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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

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Disgraceful behavior The disgraceful behavior of Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) members in the House of Assembly last week should be condemned by all law-abiding Bahamians. A vigilant political opposition is vitally important in countries where democracy flourishes, but by no stretch of the imagination can the blatant disregard that PLP members displayed for the authority of the speaker of the House in that august chamber on Wednesday be classified as them carrying out their duty to be vigilant; rather, it was the kind of behavior that more appropriately could be described as lawless. Even more despicable was their attempt to use the tragic death of a 15-year-old juvenile, who was reportedly found hanging in his cell while in police custody, as a political football. By so doing, they also blatantly demonstrated that they have no respect for the law enforcement establishment in this country by not allowing the police, which does a remarkable job maintaining law and order in The Bahamas, to complete their investigation into the teen's death. The House incident was triggered by an attempt by PLP Englerston Member of Parliament Glenys Hanna-Martin to speak on the issue of the boy's death as "a matter of public importance". House Speaker Alvin Smith, however, based on the rules of the House, refused to let her speak and requested that she take her seat. As it turned out, the speaker's ruling was absolutely correct. As he explained in detail the following day - when the House session resumed after it was abruptly ended on Wednesday because of the defiant behavior of PLP members - during the PLP's recent five-year term as the government, it made certain changes to the rules of the House which prevented Hanna-Martin from doing what she was proposing to do without giving the speaker appropriate notice. Hanna-Martin most certainly should have been aware of these rules. Even if she was not, surely Opposition Leader Perry Christie should have been, and he should have so informed her when he spoke with her on the matter on the eve of the House meeting on Wednesday, as he said he did. Could it be that Mr. Christie did inform Hanna-Martin that she should not proceed with what she planned to do and she defied? There is a likelihood that this may be the case, given the internal squabbling that has been ongoing for months over whether or not Christie should step down as head of the PLP because he is perceived to be a weak leader. To be sure, it did not escape the attention of political observers that Christie - based on published photographs - was not one of the PLP House members who formed a human wall around Hanna-Martin after she persistently refused to take her seat when requested by the speaker to do so, and the speaker subsequently ordered that she be removed from the House chamber by the police. To their credit, the police did not use physical force to remove her, as PLP members obviously were hoping they would do - an act which would have strengthened their appeal to supporters to attend a rally that night. Clearly, they have been looking for an issue to take the minds of their supporters off the disarray the party now finds itself in, but this most certainly was not such an event. In fact, their behavior in the House has backfired big time, with even some die-hard PLP supports questioning what direction the party is now heading in. It would seem as if this would continue to be a very valid question as long as the leadership crisis continues in the PLP. Monday, June 8, 2009