Bahamian Politics
Roberts: Tribune Shamelessly Defends “Flip-Flopper” Minnis
By Bradley B. Roberts National Chairman, Progressive Liberal Party
Jan 13, 2015 - 8:39:17 AM

I have taken note of the writer of the subject editorial who has agreed with me that Dr. Hubert Minnis is a Flip-Flopper but sought to suggest that Prime Minister Christie and the PLP agreed to referendum issues which included gender equality only to campaign against and defeated the same.

The Editor apparently or conveniently forget that it was Hubert Ingraham who in typical FNM fashion reduced the sanctity of a constitutional amendment to a “dumb-down” partisan political campaign and dog fight when he declared that whoever won the referendum would win the 2002 general elections and so said, so done. Further, the only winners of referenda are the people, not political parties.

The PLP voted for the Referendum in the House and subsequently reversed its position and gave its reasons and then voted against the measure in the Senate. In the interest of editorial fairness and balance, the writer might want to include the reasons given by the PLP at that time. So confusing were the questions and process that the FNM government was forced to withdraw one of the questions. Even today many Bahamians have difficulties with the “sweetie bill” or the “sweetheart bill” proposed by the FNM.

Since the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Chrisitie and the PLP have won two general elections and two by-elections since that referendum, the editor’s attempt to re-litigate history is moot and pointless.   

The above analogy provided by the editor is nothing more than a smokescreen to provide political cover for and to deflect from the current issue which is the duplicity, the intellectual dishonesty and flip-flopping ways of one Dr. Hubert Minnis. The problems that the Tribune’s editor and Dr. Minnis have are the facts and the facts are stubborn. The facts are that Minnis agreed with VAT as a viable tax reform measure while he sat as a FNM cabinet Minister only to flip flop on the issue after his party lost the 2012 general election. During the 2014/2015 debate, Dr. Minnis and the FNM went to great pains and lengths to justify their opposition to VAT by explaining how and why VAT was bad for the country. He was however duplicitous in conceding that while he agreed that the country was in need of tax reform, he and the FNM were “not on the VAT train.” Alas, he failed, refused or was simply unable to articulate an alternative policy position that Bahamians could buy into. To this day he has not.

Lo and Behold during his News Years address, the whole nation found out that Minnis was not only on the VAT train, he wanted to drive the VAT train. He proposed VAT tax holidays, the appointment of a VAT review committee and promised to remove VAT from several consumer items, BUT HE IS NOT GOING TO REPEAL THE LEGISLATION, WHICH MEANS MINNIS AGREES WITH VAT. He had this to say about VAT during his New Years address:

“While our party (the FNM) fundamentally oppose VAT, we must encourage all Bahamians to abide by the existing law implemented by the PLP government.” But of course, should he become the Prime Minister, he and the FNM would be impotent to change the law; this guy is absolutely incredible and unbelievable. This is same Hubert Minnis who stood in Parliament as the opposition leader and advanced a constitutional amendment on capital punishment, complete with sentencing guidelines in murder cases and a transfer of the final appellate jurisdiction from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to the Appeals Court of The Bahamas over the controversial “worst of the worst” Privy Council legal opinion in murder cases. Minnis could conveniently propose sweeping constitutional changes while in opposition but will be impotent to repeal a law if he becomes Prime Minister – a law that he claims the FNM is fundamentally opposed to. This is why I am very critical of Minnis as a leader. He is intellectually dishonest, weak, confused, conflicted and duplicitous. And he is this way on any number of national issues including Constitutional reform, gaming and Stem Cell research.

So editor, you can choose to apologize for Dr. Minnis until the cows come home and throw up any number of smokescreens or red herrings to create mass distractions away from his poor leadership qualities, but the facts do not lie and when the facts surrounding Dr. Minnis’ leadership are weighed in the balance, Dr. Minnis is found woefully wanting. He lacks the courage of his conviction or is he just a serial political panderer and opportunist who will say anything that appears convenient at the time and change when it no longer becomes convenient. Either way at best he comes across as weak, indecisive, confused and conflicted. At best the verdict on Minnis as a leader has to be “reasonable doubt” because nobody knows where he stands on policy; Minnis does not know where Minnis stands on policy. His behavior provides reasonable doubt about his ability, commitment and political will to tackle the myriad of challenges facing this country and to articulate a clear vision moving forward.

© Copyright 2015 by thebahamasweekly.com -