FNM chairman says govt appears divided

The Nassau Guardian

FNM chairman says govt appears divided

Free National Movement (FNM) Chairman Darron Cash said yesterday the government appears to be divided after Minister of State for Legal Affairs Damian Gomez said July 1 is not a realistic deadline for the regulation of the web shop industry.

“Sadly, the Gomez statement is yet another example of how governance under [Prime Minister] Perry Christie continues to be a race to the bottom, as he seeks to have governance sink to the lowest levels this country has ever seen,” Cash said in a statement.

“The statement shows that this government has not yet learned how to work together, govern and speak in a way that inspires confidence that they know what they are doing.

“What is also clear is that the Bahamian people can no longer put up with this shambolic, pain and suffering-inducing style of government.”

In the House of Assembly on March 5, Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe announced that he intended to soon present a proposal for the regularization of web shops to Cabinet and was pushing for this to be official by July 1.

But, Gomez said in an interview with The Guardian on Friday that, due to the complexities of establishing a regulated sector, July 1 is an unrealistic date.

When asked what would be a more realistic date to start taxing web shops, he said December 31.

Cash said the government appears to be adrift with no clear focus or agenda.

“They have abandoned the long-standing principle of Cabinet government with collective responsibility, and they don’t seem to care,” he said.

“This is a government of every man or woman for himself or herself.”

He added, “It is the FNM’s position that this dysfunction cannot be permitted to go on much longer.

“It is time for Prime Minister Christie to call for the dissolution of Parliament and go back to the people for a fresh mandate. His government has failed on policy and it has failed on process.”

Cash said Christie is far more concerned with giving grand speeches than he is with the details of writing laws, setting policies or governing departments and agencies.

FNM Senator Carl Bethel said last week the government is suffering from a “chronic lack of legislative focus,” and called on the Christie administration to “get its act together”.

Bethel was responding to comments made by Constitutional Commission Chairman Sean McWeeney who said the government may have to delay its promised constitutional referendum on gender equality for a third time.

 

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