As the second anniversary (February 27th) of the ill-fated but well intended referendum rolls around, it is quite obvious to any reasonable Bahamian that the Bahamas is no closer to passing a referendum now than we were two years ago. The reality that the sabotage of the referendum by the PLP has set in and quite frankly despite promises, they have no alternative platform to present to the public. Instead, the public was given a blank sheet of paper to put whatever they wanted on it.
During the hype of the referendum campaign, what was either expressed or implied was that a committee would be appointed 30 days after Perry Christie became Prime Minister and a referendum within six months. This was what was presented to the public to vote “no” against the premise of the referendum. After much public pressure and reminder a constitutional referendum committee was appointed about nine months after Perry Christie became Prime Minister. Judging by the lack of material that has been presented to the public so far, it is extremely unlikely that there will be any referendum before the next general election.
What was supposed to have been a simple amendment in the original referendum has now been replaced by an extremely new constitution with a completely new and different proposed form of government. That in itself will take years to comprehend. Or will this PLP government force it down our throats as they did with the first Bahamian constitution when there was virtually no feedback from the public prior to it being legislated.
No one can forget the fact that the PLP referred to the first referendum as “evil.” This position was echoed by some religious leaders, such as Archbishop Drexel Gomez, who demanded that the FNM government even stop the referendum process.
This in itself was an indecent outrage as one of the proposed amendment was to eliminate the ridiculous discrimination against Bahamian women, their foreign spouses, and their offsprings who over the years have suffered from such backward way of thinking. Being called a nation with “Christian values” our values are anything but Christian as our Christian values would not allow suffering under our Constitution as a rejection of the proposed amendment did. Furthermore, how could the party that obtained majority rule on an antidiscriminating platform now be supporting discrimination?
In another area of absolute hypocrisy by the PLP deals with the establishment of an independent boundaries commission. Even though they voted against it during the referendum, it is one of the promises in their manifesto ” Our Plan.” From the days of the Bay Street Boys government, there has been a concern about persons in government cutting constituency boundaries to their advantage. This is referred to as “gerrymandering.” With the result that an election could be won by a government who does not proportionately reflect the voter population.
In 1962, unfairness in constituency boundaries by the United Bahamian Party (UBP) government was the cry of the PLP opposition. In fact the events lending up to the Black Tuesday and the throwing of the authoritative mace out of Parliament’s window was centered around statements made by Lynden Pindling who demanded to know “why is it that one man from Harbour Island was equal to three from Grand Bahama or Andros?” Clearly, for decades the position of the PLP was that there should be an independent boundaries Commission free from political interference.
Perry Christie, as leader of the PLP was being dishonest when he said that he didn’t understand their basic premise. During the 2002 campaign, Fred Mitchell demanded to know why polling divisions 1 and 2 of Lucaya was being added on to the Pineridge constituency? Was it to facilitate the FNM government candidate in Pineridge?
In fact that Perry Christie did not understand something did not stop him from supporting it before. Just look at how he voted for the proposed amendments in the House. Then he turned around and said he did not understand them even though he voted for them.
Also, other significant pieces of legislation such as the Election Petition Act 1991, Perry Christie as a PLP Cabinet Minister voted for and supported this oppressive piece of legislation that prohibited Bahamians from talking or broadcasting politics in certain forums. The Grand Bahama HumanRights Association (G BH RA) stated since 1991 that the Act was unconstitutional as it violated the constitutional right to free speech. It wasn’t until 1996 when those same provisions passed by the PLP in 1991 were being observed did they cry foul and stated that it was unconstitutional. Wasn’t Perry Christie and the PLP aware of that in 1991 or didn’t they understand it?
Finally, another proposition that the PLP rejected and voted “NO” on because they didn’t understand it was the proposition to increase the age of a Supreme Court Judge from 67 to 73. Well blow me down! You mean to tell me that due to his age, a judge cannot function at age 67, but when he gets older, he can function as an Appeal Court judge or Privy Council Judge where there is no age limit or the judges are older than 67 years of age.
After so much talk about the age of a judge, it is fascinating to note that the Hon Paul Adderley, a man well into his 70’s is the main legal advisor for the PLP. That’s right, the same Paul Adderley who was one of the original signatories of the Bahamian constitution. The same Paul Adderley who contemptuously disobeyed the Privy Council in the D’Arcy Ryan case and politicized the Lionel Dorsett case with reference to the constitutional right of freedom of speech. Yes, this is the same Paul Adderley who should have retired sometime ago within the public interest but has been given new life under the PLP as Constitutional Referendum Committee Chairman.
Dr. Leatendore Percentie, DDS
