Keod Says Kenyatta Attacked Him:

By Bianca Symonette -
Nassau, Bahamas:

Member of Parliament for Mount Moriah Keod Smith disclosed while a guest on the Love 97 programme "Issues of the Day" on Thursday that he was attacked by Kennedy MP Kenyatta Gibson, and as a result was forced to defend himself during a parliamentary meeting at the cabinet office three weeks ago.

His appearance on the programme came two days after Prime Minister Perry Christie confirmed that both men have resigned their positions in his administration, and that there had been a "push and shove" between them.

Mr. Smith, who is an attorney, said he was simply protecting the rights of a client and advancing the interest of his client when his colleague attacked him.

"I represent a client who was an employee of the Gaming Board and the client felt as if he had been victimized after he had been put on administrative leave," Mr. Smith explained.

"He came to me to look into this matter and look into his rights, and I wrote a letter to the chairman of the Gaming Board at the time asking for an explanation as to what took place and basically laying down the line that we had to deal with this matter and if the matter was not dealt with in a specific period of time the matter would have to be taken to court."

Mr. Smith added, "The chairman of the Gaming Board is of course my colleague and for whatever the reason was, I can’t speak for him, he has to speak for himself, he determined that his way of dealing with that issue was to attack, and as I mentioned in parliament, I am not a violent aggressor and I am 42 year old…I don’t pick fights, at least not physical fights, but I do have the capacity to defend myself which is what I did, but certainly as far as matters go, it certainly did not get to the point where the media and those people who were (escalating it) took it to."

The Mount Moriah MP said he has always championed the cause for people who need his help and that will never stop as long as he is alive.

"Whether I am in frontline politics or simply in my chambers, I will always stand for people who need my help," Mr. Smith said.

Almost three weeks ago, both Mr. Smith and Mr. Gibson appeared on the Love 97 programme "Jones and Company" and had both denied that an altercation took place.

On Wednesday, Wendall Jones, who hosts both shows, asked Mr. Smith why he had misled the public on the issue.

"When you came on "Jones and Company" that Sunday, people who listened and who listened on Monday (when the show was replayed) were left with the clear impression that you did not touch Kenyatta Gibson and neither did he touch you. That was what you led us to believe," Mr. Jones told Mr. Smith.

Mr. Smith said that if what he had said that Sunday had led Mr. Jones or the listeners to believe that the confrontation was not physical then certainly he had conveyed the wrong message and he apologized.

"It was no intention to mislead anyone as to what had taken place," Mr. Smith said.

The Mount Moriah MP tendered his resignation as ambassador for the environment and chairman of the Bahamas Environment Science and Technology Commission earlier this month.

The prime minister has accepted the resignations of both Mr. Smith and Mr. Gibson, who was chairman of the Gaming Board.

Mr. Smith said on Thursday, "It is truly regretful that this whole affair took place, which in the end I guess persons on my behalf had to run to the defense of my reputation, and so for that I am truly sorry that they had to go through all of that."

He added that in a very odd way it is good that the altercation occurred because it gives him the opportunity to focus on the issue of conflict resolution.

20 October2006

bahamian politics