On Thursday, March 08th, 2012, while in the House of Assembly, Mr. Frank Smith, the Member of Parliament (MP) for St. Thomas Moore, and the Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) candidate for Montagu, assaulted the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly and tried to silence his voice, and by extension the voices of the people of Pineridge, by pushing away his microphone while he was speaking and giving a minority report on the New Providence Road Improvement Project (NPRIP).
This incident was witnessed on televisions throughout the country thanks to Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and Free National Movement’s (FNM) agenda to ensure that all homes in this country have access to ZNS TV13 and the Parliamentary Channel.
Unfortunately, many do not believe that Prime Minister Ingraham envisioned Bahamians seeing what some describe as the desperation of the PLP in the honorable House in this manner. Sadly, however, it was live and many viewers were disappointed.
According to some, Frank Smith was doing this to excite the base of the PLP and they believe he was successful. This view, however, caused many to wonder and question who or what represents the base of the PLP. Is it the supposed paid thugs that demonstrated during the BTC debate, some of whom the Minister of National Security identified as convicts and felons? Or the purported criminals who were allegedly fighting in their headquarters because they had not gotten paid for demonstrating? Is it the drug dealers and traffickers that the Prime Minister alleges funded their political campaigns? If Frank Smith has to resort to thuggish behavior in the House of Assembly to enthuse his party’s supporters then something is seriously and truly wrong with him, his party and those who support this barbaric, caveman philosophy and behavior.
No party supporter should be proud of this attribute or brag about this incident as it does not represent what a civilized society desires of their present or future representatives. Some say the Speaker lost control of the House during this incident as they feel he should have administered some form of reprimand or discipline against MP Smith.
The Speaker make a ruling with regard to the minority report on the NPRIP which he was fully within in his right to do, whether Members of House agreed with this decision or not. He did not break any laws or infract any established policies by his ruling in this matter. The Speaker allowed the majority members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House, all members of the opposition PLP, to give their report on the NPRIP and then he allowed Kwasi Thompson, the minority member of the Government, to give his report.
While Bernard Nottage, Chairman of the PAC, was allowed to give his account of the report uninhibited, it was not the same for Deputy Speaker Thompson. One would be foolish not to acknowledge that the PLP sought to score political mileage with this report, which was their right to do, but it seemed that their desire to hog the attention of the report and keep it as negative as possible without allowing the FNM an opportunity to defend themselves against the content bordered on criminal.
Frank Smith assaulted the Deputy Speaker of the House; whether it was a push, a pull or a tug, assault is assault. Mr. Smith moved to silence the voice of Mr. Thompson by pushing away his microphone and making a spectacle of himself while Mr. Thompson was trying to speak.
In 2012 when the airwaves are open and people can speak freely on talk shows and in the media it is inconceivable that one Member of Parliament blatantly tries to silence the voice of another. It is almost as if MP Smith moved to single-handedly take the country backward with that move.
Former President of the Senate, Mrs. Sharon Wilson, Mr. Smith’s mother-in-law declared “The voice of the people must be heard. Every member in the Parliament is there to represent a constituency, to represent men and women of this country and you don’t… try or attempt to silence the voice of the people of this country.”
I do not have a problem with MP Smith disputing the Speaker’s ruling or challenging it. I do, however, have a serious problem with the assault of any Member of Parliament by another. There were better and much more mature means to which MP Smith could have availed himself to address this issue.
I am sure the country remembers the public outcry of the Bahamian masses in response to a fight that allegedly took place between former MP’s Koed Smith and Kenyatta Gibson in the cabinet office during the PLP’s tenure in office. The electorate took them to task on this and other issues and subsequently voted them out of office.
Finally, particularly considering the climate in which we live, Members of Parliament must be extremely careful of the message they portray, especially in their actions as people are watching. Violent crimes are up and more persons seem to have a difficulty resolving their issues and disagreements without physical interaction. Such practices are not justifiable and must be condemned by all. It is high time that our elected officials lead by example and Frank Smith dropped the ball in this regard!
By: Marvin R. Z. Gibson
