Resignation call over $5m referendum

Monday, October 7, 2013

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE Free National Movement has demanded that Prime Minister Perry Christie resign as Finance Minister in view of conflicting reports over taxpayer dollars spent on the gambling referendum.

Last week, National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage told reporters that the January 28 gambling vote cost around $5 million.

A few weeks earlier, Mr Christie estimated that the referendum would come out to more than $1 million. He later acknowledged that ultimately, although the referendum was expensive, it was something that the government had to do.

Those differing comments have now left the FNM up in arms and its leader Dr Hubert Minnis questioning whether the Prime Minister has total control of the country’s finances.

Dr Minnis said: “One has to wonder whether the Prime Minister is deceiving the public or does he simply not know what is going on with the people’s money.

“Who is at the wheel? Since both Mr Christie and Dr Nottage have different reports of the gaming referendum expenditure, are all the other departments and ministries spending more than the Ministry of Finance knows about? Are various departments running rogue and left up to their own devices?”

“This is a very, very dangerous situation for the Bahamas as our economy is still trying to recover. If they do not get a handle on the Finances of this country we could be headed for the same fate as Greece.

“If Prime Minister Perry Christie cannot handle Finance as his portfolio he should step down and appoint someone who is capable of managing the country’s money.”

Dr Nottage, who is the Minister responsible for elections and referendums, said last Thursday that the gambling vote was not successful because the electorate was “ill prepared” for the questions on the ballot.

As a result, after announcing last Wednesday that the referendum to amend the constitution will not take place until June 2014, Mr Christie has promised that the government will run a comprehensive education campaign for Bahamians.

The Constitutional Commission in its report presented more than 70 recommendations, however around 40 of them would need formal constitutional amendments. Referenda to change the constitution are expected to be staggered over several years.

Comments

proudloudandfnm says...

Perry is truly an incredibly dishonest man. It has become obvious that he is only in office to secure his pension. So it goes without saying he does not care about the Bahamas, only about himself. I see Perry Christie as a traitor. The very least he could do is attempt to do his job.

Worst Prime Minister in the history of the Bahamas.....

Posted 7 October 2013, 12:25 p.m. Suggest removal

jackflash says...

How dare that you posted before Tal!

Comrade - by now you should know the rules!

Posted 7 October 2013, 1:17 p.m. Suggest removal

concernedcitizen says...

Good one,Tals is always first whenever any Hubert talks ,,

Posted 7 October 2013, 5:51 p.m. Suggest removal

getrightbahamas says...

ThisIsOurs says...

Posted 8 October 2013, 12:14 a.m. Suggest removal

banker says...

Sigh ... we are truly on the road to wrack and ruin with PGC as pseudo-leader. All hope is dead!

![Hopeless](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1sDpQiUNwJk/UlLssCoG8PI/AAAAAAAARVY/cTLwKYpfSrM/s1600/potcakep.jpg "Hopeless")

Posted 7 October 2013, 1:19 p.m. Suggest removal

Now Nottage says this, as printed on one of the internet sites.

"I wish to point out that I am now in possession of the exact figure, which has been provided for me by the Parliamentary Registration Department.

The actual figure spent was $1,238,092.95. I regret any misunderstanding that I may have created."

Posted 7 October 2013, 3:14 p.m. Suggest removal

Wow...I wonder what costs were removed as "not associated with the referendum"...salaries of persons who actually worked on it? The danger is if they're trying to retool the actual numbers...they have to do this again, several times according to the article. How will they properly allot budget to it if they are afraid to recognize the true costs?

Perry Christie needs to get a handle on this...not rough up people after the factor and get them to retract statements...get in front and make sure things are properly planned

Posted 7 October 2013, 4:53 p.m. Suggest removal

Agreed I'd really like to see a regular independent review of the money being spent by every government. Too many dishonest people are rushing into politics to become overnight millionaires

Posted 7 October 2013, 6:52 p.m. Suggest removal

Wow, Nottage must have real poor self esteem. There is no end to the amount of self-abasement that he puts himself through. When he first ran for leader of the PLP, Ping and Christie smeared him by intimating that he was an abortionist, because he is a gynecologist. And because his wife Portia was an entertainer, they said that she was a whore. And now he has to eat feces because he inadvertently had a drive-by truth-telling. But since that doesn't jive with the PLP who are total strangers to the truth, and would rather tell a lie even though the truth wouldn't hurt them, they made Nottage look like a fool and abase himself publicly again. Where are the real men in the Bahamas? This whole friggin' country is one big Clockwork Orange incarnation.

Posted 7 October 2013, 11:20 p.m. Suggest removal

TalRussell says...

