Addressing the party’s constituents on Grand Bahama, Mr Ingraham said: “[Prime Minister] Perry Christie has spent four years in office shuffling his feet, averting his eyes and keeping secrets from the Bahamian people.”
Mr Ingraham’s heated attack on government was said by some to set the tone for the FNM’s rally on May 30.
“He would now have us believe that the United Nations wants him to keep secrets from the Bahamian people. Secrets on, of all things, human rights. Can you believe that?
“If we were in office, Cuba would not have the nerve or the gumption to ask us to vote for them to be on a Human Rights commission. That’s an unthinkable event.”
Before Mr Ingraham’s address, a Grand Bahama resident expressed concern about the vote, and the fact that the government did not inform the country what it planned to do.
“One of the fundamental rights of an individual is that he or she is able to leave their country whenever they like and come back whenever they like,” Mr Ingraham pointed out.
Cuba is one of a small number of countries which does not allow its citizens to freely leave their country.
“And now we’ve got to hear all of this [the vote] through gossip and rumour,” Mr Ingraham added. “They have no right to cast a vote for Cuba at the UN, not in our name, not on our behalf. And we are going to pay them back for that!”
It was claimed that Cabinet ministers held a vote recently and the outcome was in favour of casting the country’s ballot in support of Cuba.
The Tribune attempted to learn how the Bahamas voted from Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell. However, Mr Mitchell was said by his staff to be out of the country.
Several officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office were also contacted, but claimed they could not comment on the vote.
One Foreign Affairs spokesman said that The Tribune should ask the ministry’s permanent secretary, Dr Patricia Rodgers.
However, she was said to be in a meeting. Other government spokespersons were unavailable for comment.
Contrary to the hopes of local US officials, Cuba secured a seat on the newly established Human Rights Council at the United Nations General Assembly yesterday.
The US and Cuba had both voiced their wishes that the Bahamas would support their respective interests during the voting process.
US officials stated that they hoped that countries with “questionable human rights records” – such as Cuba – would receive no votes. Meanwhile, Cuba said the US was hardly in a position to pass judgment on other countries.
As the voting process was carried out through secret ballots, it is not known officially in whose favour the Bahamas voted. It was claimed that UN officials asked respective countries to not reveal how they had voted.
Source: The Tribune
