Veteran politician Carl Bethel was named the new leader of opposition business in the senate yesterday by Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis.

The announcement was made yesterday at the FNM headquarters where Dr. Minnis said Mr. Bethel is undoubtedly the right man for the job.

Mr. Bethel replaces Desmond Bannister, whose resignation became official on Monday.

As a former minister of education and attorney general, Mr. Bethel said he’s certain he can handle anything the government throws at him.

“It is in the spirit of bi-partisanship that I have agreed to answer this call to service,” he said.

“As FNMs, we need to bring our vast experience and vision to bare in helping a sometimes faltering and sometimes stumbling government to do a better job on behalf of every Bahamian so that this country does not suffer further damage.”
As a part of the constitutional commission, which recently handed a list of recommendations to the prime minister, Mr. Bethel said he will have to leave.

A stipulation for being on the board is that you not be a sitting member of any political party in neither the Senate, nor the House of Assembly.

The new opposition senator also chimed in on the constitutional commission president’s recent comments that despite Prime Minister Christie’s insistence, there will be no referendum on the constitution in November.

“I do believe that the chairman of the constitutional commission had already indicated that a referendum this year doesn’t seem possible,” he said.

“I would remind you that this was first stated and done so firmly by the leader of the FNM. He said that we already had a rushed and botched referendum and we don’t want to go down that road again. The chairman of the commission has now confirmed that that will not be happening.”

Dr. Minnis thanked Mr. Bannister, who resigned for ‘personal reasons’, for his commitment to the party.

He added that Mr. Bethel will be the voice the party was looking for in the senate.