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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Nassau, Bahamas - The House of Assembly met on Wednesday, December 7th to table and debate
the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information Bill, 2016. What
transpired shortly after the Lower House convened took every honourable
House member save for seven by complete surprise.
Reading a letter delivered to him by certain members of the opposition,
House speaker the Hon. Dr. Kendal Major read into the House records a
request of the Governor General by seven opposition members to remove
opposition leader the Hon. Dr. Hubert Minnis from that statute post and
replace him with Long Island MP the Hon. Loretta Butler-Turner. The
letter referred to Aritcle 82(4) of The Bahamas Constitution as
justification for this unprecedented move. The seven members felt that
Dr. Minnis was unfit to lead the organization; he was ineffective and a
failure as the opposition leader and the caucus had lost confidence in
his ability to lead them.
The letter was signed by Butler-Turner, Dr. Andre Rollins (Fort
Charlotte), Richard Lightbourn (Montague), Hubert Chipman (Saint Annes),
Theo Neilly (North Eleuthera), Neko Grant (Central Grand Bahama) and
Edison Key (South Abaco).
In his response to the House, Killarney MP and opposition leader
conceded that he was caught off guard by the political ambush and said
he was “saddened” that colleagues were prepared to “subvert democracy
and take their way because they could not get their way in a democratic
process.”
Speaking of the multiple leadership votes at the party level (the latest
taking place in July of this year), Dr. Minnis said “we had gone
through a democratic process within our organization, but we had
individuals who attempted to subvert that democratic process.”
He called the group of seven “rebels,” stating that he was still the
captain as he asserted that “democracy will always rule in The Bahamas.
As I stand here as the leader of the opposition until they carry the
letter to the Governor General, the leader of the Free National
Movement, who was democratically elected to such a position, the FNM
will democratically move toward a democratic electoral process.”
As for the bill, the mover was State Minister for Finance the Hon.
Michael Halkitis and it was seconded by the Minister for Financial
Services and Local Government the Hon. Hope Strachan. The bill
effectively facilitates the implementation of the Common Reporting
Standard (CRS) and due diligence for financial account information on
tax matters as driven by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD).
The Bahamas is committed to implementing the Automatic Exchange of
Information (AEOI) standard by December 2018 with the first automatic
exchange of tax information scheduled to take place no later than
September 2018.
In her contribution to the bill, Minister for Financial Services and
Local Government the Hon. Hope Strachan revealed to the House that the
government had selected the implementation taskforce to facilitate this
automatic exchange of tax information. Stakeholders include the host
Ministry – the Ministry of Finance; the coordinating Ministry – the
Ministry of Financial Services; the Office of the Attorney General; the
Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) and other industry
representatives.
Fox Hill MP and Foreign Affairs Minister the Hon. Fred Mitchell stood on
a point of privilege to respond to specific allegations contained in an
article published under the name of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about
Ministers of the Bahamas Government. In the article posted on the
website EcoWatch, it is alleged, in part, that “developer-friendly
Cabinet ministers are attacking the rule of law, stomping on privacy
rights, and savaging judges, lawyers and environmental and human rights
organizations”.
He told House members that the article in question resulted from
allegations made in the House that the organization which calls itself
Save The Bays (STB) is being funded by monies from a foreign national
designed to destabilize the government of The Bahamas. Mitchell
“categorically” denied that he or any minister of the Government “hacked
into any emails” or attempted to have environmentalists from Save The
Bays (STB) arrested.
Mr. Mitchell denounced the allegations in the statement as materially
false, defamatory against government ministers and told House members
that the matter had been referred to the House Committee on Privilege
for further investigation because that Committee has an obligation to
follow the money trail and see what the real objectives of Save The Bays
are.
In other parliamentary news, the four senators appointed by Dr. Hubert
Minnis resigned on Wednesday in the wake of the letter of revocation
signed by seven dissenting parliamentarians from the Opposition caucus.
Tendering their resignations were senators Dr. Duane Sands, Carl Bethel,
Kwasi Thompson and Monique Gomez.
About the author: Elcott Coleby is a Deputy Director at the
Bahamas Information Services. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in
Chemistry (B.Sc) and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA). He provides
frequent commentary on public policy and communicates the works of the
government. Address all comments to the following email:
egcoleby44@gmail.com
© Copyright 2016 by thebahamasweekly.com
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