MPs in row on House stairs

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Minister of National Security Marvin Dames. Photo: Terrel W. Carey Sr/Tribune staff

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Pineridge MP Rev Frederick McAlpine.

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

A VERBAL altercation erupted on the interior stairway of the House of Assembly yesterday between National Security Minister Marvin Dames and Pineridge MP Fredrick McAlpine.

The dispute, both visible and audible to all those near the chamber when the proceedings suspended yesterday, seemed to centre around Mr McAlpine’s continued calls for Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis to address the roles Mr Dames and Health Minister Dr Duane Sands played in the Frank Smith bribery and extortion trial.

“Don’t butter me,” Mr Dames shouted at Mr McAlpine who was attempting to speak with him. “I am not with the sideshow.”

The confrontation was quickly acknowledged by several party personnel nearby, all of whom tried to diffuse the situation by moving in to separate the two men.

A visibly frustrated Mr Dames had to be ushered away, leaving Mr McAlpine with what one observer described as a “despondent” look on his face.

Moments after the incident, reporters spoke with both men separately.

Mr Dames, who addressed the matter first, called it a “sideshow”, inferring that Mr McAlpine was trying to engineer a “political charade”.

“Listen, I am here to represent the people of Mount Moriah, and as the minister of national security for the people of this country,” he told reporters. “We made a promise to the Bahamian people when we took office that we would do our endeavour best to clean up corruption within this country and bring back some level of respectability.

“I am not going to turn that into a political charade, all right!

“I don’t know what he is trying to do. I am not here to play games, all right. We are here to run a country. And things are moving in the right direction, and we will continue to do that.”

Mr Dames continued: “This is not about politics. This is about making the country a better place for all Bahamians. Not about ‘you say and I say,’ all right.”

“We have a lot of work to do in this country. We have to bring back a level of respectability. We have to change the status-quo.”

Mr Dames said all Bahamians have a vested responsibility to do the same, contending that the time was being wasted peddling “nonsense” back and forth.

“So when we chase behind (the) nonsense we see every day of this and that, we have to look at the facts.

“So I am not going to get involved in any of this sideshow. I have to save my energies to work toward making this country a better place. That was the commitment I gave before I took office and no one is going to take me or derail me from doing that. No one.”

Mr McAlpine, who spoke with reporters on the exterior steps of the House, insisted he was only attempting to “greet” Mr Dames.

He said he was trying to suggest to Mr Dames that much of his recent comments were in line with wanting the Free National Movement to uphold its anti-corruption declarations. This came days after Mr McAlpine criticised the prime minister for not addressing calls for the resignations of Mr Dames and Dr Sands.

“I wanted to greet him and say as a colleague, ‘no hard feelings, nothing personal,” Mr McAlpine told reporters.

When asked if he was able to make that point clear to Mr Dames yesterday, he said: “No”.

“I spoke with, I tried to speak with him and that was it. I guess those who were in the gallery saw it and heard for themselves what transpired.”

He added: “I am not trying to butter (Mr Dames) up or anybody else up. The reality is, he is my colleague and again, I am also a Christian so I think the proper thing to do is let anybody know if I offended you, I am not trying to offend you I am just stating the facts as they are.

“Not to make it personal.”

Mr McAlpine went on to urge the FNM to “address” its handling of him and other persons in the party calling for fair treatment and an adherence to its anti-corruption promises.

“And I still remain, and I am even more resolute to say, this isn’t nothing personal. It is just that the Prime Minister, perhaps, needed to address this issue; because now the behaviour is escalating into something else,” he said.

“Leadership needs to address it,” he added.

“…When justice has spoken, we ought to be adhering to the law. And I will say this once again, those of us who speak against anti-corruption should not have the perception of corruption. This is about perception.”

He added: “Nobody is calling any of them, my colleagues, corrupt; but we were the preachers of anti-corruption and so we need to deal with the matter at hand.”

Mr Smith was recently acquitted of bribery and extortion charges. Mr Dames and Dr Sands were criticised by Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt as she gave her reasons for acquittal. She criticised the ministers for the “egregious” way in which they interacted with complainant Barbara Hanna prior to a police investigation into her claims, charging that their conduct gave the appearance of a “political flavour to a curious bystander.”

The prime minister has yet to address the matter despite saying in Grand Bahama last week that he would do so last Friday.