Free National Movement Chairman Michael Pintard said Progressive Liberal Party Chairman Bradley Roberts is giving advice to the wrong people when he told the FNM to exercise due process concerning the matter involving Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources V. Alfred Gray.
“Ironically, it is Minister Gray and Prime Minister Christie who have disrespected due process,” Pintard said in a statement yesterday.
Earlier this week, Roberts said FNM Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis is ignoring due process and acting like a “Jumping Jack” as he makes repeated calls for Gray’s resignation.
According to Roberts, Dr. Minnis has failed to acknowledge due process concerning the matter involving Gray that is currently under police investigation and he has ignored calls by the attorney general to refrain from commentary on the matter.
However, Pintard believes Gray disrespected due process when he sought to influence the local magistrate in Mayaguana who had already convicted and sentenced a young man on that island.
“Had the magistrate erred in his decision there is a remedy in the law,” Pintard said.
In addition, he believes the prime minister has also disrespected due process when he failed to dismiss Gray from the Cabinet following the serious nature of the allegations concerning the matter and Gray’s admission of his conversations with the magistrate.
Pintard explained that it is not the FNM’s intention to contaminate the investigation; instead the party is seeking to hold the government accountable.
According to Pintard, the “Grey Affair” has dominated recent headlines with revelations that contradict Gray’s earlier assertions.
“Nevertheless, Mr. Roberts felt compelled to provide damage control in his typical angry fashion,” Pintard said.
He added that Roberts owes the Bahamian people a calm, measured response explaining why Gray is still the minister of agriculture and marine resources.
“The PLP chairman must conform to the new standard of debate and accountability expected in the new Bahamian politics,” Pintard said. “Every day he remains at the helm of the PLP. He reminds the public why the PLP is unsuitable to help this nation construct a new and prosperous future.”
Earlier this week, Roberts also said that during the five years Dr. Minnis served in the FNM Cabinet, at least five FNM ministers found themselves in acts of impropriety and malfeasance and during that time Dr. Minnis said nothing.
Pintard pointed out that Roberts failed to name the ministers and their supposed transgressions which make it easy for someone to fabricate allegations and cast baseless aspersions on others.
He explained that if Roberts had publicly named the ministers, he would have been required to provide unequivocal proof of their alleged misdeeds.
“The culture in the FNM is not the same as that in the PLP,” Pintard said. “Mr. Christie is comfortable presiding over chaos and permitting improprieties to go unchecked thereby bringing his own culpability into question.”
