The Tribune

WAS IT a slip of the tongue or was it deliberate?

Whatever it was, Prime Minister Perry Christie has now been drawn into the controversy swirling around the questionable behaviour of Dion Smith, deputy speaker of the House of Assembly.

According to documents filed in the Supreme Court, it is alleged that, among other things, Mr Smith made obscene remarks to Pilot House condominium residents, expressing “some demeaning views on white human beings and foreigners to the Bahamas.”

Although Mr Smith has denied all allegations of racism, saying he has no problem either with foreigners or white people, Opposition Leader Dr Hubert Minnis has called for Mr Smith to step down from his post as deputy leader of the House.

If what is claimed in the documents — on file in the Supreme Court — is in fact true, then, if only to protect the dignity of the office he holds, Mr Smith should resign — certainly until the matter has been resolved.

At a press conference called by Mr Smith last week to clear the air, he said he had met with Prime Minister Christie and by the end of the meeting — although Mr Christie did not specifically say so — he was confident that he had the prime minister’s full support to remain in his post at this time.

Although Mr Smith’s “boys” are trying to shield him from public scrutiny, making a Tribune reporter the sacrificial lamb, they have only succeeded in pushing Prime Minister Christie and his style of leadership into the full spotlight.

During his first administration (2002-2007), Mr Christie was heavily criticised, even by his own colleagues for being an indecisive leader. A former PLP cabinet minister accused him of being too lax in the discipline of some of his wayward officials.

His first administration, almost from the first few months in office, was riddled with controversy and scandal. But when his colleagues went wrong, he handled them with compassion “with the right principles in mind.” It was a weak compassion– a compassion that the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen would have described as a “misplaced compassion.” Every time they were absolved of their “sins”, the office they held was demeaned in the eyes of the public.

After his 2007 election loss Mr Christie admitted that his party had failed to correctly assess the impact of their scandals. Admitting that he took too many things for granted, he said he planned to sit with his followers to discuss what went wrong that caused them to lose an election that he strongly believed was his. In the end the party hired a professional firm of analyst to get to the heart of the matter.

The Greenberg Quinlan Rosner report, found many weak spots in the party’s political armour, among them Mr Christie’s leadership qualities.

Said the report:

“The former prime minister is personally popular, but voters equate his leadership style with weakness. Given the focus on the leadership of the parties, the PLP’s success will depend to a large degree on rebuilding Christie’s public image with a strategy that shows voters he can be a forceful, decisive leader.”

The Smith case — four months after returning to office — is his first test. Has he in fact changed, as he has claimed? Is he a stronger, more decisive leader? Does he understand the importance of discipline and standards? The Smith case will be decisive for him.

In the meantime, PLP party operatives are anxious for this matter to blow over. They want to make The Tribune reporter, the scapegoat for doing his job. At The Tribune, reporters — unlike government-operated ZNS, don’t get demoted when they do their job— they get a big pat on the back. And so it is with this reporter.

Our reporter was confronted in Starbucks last week by a party loudmouth who demanded that he retract the Smith story. He has received telephone calls begging him to drop the matter and “let’s smoke the peace pipe.”

Our reporter is not at war with anyone, so no “peace pipe” is necessary. He was and is just doing his job. And so, because he will not bend to their wishes, they have decided to smear his reputation. And this is the plan:

The lie that they are trying to pass off as the truth is that The Tribune reporter has a running vendetta against Dion Smith. The reporter has, therefore, concocted the story against Smith just to smear him in his post as deputy House Speaker.

Vendettas are generally waged against someone a person knows. Our reporter does not know Dion Smith.

He saw Smith for the first time — but had no introduction or conversation with him — when PLP party chairman Bradley Roberts invited the press to his Skyline Drive home at the beginning of the year to introduce them to the 2012 PLP candidates. The next time our reporter saw Smith was when he spoke to him for the first time at the press conference last week called by Smith to clear his name of the Supreme Court accusations, published in The Tribune. The press conference was organised and hosted by Ricardo Smith, who was recently employed by the PLP government at the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation. The only conversation that Mr Smith had with The Tribune reporter was when the reporter was doing his job at the press conference by questioning Smith from the floor.

Of course, the PLP operatives have taken their smear to the airwaves, with talk show call-ins spreading the “vendetta” story.

The sad thing about the PLP is that they attract such low types around them. Types with no conscience and no scruples, willing to do the party’s bidding, no matter how vile.

It is now Mr Christie’s opportunity to show what he is made of. Is he the same, soft, indecisive leader of 2002, or has he in fact learned his lesson, and is prepared to show some muscle to bring discipline and respect back to this country, our people and our institutions?

Mr Smith can take a back seat. The Bahamas is now looking to the Prime Minister for answers.