NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Free National Movement Chairman Dr Duane Sands yesterday called on Prime Minister Philip Davis to unequivocally state his position and the stance of his administration on marital rape.
Sands said Davis’ recent comments on a divorce ruling have confused the public even further and accused the prime minister of intentionally deflecting on the issue.
“I think that as controversial as it is, none of us need to be equivocal about where we stand on these issues,” he said.
“If you choose to call yourself somebody in a leadership position then let it be known where you stand. Let it be known where you stand on hanging, let it be known where you stand on a number of issues of public importance.”
On Monday, Davis told media he found the recent divorce ruling that determined a wife could not legally claim she was raped by her husband as grounds for divorce, “curious”.
“I think the public has become even more confused by the unfortunate comments made by the prime minister,” Sands said.
“The justice in the case made it very clear in unambiguous language why she would have ruled the way she ruled, made it very clear what the law said. So for the prime minister to punt and make a comment when he has, given his role in both the executive and the legislature, the unfettered ability to make this problem go away by amending the law so that marital rape is an entity punishable in The Bahamas.”
Sands continued: “But I believe that it would have required a level of conviction and conscious that would fly in the place of politics to do so, and so we get this very difficult to understand comment. I still don’t know what he meant when he said what he said, and I know there are many people who feel the same way.”
The FNM chairman said he believed the Davis administration will continue to take a political track, and pivot on the tough decisions of governance.
He acknowledged that while the FNM fully supports the criminalization of marital rape, it did not move to reform the law in its previous term.
Sands said there needs to be a consistent review, consultation, and reform process of the country’s laws.
He said he did not agree that the remedy to criminalizing marital rape should only include the removal of ‘who is not a spouse’ from the Sexual Offenses and Domestic Violence Act, but a full legislative update of the Matrimonial Causes Act.
“Clearly, that requires a conversation and engagement with various stakeholders,” Sands said.
“That is anticipated to be an impassioned discussion but it is not unreasonable for us to review and revise our legislation periodically particularly when it appears as if it is not consistent with the realities of the time.”
He continued: “The question is whether you are going to simply as the activists have said, take four words out of the how many decades old act and then leave the rest of it intact, or are you going to look holistically at the legislative framework, spend some time trying to determine if it is fit and proper a piece of legislation for our time.
“Then hopefully you create a law which can last another 50 years at which point you’ll need to change it again. We have some laws in the Bahamas, our Vaccination Act for instance, and others which are more than 150 years old.”
