Prime Minister Perry Christie announced Monday that Fort Charlotte Member of Parliament Dr. Andre Rollins resigned as the Party’s Whip while wrapping up debate in the House of Assembly on Monday and expressed satisfaction in Mr. Rollin’s decision.

“The member for Fort Charlotte then indicated that he was not comfortable with some of the positions he was taking knowing that he was the Party Whip, he was full and frank with his position on the matter and today he decided to resign as Party Whip,” the prime minister said.

“I have read the letter and I accept it because that’s the right things for him to do, when you take positons that are directed as a part of personal exchanges for a Whip then you make your position untenable with respect to that position, he understood that, he understood it from the day he met with us, he volunteered it and so therefore, I’m satisfied.”

While highlighting numerous contentious issues that arose during the controversial debate on four bills that will promote gender equality between men and women, the prime minster stressed that no one has been coerced, forced or bullied into taking sides.

“There is nobody that can say in this country that the word came down from the leader that they had to vote in a certain way, they had to behave themselves in a certain way, I don’t conduct myself like that,” he said.

“There was no coercion whatsoever to anyone to tow the party line because the predicate of success in any kind of vote is unanimity, I recognised that there were persons on the side who I belonged to that had general concerns as a result of their interpretation of the law the member for Marco City and the member for Fort Charlotte was among those.”

Last week Wednesday, Mr. Rollins said that he was prepared to give up his parliamentary responsibility as Party Whip as he was not 100 per cent on board with the proposed amendments.

“I ask myself is that a way to cause one to be brought into conformity. I need to get this off my chest…We are of this new generation. We think differently. The way politics worked in the past is not necessarily the way politics will continue to work in the future and if that we take strong views that the public is entitled to hear, then so be it,” he said.

“…If it’s said that I am offensive. If it is there are persons who object with what I have said, I am prepared to suffer those consequences. Having said that, I fully expect that if this taken to vote as it is today, I can no longer and I am prepared to no longer serve as Government Whip because if the government expects that if has the unanimous support of this government side and I cannot acceded those wishes I am prepared to step aside. That would be the right thing to do but if the government is prepared to reconsider in a way I believe is in concert with Bahamians, obviously there would be no reason to do that.”

Marco City MP Greg Moss also issued strong words at the government as he expressed his lack of support for bill number four.

Mr. Moss is still convinced that this bill will pave the way for same sex marriages in The Bahamas despite the governments repeated assurance that it will not.