Member of Parliament for Centreville Reece Chipman. Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff
By Rashad Rolle
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
CENTREVILLE MP Reece Chipman moved a motion in the House of Assembly yesterday to establish separate select committees to investigate fake news and whether the country is maximising its natural resources.
He called these “motions of sovereignty”.
Last year, Mr Chipman was a victim of social media rumours that some characterised as fake news.
His statements in the House yesterday came weeks after he was fired by Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis as chairman of the Antiquities Monuments & Museum Corporation (AMMC).
He said: “At this stage in The Bahamas I believe it is important for us as Bahamians and for our children, those that are unborn, to identify with the spirit of sovereignty. The first motion would be for a select committee to investigate deliberate online falsehoods, nowadays termed fake news which has an indirect way of impacting and directing our culture. The committee will take submissions from the public and hold public hearings to gather feedback before reporting to the Parliament.
“There is a high risk of fake news that interferes even with our main economic engine and industry such as tourism and financial services. Disseminating these falsehoods, particularly if its done covertly, attacks the very heart of democracy by preventing constructive discourse.
“The second motion I intend to move will deal with our natural resources. I believe we must be deliberate with our intent to protect the natural beauty and maximise the natural resources gifted to us by our almighty God. We must consider a select committee to consider how we can better protect and utilise our natural resources, aragonite, oil, sun, wind, sand and sea for the maximum benefit of our people.
“The select committee should investigate, examine and review existing royalties and valuations received and being received for our natural resources such as aragonite, sand and our seabeds. These are already line items in our revenue budget so there is a starting point. If lives are to be enriched, if there are to be better schools, affordable healthcare and reduced criminal activity it should be done for the benefit, not for the capital interest of a few, but for the sovereign interest of the many.”
Parliament must unanimously support the establishment of a select committee, according to law.
Comments
sheeprunner12 6 years ago
What is fake news?????? ........ In the Bahamas we call that gapseed.
The politicians have mastered the art of "truth" to the point where they manipulate the national psyche to believe their POV - Miseducation and lack of cellphone courtesy ..... coupled with the irresponsible and dramaful use of social media as a pasttime has wreaked havoc on this present society ........ smh
BTC and ALIV must be held responsible for this just as much as the drug dealers, numbers bosses and rum barons ........ porn, social media, drugs and numbers are the modern day VICES of the Bahamas.
Dawes 6 years ago
Why not hold the person who is doing all those things responsible. We don't hold the Motor Dealers responsible if someone crashes a car, so we shouldn't hold BTC or ALIV responsible for what people do online. Unless you want us to be like Cuba where you are only allowed to do and say what they want (as a note you wouldn't be able to comment on here if we did).
sheeprunner12 6 years ago
Hey fool, Tribune is not fake news ....... Its a responsible newspaper. BahamasNewsMaBey, Bahamasuncensored, The Punch, FB, Whatsapp etc. that most Bahamians depend on for gapseed is fake news.
Porcupine 6 years ago
Sheeprunner, You are out of your element, and out of your knowledge base. Most of what you read, if you read carefully, in the major media could be classified as fake news. The line between what you think you're reading as truth, is anything but. The chain of custody regarding the truth has been savaged in the last 20 years. Try reading Orwell. People like you are all that is needed to keep the ruse going.
TalRussell 6 years ago
Comrade Chippie, still young but in time as you mature in game fake politics to learn anything unanimously supported and passed by the peoples honourble house of assembly - is never going be in best interests constitutional rights and pocket books poor and near poor people..... of which Centreville has an abundance of.
birdiestrachan 6 years ago
So much FAKE NEWS was around about the PLP and Mr: Christie. So what is wrong with it now, if it was all right then?? fake news or just plain lies. What is the difference??
It appears Trump invented the term. and he himself perfects the saying.
TalRussell 6 years ago
Ma Comrades, one quickly senses the number of purveyors of fakery written into many posting on these hereto Tribune blog pages..... making it hard readers differentiate truth from spin, lies and outright attempts continue the deceit 91,409 voting red 10th May 2017.
TheMadHatter 6 years ago
He wants to know where the money is / involved / going / etc. with respect to our natural resources? Man oh man. He mussie ain't know who is run dem rackets. I gotta watch my eye on the Thursday paper - muddo.
