The Tribune

THE Free National Movement has accused Prime Minister Perry Christie of effectively telling the Christian Council to “drop dead” over the upcoming gambling vote.

The opposition said the council’s concerns about the wording of the referendum questions have been ignored, and accused the government of favouring those pushing for a “yes” vote.

In a statement issued over the weekend, the party said throughout the debate, Prime Minister Christie has pursued a strategy of “confuse, divide and conquer”.

They criticised the Prime Minister for not meeting with everyone who has a vested interested in the issue, and failing to give the public time to mull over the questions – despite promising to do both.

The FNM said: “After promising the Bahamian people that they would be made aware of the questions in ample time before the vote, the PM has failed. In the first instance he was late. The questions came almost three weeks after Mr Christie made that commitment.”

The party also claimed someone in the government leaked the questions to the leaders of the Vote Yes campaign before anyone else.

“A leading pastor who is guiding the Vote Yes flock was able to publicly state his satisfaction with the question,” the party said.

“Meanwhile, leaders of the Bahamas Christian Council are using their spirit of discernment and it appears that they might have concluded that the fix is in.

“They are raising their objections to the ‘fixed’ question on ‘regularisation’ rather than ‘legalisation’.

The FNM said the Christian Council believes the wording of the questions was designed to get exactly the answer the Vote Yes campaign wants.

“It is interesting to note that while the Vote Yes proponents had advance knowledge of the questions, not once was the official opposition briefed or its opinion solicited,” the party added.

As for Mr Christie’s promise to educate the public on the pros and cons of gambling, the FNM said it advises anyone who thinks a meaningful information campaign is coming not to bet on it.

“Additionally, as if the Christie government has not made enough of a mess of the gambling debate, they are adding insult to injury with a simultaneous public discussion of a national lottery,” the party said.

“At a time when the government has left a tsunami-sized wave of confusion as to exactly what people will be voting for on the illegal numbers racket, the Minister of Tourism is going off on another tangent with half-baked and ill-considered points about what a national lottery would entail.

“Not one shred of detail has been presented to the public about what the composition of a national lottery might entail, yet every other day the Minister of Tourism is going on about one aspect or another.

“It is clear that Minister Wilchcombe has not given this matter much thought, so he is making it up as he goes along.

“In the FNM’s view, this is the most outrageous and incompetent discussion of public policy that the country has seen in many years. It is a new low of incompetence even for the Christie administration.”