Speaker asserts PM has made up party paraphernalia with 39-seats slogans
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Constituencies Commission Chairman and Speaker of the House of Assembly Halson Moultrie yesterday accused Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis of undermining the commission’s potential recommendations of boundary changes, noting that the prime minister has already printed campaign paraphernalia with the Free National Movement (FNM) winning the existing 39 seats.
He also said the prime minister’s utterance that the boundaries will not change in absence of the data and information in the commission’s possession was “premature”.
He made the statement while appearing as a guest on ILTV’s “Beyond The Headlines” with host Clint Watson.
Moultrie has previously said the commission could recommend the creation of four more seats or changes to the makeup of some constituencies to achieve voter parity.
“It is really unfortunate and regrettable that the prime minister prematurely undermined the work of the commission by stating there would be no changes — ‘what you have is what you have’ and has gotten his party’s paraphernalia with the number 39 and so on already made up and displaying it publically,” Moultrie said.
“…We are professional people who make up this commission, so we will try and give the Bahamian people the most effective and professional report that we can produce.
“And, like I said, the work of the commission, in my estimation, has been undermined by the premature utterances, that’s basically saying no matter what the commission recommends — even in the absence of having any information when that statement was made — this what we have and this is what we will have.
“But that is not going to prevent us from making the recommendation that we think would be in the best interest of democracy and the advancement of parliamentary democracy in the nation.”
Once completed, the commission is expected to submit its report to the governor general, who will in turn hand the report over to the prime minister for tabling in the House of Assembly.
Parliament has to approve the report for the recommendations to be adopted.
The FNM has an overwhelming majority in the House — 32 of the 39 seats. Fifteen of those MPs sit as Cabinet ministers.
Moultrie said: “If we look at our circumstance today, where the prime minister appears to be bulldozing his way through his party and removing a number of persons from offering in the next general election, if the Parliament was autonomous and independent and the composition was closer, that would not be a possibility.
“He would be creating — for example, we have about five to seven persons who may not be offering in the next general election, but they are still members of Parliament who would be able to vote on this motion and if the composition was closer, and if the Cabinet was not so supersized, where they can outvote them, more than half of the Parliament is a part of the Cabinet and, by convention, they are obliged.
“So, what is happening in The Bahamas today, in my estimation, is fundamental to the advancement and development of democracy in the country.”
He continued: “There is no possibility whatsoever on anything that the executive brings to Parliament, not getting passed.”
The commission plans to have a final meeting next week Monday and submit its report within two weeks.
The commission is comprised of the speaker, Madam Justice Deborah Fraser as vice chairman, Minister of Health Renward Wells, Minister of Agriculture Michael Pintard and Exumas and Ragged Island MP Chester Cooper.
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