Wonder why Minnis and the senior politicians dem ain't school him that there are certain things that Bahamians simply are not allowed to know. Like finances in and out of consolidated fund, and ting like dat. Ya pay ya tax, ink ya fingah, and shut ya mout. Das Bahamianhood.
John 6 years ago
There were obituaries and death announcements for Mrs. Laura Bush days befor she died. There was news in social media most of the week that World War 3 had started. And a few Elections ago there I was news that the prime minister and several members of the cabinet had been shot and killed. And remember when Lynden Pindling use to assign the defense force officers to guard BEC lines and the main pumping stations st WSC during elections? Well it is or was all what is called fake news. Back in the day it was called ‘the grapevine ‘ or ‘gap seed’. Because every time there was a gap, someone planted a seed. So how do you put controls on this activity then? Without stifling freedom of speech and without handcuffing the legitimate press to the point that every news story is confirmed 100% before the presses start to roll? What about tabloids like the national enquirer and others that knowing prints false news but had hundreds of thousands of readers who consume and digest then regurgitate whatever they print? And with the advances in technology fake news hits the public faster than real news and it comes in so many forms. It’s like the new US $100 Dollar bill. Everyone says it looks ‘so fake.’ But when they get hit with a counterfeit note they say , ‘ But it looks so real.’
Well_mudda_take_sic 6 years ago
You mean to tell me this twit Chipman wants government to shut down all Sip Sip and Grape Vine News! He mussey crazy in he head. We Bahamians know fake news from real news and we for sure we don't need government to tell us which is which!!
Socrates 6 years ago
if these issues are top of the list for attention of our 'leaders', things are a lot worse than i thought. my God..
SP 6 years ago
CENTREVILLE MP Reece Chipman put "fake news" and "maximizing natural resources" on the table for Parliamentary examination, and you people choose to discuss "fake news." Where the hell are your priorities?
Finally, after decades of calling to expose secret deals, mystery, perceived corruption, extensive debates in and out of media, Mr. Chipman offers the opportunity of a lifetime to address and resolve the burning question of natural resources for the betterment of all instead of a few pirates.
THIS IS FANTASTIC NEWS!
Congratulations MP Reese Chipman for tabling natural resources in the HOA. Thinking people understand that when properly utilized, the countries natural resources are the badly needed lifeline we need to tap into to educate our populace, stave off the national debt, improve infrastructure, boost ownership of local development, and enable social services to secure the generations of Bahamians left behind by decades of asinine political stupidity, greed, corruption, and failure.
sheeprunner12 6 years ago
Yes SP ........ Where is the Sovereign Wealth Fund Act????????? .... Educate us on that please.
stillwaters 6 years ago
This little boy needs to sit and learn from his elders before he runs around shooting off his ignorant- ass mouth.
SP 6 years ago
Lol....what an asinine statement. Sounds like you are one of the pirates benefiting from "the peoples" natural resources!
Mr. Chipman is "the candidate-elect" for the Centerville constituency. He was sent to Parliament to represent the interest of his constituents, not to kiss ass, brown nose, and curry favor self-serving individuals.
Had Hubert one-man band Ingraham and Perry dancing clown Christie had "stand-up" MP's with substance like Mr. Chipman, many former PLP and FNM MP's that sat silently while these two failures totally crashed and burned would still be around today!
Please carry-on Mr. Chipman. We the people are with you!!
hrysippus 6 years ago
Lying Oscar was the king of swing, . .... . . . .. .... You voters need not do anything, . . . . . . ... For the rest of your life you can live work free, . . . . ... As long as you continue to vote for the PLP, . . . . ...... Drawers of water and hewers of wood, . . . . ..... Is not a task that is fitting or good, . . . . . . .. . You should go to work but not break a sweat, . . . . . ... .. coming home to ten foot satellite set, . . . . . .. . And a colour TV in every room, . . . .... ... . .. .. When No longer a colony business will boom,. , , , , ,,,, Nice plump chicken in every pot, . . . . . . .. Pay packets sprinkled with Fleishman's lot, . . . . ... Shame that it didn't quite work out that way, . . . . . .... .. But Oscar plenty rich when he passed away.
sheeprunner12 6 years ago
We are still paying his whole family for their father's "heroism" ..... BOL
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