By KEILE CAMPBELL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kcampbell@tribunemedia.net
FREE National Movement (FNM) chairman Dr Duane Sands criticised the lack of security in Parliament following Coalition of Independents (COI) leader Lincoln Bain’s disruption of an Opposition press conference on Wednesday.
Dr Sands spoke after the incident in the minority room of the House of Assembly, which FNM leader Michael Pintard described as “a disgraceful display of clout chasing”.
“We collectively have spoken about the laissez-faire approach to security in the people’s parliament,” Dr Sands said. “There are no metal detectors, there’s no screening, there’s no real security to speak of. It’s expected that people will behave reasonably and without threat to the persons that are in the parliament and that clearly is not the case.”
Mr Bain, accompanied by supporters, entered the room and accused Mr Pintard of being a weak leader.
“He came into a space where we were, in fact, having a press conference to address the government’s failings,” Mr Pintard said. “If he was serious about challenging the government, one of the things he would have done is turn his attention on those issues.”
The Tribune reached out to Chief Clerk of the House David Forbes, who said Bain’s interruption did not constitute a security breach. Mr Forbes said opposition members could have requested security to remove Mr Bain, but no such request was made.
“This has nothing to do with a breach of security in the House of Assembly at all,” Mr Forbes said, noting that no formal complaints were lodged following the incident.
“I didn’t know about it until probably an hour or two after the incident happened. There was no feedback from the opposition or any member of Parliament saying that any security was breached or protocol violated.”
However, Dr Sands took issue with the broader state of security within Parliament, calling for more robust measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
“It will be a cold day in July before he’s allowed within the precinct of any event the FNM holds,” Dr Sands said, referencing Mr Bain.
Mr Pintard dismissed Mr Bain as “irrelevant” and said the opposition would no longer engage with him.
“It was the most disgraceful display of clout chasing,” Mr Pintard said. “We will ignore him from this point on.”
Comments
Porcupine 1 week, 6 days ago
A diversion. Nothing more, nothing less.
SP 1 week, 6 days ago
After reviewing how the entire incident unfolded on Facebook, FREE National Movement (FNM) chairman Dr Duane Sands criticism of the lack of security in Parliament has absolutely no correlation to Coalition of Independents (COI) leader Lincoln Bain’s disruption of the Opposition press conference on Wednesday!
Coalition of Independents (COI) leader Lincoln Bain’s disruption of the Opposition press conference obviously made the three opposition members "uncomfortable", however, at no time did Mr. Bain pose any threat or compromise security in Parliament.
Dr Duane Sands is obviously deliberately twisting the circumstances in order to find an excuse to silence Mr. Bain.
By doing so, the opposition is just as guilty as they claim the PM is for suspending the House and not letting them speak.
The biggest problem here is the lack of freedom of speech. The PM shut down the opposition and the opposition shut down Mr. Bain, so who will speak for the people?
Great job Mr. Bain. We know they are guilty when they use these types of tactics to duck and dodge their lack of responsibility being exposed.
birdiestrachan 1 week, 6 days ago
Here comes the clowns
whatsup 1 week, 6 days ago
We Citizens actually care more about our safely and the level of crime in this country. We all know a lot of the crime is not even reported.
trueBahamian 1 week, 6 days ago
Lincoln Bain is an idiot. Not sure who pulled his tail tomget him to speak. I agree with Mr. Pintard, focus on thr issues you think are not being addressed. Silly guy looking for political points. People should not give him an audience. With all the stuff going on in this country, the biggest thing to focus on is whether Mr. Pintard is tough enough? What a moron!
mandela 1 week, 5 days ago
Dr. Sands is worst than a bad prostitute, not even a good one, first with Loretta Butler, then Minnis, now Pintard, scary, he'll do anyone and anything for power.
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