PLP MPS: KNOW WHEN TO HOLD EM KNOW WHEN TO FOLD EM

Dion Smith MP PLP

Leslie Miller MP PLP

It is clear now that the FNM has recovered from the debacle of their convention and are busy now patching themselves together to be a fighting force to reckon with when the general election takes place next year.  It is also clear that the residual effects of the battle are still there to be contended with and there will be a battle afresh when the round of nominations come.  Richard Lightbourn is almost certain not to get his nomination again: foot in mouth problems over tying tubes.  Theo Neely the press says will not run again or offer to run.  Loretta Butler Turner has a rear guard action being run against her in Long Island by petition.  Neko Grant has been dumped by his branch in favour of Michael Pintard.  So there can be plenty of trouble brewing there.  What about the side we support the PLP.  Our concern is the battle coming up for Leader of the PLP and the kind of scorched earth policy which some seem to want to fight.  That would be wrong and unnecessary.  The matter should be treated as a routine event and it will pass off as such.  The larger concern though is the propensity for the lack of discipline in the mouths of those of are PLP MPs.   Last week, sildenafil there were two examples.  The MP for Tall Pines Leslie Miller telling the union responsible for Sandals “carry their asses” because he sides with Butch Stuart in the fight for justice at the Sandals’ property for Bahamian workers.  We could not disagree more.  The problem is Butch Stuart and if anything it was the failure of the PLP to put its foot down in the face of the most reprehensible demands and behaviour by this employer; that is the problem.  What Mr. Stuart did at Sandals was completely predictable.  He has done it in every country in the Caribbean.  He closed down Sandals in St Lucia just before the 2006 general election, cialis canada causing Kenny Anthony, then Prime Minister the General Election.  He did it deliberately.  So no PLP MP should be siding with Sandals in this matter.  And then secondly even if you thought that, this is not at this pre-election time something you should be saying in public.  Then there was Dion Smith, the Deputy Speaker of the House.  Why would he be commenting on the privileges matter and Save The Bays?  He said that if he were Speaker, he might have done it differently.  He said that if he were Jerome Fitzgerald, he might have found another way to get the e mails in.  Here is the memo. This matter is decided by the Speaker already.  As Deputy Speaker, then, there should be silence.  Further, if the matter comes back to the Speaker, and the Speaker is not in the chair then the Deputy Speaker may have to decide.  There is an elementary rule of administrative law that a decision maker does not fetter his discretion in advance.  That is a fundamental error then to pronounce on the matters.  Further, the PLP leadership has taken a decision on this matter and everyone should fall in line.  This Save The Bays matter is not about the emails and privacy.  It is about one thing: can a judge tell Parliament what it can and cannot say.  That is the point and we hope everyone now gets the memo.