The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

POPULAR singer Kirkland “KB” Bodie, in a new song, has called Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald a “peeping Tom” and a “garbage man” for the minister’s disclosure of private emails exchanged between members of the Save the Bays environment group during parliamentary proceedings several months ago.

In a scathing song, titled “Mr Education” and released on September 4, Mr Bodie questioned Mr Fitzgerald’s acquisition of the emails in question.

Mr Bodie, who is connected to Save The Bays (STB), slammed the Marathon MP for what he claimed was the minister’s “mockery of the rule of law” in “reading private emails in a “public place”, and guessing at people’s involvement and what they meant by their exchanges.”

In his song, Mr Bodie also questioned just how much other “juicy business” Mr Fitzgerald has in his “garbage can,” a reference to the “political garbage can” Mr Fitzgerald has reportedly claimed from where he obtained the emails, and also sarcastically questions if the details of more than several government controversies have made it to this “garbage can.”

And throughout the song, Mr Bodie chides Mr Fitzgerald for his controversial handling of the Rubis fuel spill that occurred in his constituency in November, 2012, as is indicated in the song’s chorus: “Mr Education aka garbage man, secret agent Pinocchio what’s inside your garbage can? The grade point average is failing and to make matters worse, you put your constituents them last, last and put your own interest first.”

“Mr Education” is a follow-up song to “Dey Spyin’ Spyin’ Everyday,” which was released earlier this summer by Mr Bodie as a way to denounce government’s invasion of the public’s privacy when the email controversy first arose. Unlike “Dey Spyin’ Spyin’ Everyday”, however, “Mr Education” specifically singles out a government official for his/her actions and/or performance, albeit not by name.

Mr Bodie, in a statement, acknowledged that “Mr Education” is “the roughest, toughest” song he has done to date, but said “Bahamian people have a right to ask these questions and more importantly, we have a right to get the answers, honest answers.”

“Just like ‘Dey Spyin’,’ ‘Mr Education’ was strictly my doing, maybe too hot for anyone else to handle,” Mr Bodie said. “I am not afraid and if you want a righteous and just world, you can’t be afraid either. As far as I am concerned, what Mr Fitzgerald did, reading private emails and guessing at people’s involvement and what they meant by their exchanges and doing it in a public place, then saying he would continue to do it even after the court told him to stop, violates every right to privacy.

“It makes a mockery of the rule of law. It violates constitutional rights, as far as I can tell, and it is something that every single citizen in The Bahamas who values his or her privacy and rights should be incensed about.

“Yeah, I know the song is the roughest, toughest I have done yet, but the Bahamian people have a right to ask these questions and more importantly, we have a right to get the answers, honest answers.”

The STB controversy was sparked after the group’s confidential affairs and emails were read out and subsequently tabled in Parliament in March.

Mr Fitzgerald, during his contribution to the mid-year budget debate, read and tabled the emails of various STB members, which, he said, bolstered his claims that STB masquerades as an environmental watchdog group, but instead is a political organisation seeking to “overthrow” the Progressive Liberal Party government.

Mr Fitzgerald subsequently said he got the emails from his “political garbage can,” a place which, he suggested, is similar to the various “sources” from which members of the media might receive tips pertaining to potential news stories.

“…At the end of the day, I received (the emails) the same way the media receives information every day, without hacking anybody’s email or anyone’s information,” Mr Fitzgerald said in March. “It’s the same way people drop stuff off to (members of the media) and you’ll don’t know where it came from; it’s anonymous and then (you all report) it,” he said. “It’s as simple as that.”

The Supreme Court ruled last month that Mr Fitzgerald’s actions were an infringement of the constitutional rights of STB and ordered him to pay $150,000 in damages for the breach. He was also permanently banned from disclosure and publication of any further material belonging to STB and was ordered to delete all electronic and hard copy material within 14 days of the ruling.

However, the Office of the Attorney General has said that it would appeal the ruling and was granted a stay of execution pending the appeal.