Loretta Butler-Turner in the House of Assembly.
By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
FNM DEPUTY leader Loretta Butler-Turner yesterday criticised the Christie administration for failing to table in Parliament regulations to legalise and tax web shops in the country.
In March, Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe promised while closing the mid-year budget debate that not only would the industry be regularised by July 1, but that the stipulations would be brought to the House of Assembly within two weeks.
Now, four weeks since that self-imposed deadline, the government has yet to present the much anticipated legislation.
With that, Mrs Butler-Turner questioned whether the Tourism Minister
pre-empted Prime Minister Perry Christie in making the announcement which might have warranted the delay.
“My thoughts are very clear,” she said, “the Minister spoke out of turn and out of the concurrence of the Cabinet of the Bahamas.
“Furthermore, Mr Christie said he didn’t know that Wilchcombe was going to say that. So clearly it was a breach of Cabinet rules.
“An announcement like that should have had the collective concurrence of Cabinet and should have come from the Prime Minister.”
Mrs Butler-Turner said the premature announcement coupled with a considerable delay of the legislation has made it clear that the government was one with “many heads and no true leader.”
“They are a government without direction and the conflicts from within creates a ball of confusion.
“Every minister appears to be the king or queen of their own fiefdom and so Mr Christie cannot control any of them.”
On March 5, while making the announcement which surprised citizens and the religious community, Mr Wilchcombe acknowledged the outcome of the January 28, 2013 referendum that sought to legalise gaming. However he said that the issue had to be dealt with and that the government would move to end the debate on what should be done with numbers houses.
He said: “We had the referendum, we accepted the referendum but truth be told we have an issue we have to deal with. We have an issue that has been out there for too long and we kicked it like it was a political football, but the time for change is now.
“We are not going to kick it any further. I intend to bring to the Government of the Bahamas in two weeks, the regulations that are being proposed by my ministry, the regulations I hope to bring to Parliament in May on the table in the House of Assembly, when we have the debate on gaming, to make the regularized web shops official by July 1 of this year,” he said.
At the time, Mr Wilchcombe said a team from the Ministry of Tourism and the Gaming Board were working to decide exactly how the new legislation would work. A Gaming Commission is also expected to be formed from the legislation to monitor the web shops activity, he said.
Comments
Browngirl 10 years ago
Wilchcombe said the proposal would be presented to Cabinet in two weeks, not the House of Assembly
TalRussell 10 years ago
And, the reds accuse the PM of mixed messages. I reserve my commenting on the good Comrade Sister Loretta, cause I first want to read what Minnis, Daron or Dr. Duane's position be's, or is she 'again" in a few days be claiming to not have been speaking as the deputy leader of the red shirts but as a concerted citizen?
B_I_D___ 10 years ago
You see...they were going to legalize the webshops no matter what, that was a given...the referendum was a scam...and now that they've gone ahead and said it, they would rather whack the hard working joe over the head with VAT, before they legalize and tax and take money from webshops. Let's go ahead and give the numbers guys a little bit more grace period to scam and rape and rob from our citizens before the government joins the ranks and partners up with them. This whole web shop, numbers houses, money laundering debacle is just despicable and makes my skin crawl.
TalRussell 10 years ago
Comrades from both political party disappointments. Are you willing to lock-arms to join with my Bahamaland-wide revival, traveling throughout the Out Islands as we perform "DE-Baptisms" on all who be willing to step forward to publicly cry-out; "Comrade Tal, I needs to be "DE-Baptized away from my red and gold shirts mentality.
Amen . amèn ak sa yo ki . amén
birdiestrachan 10 years ago
Where does butler stand on legislation of Web Shops?, she calls the owners of Web Shops criminals just like her Papa Mr. Ingraham. Cash says it should be done and Dr. Minnis says NO he stands with some of the Churches.. And I believe she voted no. That was the FNM way. Just say NO.
Think about this, she sent her leader a e mail when he was out of town to let him know she and other persons who had lost their homes were going to march to parliament. she did not ask him she told him, and she decided all this when he was out of Town , He disagreed she backed down from that rather quickly. and now she talks. The Dear woman has no shame none .
Publius 10 years ago
Wow, so that's the groundbreaking revelation made? That the PLP Cabinet is a mess? No **** Sherlock! Can we now have a statement of consequence on the matter please?
sheeprunner12 10 years ago
Two extremes of leadership style........... One Man Band vs Many Headed Monster
Take your pick Bahamaland....................... where is Doc Minnis on the scale??????
Bahamianpride 10 years ago
Both the FNM and PLP are full of it when it comes to the Webb shop.. Both could legalize it or destroy it if they wanted too. The reality is Webb shop owners pay, that is campaign contributions, illegal payoffs etc. Money talks, b.s. is for the delusion party faithfuls but in the end politicians head straight to the bank to make there illegal deposits right next to the Webb shop owners making theirs.. Politics as usually, there is no angels among any of them.. Until people take the blinders off and change there tribal PLP/FNM mentality and demand more accountability and transparency from leaders this b.s is just the way it is..
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