The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

DEPUTY press secretary Keishla Adderley said no rules or laws were broken when Immigration Minister Keith Bell swore in three people as citizens at a funeral over the weekend - although it is not something “anyone would like to see happen again”.

She said the “law is silent” on locations for swearing-in ceremonies.

“Well, let me say, for starters, there was nothing sinister, I don’t think, about the act,” she said during a press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister. Minister Keith Bell has conceded that it was something that was unorthodox. Certainly, no rules or laws were broken in the execution of that swearing-in ceremony.”

“It is something that the two have discussed –– the minister and the Prime Minister –– and certainly, it’s not something that anyone would like to see happen again. He conceded again that it was unorthodox, no laws were broken, but it’s not something that we expect to see  happen again,” she told reporters yesterday.”

 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 had approved citizenship for the people.

 Critics questioned whether Mr Bell was authorised 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”.

 Asked if Mr Bell was authorised to administer the oath, the deputy press security said the law does not say who should administer the oath.

 “Again, the persons in question went through the proper protocols,” she said. “Their applications were submitted. They went through the vetting process at the point that the oath was taken. Those things would have been completed, and it was just for the oath to be taken at that point.”

 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.

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

 Mr Gibson’s successor, Brent Symonette, said he never administered oaths.