Centreville Member of Parliament Reece Chipman provided more reasons as to why he resigned from the Free National Movement and questioned whether being a part of the party is being loyal, having integrity or being a political sellout.
Mr. Chipman expressed he reasons during yesterday’s session of the House of Assembly, where he also criticized Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis, who made a response, following his resignation, that politics require political maturity.
“You show me political maturity based on the way it’s defined in this political system, I show you political sellout,” Mr. Chipman said.
“Mr. Speaker, we gave Mr. Politics [Dr. Minnis] leadership. I know because I was there. Others had to fight. We gave Mr. Politics a free ride in a constituency where he don’t even have to go door to door. You just have to email.
“Political maturity are the words used now to describe us as we sellout our ideals, sellout ourselves, sell our families out and then of course, sell our country. You are freedom fighters. You treat them like political potcakes, your constituents, your stalwarts, your council, treating them like political potcakes. You only know them when you need them.”
According to Mr. Chipman, a person cannot be a part of a political party that doesn’t allow participation.
“The word party comes from the word participation,” Mr. Chipman said.
“However, I will take it further so as to say that leadership has its levels and there is such a thing as maturity in leadership. Insecure leadership will not work, in a world so democratized by freedom of speech and the World Wide Web.
“Members, loyalty cannot be because you gave me a job, after your parents sacrificed so much for to give you an education. Loyalty cannot be that I must agree with everything you say, at the expense of your constituents.
“Loyalty, Mr. Speaker should never outweigh your integrity. It should preserve dignity and should demand honesty.”
Mr. Chipman further alluded that he had attended many events that brought change to Bahamian politics.
Turning his attention to the proposed legislation that was debated in the House of Assembly, Mr. Chipman said the Disaster Preparedness and Response Amendment Bill is another bill brought without the necessary regulations.
“I’ve had concerns about bills being brought to the House of Assembly and saying that ‘the Prime Minister may,’ I believe that this bill should reflect that ‘the prime minister must,’ Mr. Chipman said.
“To put it into context on our required mandatory evacuation, but to me we’re giving the prime minister an option.
“I believe that we need more guidelines, more policy driven legislation to reflect even education of disaster preparedness.”
He added that as a part of the legislature, it should have been demanded of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to produce a plan every year that’s signed by the prime minister.
