Progressive Liberal Party Leader Philip Davis said Prime Minister Dr. Hubert “waffled, deflected and buckled” in the situation involving Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC) Board Director Bennet Minnis, who made racial and homophobic slurs about members of the PLP.
Yesterday, Davis criticized the prime minister for his response to whether Mr. Minnis had resigned after making such slurs about him and Senator Fred Mitchell in a viral voice note.
On Monday, the prime minister told reporters he thinks the matter was dealt with by many members of his party, adding that he doesn’t think he needed to say anything else about the matter.
However, Mr. Davis contended that instead of dismissing Mr. Minnis, the prime minister condoned the comments by refusing to condemn his cousin and campaign general.
“We are saying to the prime minister, act today and dismiss Bennet Minnis or actions will be taken by the PLP to ensure his removal from office,” Mr. Davis said.
Englerston Member of Parliament Glenys Hanna-Martin agreed, charging that the debate surrounding the issue should have never taken place as Mr. Minnis should have resigned without being asked or demanded to, a sentiment Mr. Mitchell echoed.
“Before making this comment, I had written the minister of works this morning to confirm because I wanted clarification as to what the prime minister’s remarks meant,” he said.
“They seemed so flakey and wobbly, I need to know what he meant by handled and the only thing we needed to know is that is Mr. Minnis still a member of the board?
“The minister confirmed that he is still a member of the board, so as far as we’re concerned, nothing has been handled. It is the same as it was when the racist remarks were first made.”
Mr. Mitchell said the opposition will not give up in this regard.
“You can think of all the range of options that are available to a party to legitimately protest an event,” Mr. Mitchell said.
“This is a question of morality and ethics and we think The Bahamian public stands with us and if this government continues to adopt as they have this behavior, then it says something about them and I think they have to move on the subject.”
