The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement (FNM) chairman Dr Duane Sands criticised the lack of security in Parliament following Coalition of Independents (COI) leader Lincoln Bain’s disruption of an Opposition press conference on Wednesday.

Dr Sands spoke after the incident in the minority room of the House of Assembly, which FNM leader Michael Pintard described as “a disgraceful display of clout chasing”.

“We collectively have spoken about the laissez-faire approach to security in the people’s parliament,” Dr Sands said. “There are no metal detectors, there’s no screening, there’s no real security to speak of. It’s expected that people will behave reasonably and without threat to the persons that are in the parliament and that clearly is not the case.”

Mr Bain, accompanied by supporters, entered the room and accused Mr Pintard of being a weak leader.

“He came into a space where we were, in fact, having a press conference to address the government’s failings,” Mr Pintard said. “If he was serious about challenging the government, one of the things he would have done is turn his attention on those issues.”

The Tribune reached out to Chief Clerk of the House David Forbes, who said Bain’s interruption did not constitute a security breach. Mr Forbes said opposition members could have requested security to remove Mr Bain, but no such request was made.

“This has nothing to do with a breach of security in the House of Assembly at all,” Mr Forbes said, noting that no formal complaints were lodged following the incident.

“I didn’t know about it until probably an hour or two after the incident happened. There was no feedback from the opposition or any member of Parliament saying that any security was breached or protocol violated.”

However, Dr Sands took issue with the broader state of security within Parliament, calling for more robust measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

“It will be a cold day in July before he’s allowed within the precinct of any event the FNM holds,” Dr Sands said, referencing Mr Bain.

Mr Pintard dismissed Mr Bain as “irrelevant” and said the opposition would no longer engage with him.

“It was the most disgraceful display of clout chasing,” Mr Pintard said. “We will ignore him from this point on.”