By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

TALL Pines MP Leslie Miller has criticised the two local academics who have campaigned for voters to spoil their election ballot as a form of protest, stating because of their comments the professors “should not be on staff” at the University of the Bahamas.

Mr Miller, in an interview with reporters this week, said it was a “total disgrace” for professors Dr Nicolette Bethel and Dr Ian Strachan to encourage people to not to vote.

“What I don’t understand, those people from the University of The Bahamas, I don’t see how the president of the University of The Bahamas could still have those people on staff you know,” Mr Miller said when questioned on the matter. “They are being paid by the Bahamian people’s money, and they gone tell the people spoil the ballot.

“We should spoil them and get them the hell out of the University of The Bahamas. They should not be on staff. None of them that discourage young Bahamians from doing their civic responsibility as Bahamians. It is a disgrace what we allow to happen in this country. A total disgrace.”

In February, Dr Bethel and Dr Strachan, both prominent UB professors, and women’s rights activist Alicia Wallace called on Bahamian voters suffering from voter apathy to spoil their election ballots to protest the political status quo, instead of abandoning the democratic process altogether.

At the time, Ms Wallace maintained that the movement did not intend to persuade registered voters from properly marking their ‘X’ in support of a candidate or party, but to provide an alternative route for many Bahamians that have signalled their reluctance to take part in the process. Ms Wallace also forecast that spoilt ballots will spark the type of public dialogue needed to impact the current electoral system in which voters have no direct impact on the process of party leader selection, and the link between voting for a member of Parliament, but not a prime minister.

Dr Strachan at the time acknowledged that critics would accuse them of being reckless and that “stakes are high in the country and every vote is needed to fix what’s wrong.” He also said spoiling the ballot “sends the nation and the watching world a clear, unmistakable message that a sizable portion of the country demands better representation and not settle.”