NASSAU GUARDIAN EDITORIAL: Free National Movement (FNM) members of the House of Assembly yesterday made a mockery of history, and themselves, with sideshow antics at a time when the nation is dealing with a very serious crisis within the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF).
FNM Deputy Leader Shanendon Cartwright hurled the mace out of the House of Assembly’s window after FNM Leader Michael Pintard, who represents Marco City, was not allowed to speak in the House of Assembly at the moment he wanted to.
Pintard was petitioning the speaker for an opportunity to address the controversy surrounding allegations in a US indictment that members of the RBPF were involved in drug and arms trafficking.
However, House Speaker Patricia Deveaux denied his request, explaining that they had not yet come to the relevant point in the order of business of the House for his request to be considered.
Cartwright stood and shouted, “Let the people speak,” moments before he marched to the speaker’s table, grabbed the mace and threw it out after several attempts to ram the window open.
“Remove the honorable member from St. Barnabas from these proceedings,” the speaker demanded.
This move came after Prime Minister Philip Davis finished communicating that he accepted the resignation of Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander following the indictment bombshell.
The case has scandalized the force even further after another senior officer was placed on garden leave after allegedly colluding with armed robbers and murderers.
The prime minister made the announcement during the portion of the House agenda for ministers to make communications.
This latest scandal prompted a message from the Office of the Prime Minister, two addresses in the House of Assembly by the prime minister and the assurance of the establishment of a commission to investigate law enforcement agencies.
It was shortly before Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe began to give a communication on the tabling of legislation to establish that commission that Pintard demanded to speak.
He, in fact, wished to speak about the very same issue that was being addressed by the ministers.
That is fine, but Pintard knows that the House has rules and that the order of the House must be followed before the speaker can entertain any request for him to speak.
Pintard is a playwright, and clearly the stage was set yesterday.
Outside the House, the FNM had already organized a protest because Pintard was not allowed to speak last week.
It appeared planned that Cartwright dashed for the mace.
After Deveaux ordered the police to remove Cartwright from the House, he resisted and the members of the opposition rushed to actually grapple with police to prevent them removing him.
They were all dragged out of the House by police as they resisted in a shameful display, members of the very same police force Pintard wanted to speak about.
That they would act so nonsensically because they believe it was so important that Pintard be heard when he insisted he must be heard despite the rules of the House, raises questions about the judgment and fitness of the leadership of the FNM.
And what Cartwright did is an insult when given the historical context of the mace being thrown out of the window of the House of Assembly.
On April 27, 1965, the late Sir Lynden Pindling, the then leader of the Opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), threw the speaker’s mace from the window of the House to protest the gerrymandering of boundaries by the then governing United Bahamian Party (UBP).
The PLP planned the move to coincide with a demonstration it was having outside the House.
However, it was done because the UBP would not allow the PLP to make amendments to the Boundaries Draft Order for the 1967 election.
The PLP won the popular vote in 1962 but lost when it came to seats in the House because the boundaries were gerrymandered to give more representation to the then Out Islands than New Providence, where the majority of the population lived.
The PLP knew that the business of the House could not continue without the presence of the mace.
The move resulted in Pindling becoming even more popular and ultimately the PLP became the government after two other members of Parliament sided with them following the January 10, 1967 election.
The difference between what Pindling did and what Cartwright did is that the PLP had an actual cause and a movement that would forever change our country.
However, what Cartwright did was a stunt wrapped around Pintard’s ego.
It might score the FNM a little political energy, but there was no honor in it.
