MP Raps “Forces of Evil”:
By Quincy Parker -
Nassau, Bahamas:
Mount Moriah MP Keod Smith last night lashed out at the "forces of evil" he said have been trying to infiltrate the Progressive Liberal Party by making a mountain out of a molehill.
Mr. Smith, who spoke in the House of Assembly, attacked the FNM for blowing the fight between himself and Kennedy MP Kenyatta Gibson out of proportion.
Earlier in the day during a press conference in the House of Assembly, Mr. Smith said it was an "inconsequential private conflict," but the physical altercation continues to have significant repercussions.
Foremost among the consequences of that "private conflict" are the resignations of both men from key posts in the Christie government.
In his October 3 letter of resignation as ambassador for the environment and chairman of the Bahamas Environment Science and Technology Commission, which he disclosed at the press conference and later tabled in the House of Assembly, Mr. Smith said that he hoped his resignation "serves as the pound of flesh which (a small number of members of the public) feel is needed in order to redirect their focus on the real issues affronting us all."
"In my view the inconsequential private conflict of Monday September 25, 2006 involving Kenyatta Gibson and me has taken on a life which now threatens to sully and taint the spectacular record of this PLP administration for having brought environment conservation to the highest level of awareness The Bahamas has ever seen," he wrote.
On the October 1 edition of the Love 97 programme "Jones and Company," Mr. Smith denied that the altercation between Mr. Gibson and himself had escalated into a physical confrontation.
"Who people were around, who speak of blows? I don’t think so," Mr. Smith said on the show.
"I am fairly sure that that is not the case. I believe that unfortunately whatever would have taken place has gotten to the imagination of a lot of people and it has gone beyond where it ought to have gone."
At his press conference just before the morning sitting of the House of Assembly, the Journal put the question to Mr. Smith again, in light of Prime Minister Perry Christie’s description of the affair as a "push and shove."
Mr. Smith said he never denied that the confrontation got physical.
"You would have to provide me with an exact copy of that to tell me what I said, because I’m pretty certain I didn’t say (no physical confrontation took place)…It was an inconsequential event," he said.
"I’ll tell you this – later on (Wednesday), we will talk and we will go back to 1972, for those people who I believe have been fanning the fires, we will talk real talk about what things ought to be of importance before the Bahamian people."
He said in 1972, two supporters of the Free National Movement were charged with murdering a man in the Perpall Tract area.
Mr. Smith left the conference room abruptly a short while later, while reporters were still asking questions.
He also added that resigning was the proper course of action for an MP’s to resign when his party’s message was being obscured by that member’s presence.
"You ought to resign, that is the practice. That is the parliamentary practice. You must resign," he said.
"And so to me, it was never a question as to whether I ought to have, it was a matter of course, because no matter how inconsequential the event was – and it truly was inconsequential – the fact of the matter is that we should not hold on to something when in fact we ought to let loose of it just so that we can protect the greater good."
Mr. Smith noted that his resignation from those posts did not affect his position as Member of Parliament for Mt. Moriah. He added that he would continue to seek the party’s nomination for the Mt. Moriah seat in the 2007 general election.
"Of course I’m seeking the nomination – I have been seeking the nomination. I spoke in (the House) before to say that I stand ready to run in the next general election," he said.
He said that his constituents are "for the most part very concerned" with how the fight between Mr. Gibson and himself had been reported in the local press.
"The press had varying stories at varying times, and it confused a lot of people, what was being reported. And what was interesting to me was that there were no facts that had been given to anyone," Mr. Smith said.
"Everyone seemed to be writing about what they heard or what they say was reported, and it confused a lot of people as to what was being said."
The backbencher handed in his letter of resignation on October 3, which outlined his contribution to the Christie administration’s efforts on environmental policy, and insisted that he had never repented of his decision to resign.
"It is the need to safeguard legacies such as these that I share with thousands of people across this country, which now compels me to, as I do hereby, resign my posts as Ambassador for the Environment and Chairman of the BEST Commission, effective immediately," the letter read.
Asked whether he would conduct himself differently given the same circumstances as the still unexplained events of that Monday night, Mr. Smith also insisted that the altercation between himself and Mr. Gibson "could not have happened any differently."
19 October 2006
bahamian politics
