The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE his February pledge, National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage still has not taken the long-promised National Intelligence Agency legislation to Cabinet for review, State Minister for National Security Keith Bell confirmed to The Tribune.

Dr Nottage told reporters on February 4 that Cabinet would begin its review of the legislation the following week.

That never happened, meanwhile, the shadowy agency continues to exist and work without a legal framework supporting it.

Mr Bell justified this to The Tribune, saying it is important for the legislation to be done right.

“The reason it has not been brought to Parliament as yet is because we want to ensure that we strike a balance between the fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution for the individual and the need to protect the security of a country,” the senator said.

“Dr Nottage publicly said in the House of Assembly that the public and others will be given time to review the bill to ensure that their views are heard. If you were to follow national intelligence agencies around the world and I could give examples of them in the US and the UK, they have draconian powers. People are ordinarily suspicious of them so don’t you think it’s better for us to take the time to get it right than to rush it and get it wrong?”

He added: “The minister has been really aggressively pushing this, but again I emphasise to you, we must as Bahamians fully appreciate that when we talk about creating an agency like the National Intelligence Agency, we want to make sure we do it right. I prefer for us to take our time; I don’t care how much years it take, I prefer for us to take our time rather than put it in and then we discover that we have a major challenge.”

On February 4, Dr Nottage said he would take “a paper to Cabinet on NIA next week,” adding that after it is approved the legislation would be tabled in Parliament.

The NIA is supposed to be an intelligence gathering hub where law enforcement agencies combine their efforts to pinpoint and address threats to the country’s national security. The Progressive Liberal Party launched it shortly after the 2012 general election.

In December 2014, Dr Nottage told the press the bill for the agency would be tabled before Parliament broke for the holidays.