Here Minnis goes again opening he mouth based only on what he reads in the media. I know Hubert left them reds dead broke but can't they even pay a junior employee to make telephone calls to obtain the truth, before calling for PM Christie's immediate resignation? Maybe now that the truth is out for all to hear, maybe her Majesty's Loyal Leader Minnis will be the one to immediately resign, while his media friends go about swiftly correcting that the $5 million they ran with was highly incorrect. Had only the Tribune bothered to dispatch a junior reporter to attend the minister's press conference, not reprint what The Nassau Guardian decided to publish, although at the the minster's press conference he "clearly" informed The Guardian's reporter that it was not an accurate cost of the referendum and he'd have to confirm the exact amount spent on the referendum. Good for Abaco's great MP Edison for ignoring Minnis, Loretta and that Darron. Stevie Wonder can see that the end of Minnis as the reds leader is drawing near.

AMEN!

Posted 7 October 2013, 5:15 p.m. Suggest removal

What is the truth?

Posted 7 October 2013, 6:53 p.m. Suggest removal

Nottage unwittingly told the truth and then was forced to deny it.

Posted 8 October 2013, 10:24 a.m. Suggest removal

Well,

They did bring Michelle Reckly over here to Abaco from Freeport to campaign for the Yes Vote.

You know that wasn't cheap.

They was all over Abaco giving out shirt and ting,,,,

Posted 7 October 2013, 5:41 p.m. Suggest removal

john33xyz says...

Leader Minnis, I'm sure, would NOT be willing to endorse a Law to prevent this and all future PM's from also being Finance Minister (or any other minister) at the same time. They only want to stop Perry - but when he gets in he will see no problem being PM and Min of Finance.

Also, I'm sure, he would NOT be willing to support a Law to give shadow ministers FULL access to the country's finances or any other information about the actual running of the country (such as Treaties we are about to sign, etc.) This is because when they get in power in 2017 they will want to be the new dictators just like the current dictators.

Sorry, Minnis, unless you are willing to support true democracy you will have to wait in line for your turn to be King.

Posted 7 October 2013, 7:57 p.m. Suggest removal

tHE parlimentry registry just has the figures for the polling places and voting ,What bout all them PM and MPS all over , the bluff ,barre terre , sims , staniel cay ,,,Nottage messed up and told the true figure.. BJ is getting older and goofed

Posted 7 October 2013, 7:58 p.m. Suggest removal

Yep. The more I think about it the retraction doesn't make any sense. If you didn't know the actual number, why bump it up to 5mil, especially if you know your PM has been publicly declaring a 1mil dollar figure? Why not estimate 2mil or 3? Why go so high and far away from the original estimate and to **reporters**?... there for a press conference? and expect them to keep it a secret? You give that type of guesstimate in an internal meeting. I suspect that he may have been unsure about the actual amount, just as he said, but having seen some data, he knew it was more than 3 and less than 6. Being an honest man and not a shrewd politician, he reported honestly. After the unexpected firestorm, they did some creative accounting to get a more acceptable figure.

What I would like to see is a breakdown by polling division of the number of poll workers, the number of policemen deployed, ballots printed, delivery costs, advertisement costs, flights, hotel stays, meals, the costs for the educational campaign, the cost for those consultants including consultancy fee, travel, meals, transportation.

Posted 8 October 2013, 12:23 a.m. Suggest removal

The different things you mention in your last paragragh had to add up to more than a million , what about the South african consultants on gaming ,and Baltron Bethel ,Obie Whilcombe et al off in indonesia and other far flung places 'gaining gaming knowledge for the referenDUM ,,,

Posted 8 October 2013, 8:52 a.m. Suggest removal

Comrades you will get no argument from me cause as far as I am concerned, even a single $1 bill spent on PM Christie's gambling thing would have been a complete waste of taxpayers money, much less $1 or more million. But since we're calling for opening the books on PM Christie's referendum, what if we also dig deep into that Hubert's own Constitutional wasted of taxpayers money costs? While we're at it how much damn taxpayers dollars did it cost the Bahamalanders to fly Hubert's backside ( and all the policeman's that tagged along with all them) and all his cabinet colleagues and MP"s, all over Bahamaland to fight the 2012 General Election? Politics stinks on both sides of the House and Bahamalander's have fed up. Praise be to God for the likes of Abaco's very own Edision. Truly the MP of our times.

.../ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe3VNz8n…

Posted 8 October 2013, 11:25 a.m. Suggest removal

Yes please, dig into it all, the alleged housing scandal under Shane Gibson, the drugs under Pindling, the rape allegations, the paving of the airport lets look at all of it. It's about time we have responsible governance irrespective of which colour dye they prefer on their shirts. Let's start with the current one as we already eliminated the present danger from the previous ones. This current one has the reins of power and can cripple us with any move they make any second of the 24hr day.

Posted 8 October 2013, 1:31 p.m. Suggest removal