Wednesday, April 26, 2017
FREE National Movement Chairman Sidney Collie has urged Bahamians to sign an online petition circulated by his party that calls on Prime Minister Perry Christie to fire Cabinet ministers Jerome Fitzgerald, Allyson Maynard-Gibson and Shane Gibson.
“The sad fact is that the prime minister appointed these persons to his Cabinet and they are sullying the good name of The Bahamas,” Mr Collie said in a statement.
“I ask Bahamians everywhere to join us in demanding accountability by going to firedem.com and signing the petition. Together we will send this inept and corrupt government out to pasture.”
The Progressive Liberal Party has been grappling with scandals involving the three Cabinet ministers in question.
On Monday, The Tribune revealed that Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard sent thousands of dollars per month to a Bank of America account belonging to Mr Gibson, minister of labour and national insurance, between August 2011 and January 2013.
Documents obtained by The Tribune show that the payments totalled $94,131.10.
After being contacted by The Tribune, Mr Gibson released a statement that claimed the money was used as a contribution to his 2012 election campaign and for community initiatives in the Golden Gates constituency such as scholarships to students.
This came days after Mr Fitzgerald, minister of education, admitted he solicited Baha Mar developer Sarkis Izmirlian for lucrative contracts for his family’s company. The admission came after The Tribune published emails from Mr Fitzgerald asking Mr Izmirlian for brokerage, trucking and limousine contracts at Baha Mar while he sat in Cabinet from as early as 2013.
Attorney General Mrs Maynard-Gibson has denied accusations of impropriety in connection with Baha Mar.
However in 2015, Mrs Maynard-Gibson revealed that her husband Maxwell Gibson owns the retail jewellery store chain that had been granted storefront leases in Baha Mar. At the time, she denied accusations that she has a conflict of interest due to her role as government negotiator for the stalled resort.
Her revelation came in a statement released four days after she initially said her two daughters, 28 and 30, had leases to operate stores in Baha Mar while a guest on the More 94 FM talk show Real Talk Live.
Mrs Maynard-Gibson and Mr Fitzgerald were part of the government’s negotiating team to get Baha Mar remobilised.
The FNM’s petition, available at www.firedem.com, had more than two hundred signatures up to press time.
Comments
Boydie says...
Linky no worky
Posted 26 April 2017, 2:50 p.m. Suggest removal
OutaTime says...
It's www.firedem.com
Posted 27 April 2017, 2:31 a.m. Suggest removal
sheeprunner12 says...
The Parliament was prorogued on April 10th ........... MPs/Senators ceased to be MPs/Senators .......... If Cabinet Ministers are either MPs or Senators ........ does it not follow that the Cabinet was also dissolved????? ............ What does the Constitution say???????
If the COP is the Provost-Marshall ........ What is the role of each Permanent Secretary??????
Posted 26 April 2017, 2:51 p.m. Suggest removal
ThisIsOurs says...
Apparently cabinet doesn't dissolve...Zhivago Laing explained that it's set that way to allow for some governmental authority between dissolution of parliament and Election Day
Posted 26 April 2017, 3:08 p.m. Suggest removal
moncurcool says...
Sidney Collie leave this alone. May 10 is the date for firing.
By the way sheeprunner12, that is my same question. When Parliament is dissolved all MP seats are vacant. Thus, how can you be a member of Cabinet without a seat. That is the strange part of our system.
Posted 26 April 2017, 2:57 p.m. Suggest removal
jackbnimble says...
Cabinet members don't get fired til election day otherwise who would run the country? You'll know that the cabinet position is more permanent as you can be a cabinet minister WITHOUT having a seat in Parliament. You just go to the Senate as you just need a forum to report from (case in point the Attorney General).
Posted 27 April 2017, 9:59 a.m. Suggest removal
Well_mudda_take_sic says...
Typical dingbat Sidney Collie putting on nothing but a dog and pony show. Notice how you don't hear him or dimwit Minnis making any commitment whatsoever to immediately hold a Royal Commission of Enquiry if the FNM is fortunate enough to win a majority of the seats in the next HOA. It's as if he and Minnis think the Bahamian people are dumb and stupid enough to settle for the signing of a worthless pre-election petition instead!
Posted 26 April 2017, 3:46 p.m. Suggest removal
licks2 says...
I think that you know. . or should know that the cabinet is never dissolved. . .the constitutional mandate for perpetual cabinets also carry with it. . .in the case of a national emergency (act of declared war etc.) a two years extended shelf life. . .or if the whole current Christie government cabinet is killed at once or is incapacitated otherwise during that state of emergency. . .the former FNM government cabinet is recalled to government. . .
Posted 27 April 2017, 12:21 p.m. Suggest removal
realfreethinker says...
Hmmmmm can we be so lucky?
Posted 27 April 2017, 1:14 p.m. Suggest removal
stopthehypocrasy says...
The interesting thing is all of you are bashing Collie and no one seems to give a shit these are being bribed, crooked, stealing etc... guess you reap what you sow!
Posted 26 April 2017, 4:04 p.m. Suggest removal
Well_mudda_take_sic says...
It's because many of us know Sidney Collie is a deadbeat when it comes to paying his bills around town, including condo maintenance fees and government taxes, and we certainly very much fear the scale of the evil deeds, cronyism, etc. he and dimwitted Minnis would unleash on us if the FNM wins the next election.
Posted 27 April 2017, 11:21 a.m. Suggest removal
birdiestrachan says...
Collie has no grounds to stand on.. He is only talking to hear himself. He will do well to set
his own house in order.
Posted 26 April 2017, 5:05 p.m. Suggest removal
Porcupine says...
"...only talking to hear himself......"
Most people think birdie does the same.
Posted 27 April 2017, 4:39 a.m. Suggest removal
jackbnimble says...
Why fire anyone when election is less than 2 weeks away. What are they going to lose. A few days' pay? Trust me, they know they are gone on May 10th? I just wish someone had exposed the crookedness years ago.
Posted 27 April 2017, 10 a.m. Suggest removal
licks2 says...
Ignorance is contagious. . .the cabinet of the Bahamas is never non-active. . .
Posted 27 April 2017, 12:25 p.m. Suggest removal
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