Prime Minister Perry Christie came in for a bit of criticism over the weekend with former Attorney General in the Pindling Administration Paul Adderley accusing him of allowing certain senior government officials to have too much latitude.
“He allows things to drift a little bit,” said Mr. Adderley, who was the special guest on the Love 97 programme “Jones and Company” on Sunday.
The show’s host, Wendall Jones, pressed Mr. Adderley on the quality of governance under the Christie Administration.
The former Cabinet Minister then pointed to the difference in the styles of governing between Mr. Christie and his predecessor, Hubert Ingraham.
“The difference between this government and the previous government, I think, is Mr. Ingraham thought he would be prime minister with a Cabinet. Eventually, he gave up on the Cabinet and he decided to do everything himself. I told him this once. I said, ‘You’re getting a bad name; You’re doing everything yourself. You have to let the people have some time’,” Mr. Adderley said.
“He didn’t regard that as being a dictator; he regarded that as [being] efficient and it may have been to a certain extent. Mr. Christie is of a different disposition altogether. He would never do that and he has a tendency to allow people too much play. He has allowed too much play and I hope he would rectify that between now and the next election. He hasn’t got much time to do it, but he has to do that.”
Mr. Jones then asked, “Do you think Ministers have too much play?”
Mr. Adderley clarified his point saying, “Not just Ministers; Ministers are supposed to have too much play. If a Minister takes everything to Cabinet, he’s no Minister. If a Minister takes nothing to Cabinet, he’s no Minister either. He’s got to know what to do as a Minister -unless a Minister understands how to function, these problems would arise and Mr. Christie, his attitude is that he’s not going to interfere with the Minister.”
But Mr. Adderley said it would be going too far to say that the country has developed a culture of mediocrity in governance.
Mr. Jones also asked the former attorney general his opinion on the recent announcement made by Minister of Labour and Immigration Vincent Peet that he has recused himself from the matter involving Western Air.
The Minister faced a firestorm recently when the Department of Immigration refused to grant work permits for six pilots of the airline based in the Minister’s constituency of North Andros.
The airline’s part owner, Shandrice Woodside-Rolle, who has indicated her intension to seek the Free National Movement nomination to run for the North Andros and Berry Islands seat in the 2007 election, claimed that the permits were denied for political reasons.
But the Minister denied her claim before announcing that he will no longer have anything to do with the matter.
Asked whether this was the appropriate thing to do, Mr. Adderley said, “That can’t happen – whether he likes it or not he must exercise his duty. He cannot abdicate his responsibility. He cannot do that. If he does that nothing can happen – the Minister has to do his job.”
Mr. Adderley agreed that Minister Peet’s announcement “was a piece of non-sense”.
He was also asked to comment on the move by the treasurer of the Public Treasury to stop paying former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham his salary as an MP because it was something he requested after the May 2002 election.
Amid claims that he was ‘double-dipping’ as he is receiving his pension as a former prime minister, Mr. Ingraham recently tabled a letter in the House of Assembly from the treasurer confirming that he is not being paid as an MP.
“Can a sitting member of parliament tell the public treasury that you shouldn’t pay me?” Mr. Jones asked.
Mr. Adderley responded, “Yes, he can tell the Public Treasury that-but he gets paid. The Treasury has no discretion in this matter whatsoever. None whatsoever. That’s his money and there’s no law that permits the treasury not to pay a man his salary.”
He added, “This is unbelievable – something should happen. What, I don’t know because I don’t know all the facts.”
Mr. Adderley was also critical of the government over the ongoing registrar general controversy.
It erupted earlier this year when authorities fired Elizabeth Thompson as registrar general and it flared up again early last month when Supreme Court Justice Hugh Small ruled that she had been unfairly terminated and quashed the authorities’ decision to do so.
Since then, serious confusion and conflict have developed as Acting Registrar General Shane Miller, who was hired after Ms. Thompson’s firing, remains in office.
Mr. Adderley suggested that the Attorney General’s Office moved too slowly in attempting to get a stay of the ruling.
Justice Small eventually denied a stay, which would have blocked Ms. Thompson from returning to work while the appeal remained outstanding before the Court of Appeal.
He said that he had no authority to stop her from carrying out her functions as registrar general.
Mr. Jones said, “The Attorney General’s Office did not ask for a stay of the ruling right away. [Hasn’t] the government fallen down on many, many scores?”
But Mr. Adderley said, “I don’t know about fallen down; stumble maybe.”
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
