BREAKING: Golden Isles MP resigns from FNM

BREAKING: Golden Isles MP resigns from FNM
Golden Isles MP Vaughn Miller

Second FNM MP to resign from party

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Golden Isles MP Vaughn Miller has resigned from the Free National Movement (FNM).

Miller announced the move in Parliament, saying when the House of Assembly meets again he will be seated as an independent parliamentarian.

The announcement came as he contributed to debate on an amended resolution for a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis.

Miller gave a scathing review of the Minnis administration and several decisons taken this term, including the decision to lease the Town Centre Mall for the relocation of the General Post Office.

The mall is partly owned by St. Anne’s MP and former Cabinet minister Brent Symonette.

“Based on the rhetoric of my colleagues before and during the election campaign of 2017, rhetoric that spoke to integrity, honesty and transparency and other lofty and noble ideals, I was convinced that we were on a glorious road to a golden age — no more corruption, no more un-tendered contracts; no more victimization and persecution; no more favoritism [and] no more neglecting the poor,” Miller said.

“I recognized that integrity was being desecrated, but I will forever praise integrity and despise corruption.

“Two cannot walk together, except they be agreed. Our differences are irreconcilable.

“The FNM will not repent, And I shall not recant.

“Therefore, I am requesting as of the next sitting of the House of Assembly. I am seated among the Independents.

“May Almighty God, Yahweh Elohim, continue to bless the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and make the wealth common.”

Miller is the second FNM MP to sever ties with the party.

In October, Centreville MP Reece Chipman announced his resignation from the FNM in a WhatsApp group chat.

The move followed his resignation from the Public Accounts Committee in January over frustrations the parliamentary sub-committee was “functionless”.

Both Chipman and Miller have taken positions against the Minnis administration throughout their tenure on key national issues, including the government’s decision to increase value-added tax from 7.5 percent to 12 percent in 2018.

Bain and Grants Town MP Travis Robinson, Pineridge MP Frederick McAlpine also voted against the measure — a move that prompted the public to the dub them the ‘Dissident Four’.

The men were all stripped of their government appointments; however, Chipman had already been fired from his post as chairman of the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation earlier that year.

About Royston Jones Jr.

Royston Jones Jr. is a senior digital reporter and occasional TV news anchor at Eyewitness News. Since joining Eyewitness News as a digital reporter in 2018, he has done both digital and broadcast reporting, notably providing the electoral analysis for Eyewitness News’ inaugural election night coverage, “Decision Now 2021”.