The Christie administration has introduced legislation aimed at making Majority Rule a national holiday and renaming Labour Day in honour of the late Sir Randol Fawkes.
In the House of Assembly Wednesday, Prime Minister Perry Christie said that Majority Rule is in a class by itself and it outshines its competitors for the most singular place of honour in Bahamian history.
“Majority Rule belongs to all of us,” Mr. Christie said.
“It belongs to all Bahamians, not just black Bahamians and certainly not just to PLPs. It is perhaps understandable that in the years following 1967 there was a tendency by the PLP, both as the government and as a party, to claim exclusive proprietorship of Majority Rule and of January 10. In the context of the times that was understandable and there really is no need to apologise for it.”
Majority Rule was established on January 10, 1967. It followed the victory of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) in that year’s General Elections ushering in a Bahamian government.
“The Bill that is before us now will give effect to what has long been the prayerful aspiration of many people in our society that the attainment of Majority Rule be accorded a special place of commemoration in the national calendar, and that each year we pause, in context of a national holiday, to give thanksgiving for the heroic struggles of those fearless men and women who from one generation the next carried, and then handed off, the baton of freedom until the relay was won on that glorious night 46-years ago.”
Labour Minister Shane Gibson also introduced a Bill aimed at renaming Labour Day in honour of the man considered the Father of the Labour Movement in The Bahamas, Sir Randol Fawkes.
“The award if this singular distinction on this outstanding pioneer in the trade union movement is not only deserving but most fitting because it comes at a time when we are about to celebrate 40-years of Independence in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, 51-years after the first official
Labour Day was celebrated in The Bahamas, and 71-years after the Riot of Burma Road,” Mr. Gibson said.
Both Bills are expected to receive unanimous support.
