Lucaya Member of Parliament Neko Grant yesterday condemned Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister Anne Percentie-Russell for her latest reported act against a prominent FNM member employed at the Office of the Prime Minister on Grand Bahama.
Mr. Grant said he was informed that Mrs. Percentie-Russell, Member of Parliament for Pineridge, had the locks to Lady Naomi Wallace-Whitfield’s office changed to deny her access to her office οΎ— an action the Pineridge MP also reportedly took several other times since coming to that office in 2002.
Lady Wallace-Whitfield, widow of FNM founder leader Sir Cecil Wallace- Whitfield, is employed as office manager in the Ministry of Financial Services and Investments office on Grand Bahama.
“This is not the first time Mrs. Percentie-Russell has engaged in this and other actions against employees within the Office of the Prime Minister who she believes to be supporters of the FNM,” Mr. Grant pointed out. “There are other employees in the Prime Minister’s Office who have been working in fear because of the behaviour and actions of the Pineridge MP.”
Mr. Grant said the fact that the Prime Minister “has permitted this often publicised situation to persist in his office on Grand Bahama speaks volumes of this government’s level of respect for the rights of Bahamians, and its level of commitment to decency and fair play within its offices and agencies.”
“The MP’s actions are yet another painful reminder that this PLP government continues in the legacy of the previous PLP government through its ongoing tactics of intimidation and vicitimisation against FNM supporters,” Mr. Grant said. “It is inconceivable that Bahamians employed by the government in a democracy should have to endure such conditions simply because they utilize their constitutional right to support the political party of their choice.”
The Lucaya MP said he was also “mindful of actions taken by representatives of the government to prevent children of FNM supporters from taking part in the government’s summer jobs programme on Grand Bahama in 2003.”
“To add insult to injury, hurricane ravaged residents on the island, who we all know have suffered a great deal, are also being made to feel the sting of vicitimisation within the government’s hurricane restoration programme,” Mr. Grant said. “Many persons are still being left out in the cold and building materials are reportedly rotting in storage and not being given to residents because those residents live in areas of the island wherein the FNM enjoys significant support.
“Grand Bahama continues to suffer under the spiteful hands of the PLP government, and is awaiting the opportunity to return to the competent and caring hands of the FNM a few months from now,” Mr. Grant said.
The Freeport News
