Response By Fred Mitchell MP on Comments of The Minister
of National Security on Prison Promotions
Opposition Spokesman on the Public Service
5th March 2009
I
take grave exception to the remarks delivered in the House of Assembly
near midnight on Thursday 4th March by the Minister of National
Security Tommy Turnquest in which he claimed that there was political
interference in prison promotions prior to his coming to office. That
is a despicable untruth. If this were said outside the House, it would
be a grave libel. I challenge him to give any credible evidence that
there was political interference. The record will show that the
promotions at the prison were at all times guided by the due processes
of the Prison Department and the Ministry of National Security in
consultation with the Prison Staff Association. The Minister ought to
concentrate on getting the job done and stop trying to rewrite
history. The fact is that shortly after they came to office, the FNM
Administration unfairly withdrew lawfully granted promotions to prison
officers under procedures agreed with the Prison Staff Association and
the Public Service Commission. Any other story is simply fiction.
The Minister’s own previous statements in House of Assembly support
this view. It is simply tiresome that almost three years after coming
to office, the Minister can only find comfort in propaganda as a
substitute for the failures of the FNM administration in the Public
Service and other areas of public life in The Bahamas.
