenship to Mr Racine’s relatives, Mr Bell said he was honouring the man’s dying wish. He said Cabinet approved citizenship for the people.

 Critics questioned whether Mr Bell was authorized to administer the citizenship oaths.

 The Bahamas Nationality Act regulations say the citizenship declarations “shall be of no effect unless they are signed in the presence of or administered by a justice of the peace or notary public or any person authorized to administer oaths”.

 Mr Gibson argued that Mr Bell, a lawyer, is a “notary public” and qualified to administer the oath.

 “When I was minister, I always did it,” he said.

 “What Kieth Bell did was only perform a ceremony. Cabinet approved the citizenships. There have been instances in the past when the ceremony was performed at persons’ residences.”

 Mr Gibson’s successor, Brent Symonette, said he never administered a citizenship oath and that the ceremony was always held behind closed doors under more solemn circumstances.

 Dr Minnis, meanwhile, said he would remove Mr Bell from Cabinet if he were prime minister.

 “The Bahamian people should be outraged that a minister can take your citizenship so lightly and give it out at a funeral,” he said. “If the policy has changed, then the people must know that they can meet the minister in a bar and get their citizenship. Let’s meet Keith Bell on the basketball court and get our citizenship, meet him anywhere. They can meet the minister in a nightclub or restaurant and get their citizenship, if that’s the policy, the prime minister must state that.

“There is a requirement, once they have met the requirement, then by all means, they are entitled to it, but he said he was doing that at the request of the individual who had died. What would have one day difference made, to have done it in the proper setting that we know about, where the policies are followed? One day would not have made a difference. So, I think he was totally out of order.”

 “When the actions are done, the prime minister has an obligation to dismiss this independent minister while an investigation goes on. It sends a bad message to the world.

 “Keith Bell is behaving as an independent agent and the prime minister must move him. He’s sending the wrong message to the world. He must move him and a proper investigation must be done.

 “Citizenship is dear to any nation and it cannot be taken lightly.”