The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

NEWLY appointed Senator Nicole Martin says her appointment to the Senate was not a token gesture, despite speculation that it followed her failure to secure the party’s nomination to represent Nassau Village.

“I would say that we've received many tokens over our life. We didn't turn them away. I do not see this as a token,” she told reporters on the sidelines of her swearing-in ceremony. “I see this as the party recognising what it needs, what strengths, the talents, the resources and they have rightfully deployed them.”

Ms Martin, the former Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union president, replaces Maxine Seymour, who resigned last week after more than four years of service. Ms Seymour’s resignation came months after she announced she would not seek office under the Free National Movement’s banner in the upcoming general election, although she pledged to remain loyal to the party.

Ms Martin ran as the FNM candidate for Nassau Village in the last general election but was defeated by the Progressive Liberal Party’s Jamahl Strachan. Her appointment to the upper chamber comes as a general election looms.

She said she is not concerned that her time in the Senate may be short, adding that the length of her appointment does not reflect what she can accomplish.

“If this was an appointment for one day,” she said, “whatever comes before me, whatever is the most topical, most relevant issue is what I'm going to give everything that I have to.”

“I'm looking forward to debating what comes before us, and to put the case on behalf of my party to the Bahamian people.”

Free National Movement leader Michael Pintard said the appointment was significant, describing Ms Martin as an outstanding trade unionist who he believes will help amplify the voice of labour in The Bahamas. He said her work has contributed to advancing labour issues, addressing workers’ rights, workers’ responsibilities, and the importance of productivity.