The Leader of the Opposition Dr. Hubert Minnis has finally broken his silence after he was accused of visiting the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) without proper authorization this weekend.

During yesterday’s proceedings in the House of Assembly, Minister of Agriculture V. Alfred Gray addressed Mr. Minnis officially concerning his recent tour of BAMSI’s campus.

He said Mr. Minnis was out of line by touring the school’s campus without permission.

However, Dr. Minnis, who seemed rather upset about the accusations, said he couldn’t have been breaching protocol because no securities were present.

In his defence, Dr. Minnis gave his account of what transpired as he and his Free National Movement delegates toured BAMSI’s campus.

“We toured the site for two hours and at no time was there any security personnel present,” he said.

“Two and a half hours later when we were exiting the site, security personnel finally showed up. He did not identify himself but we identified ourselves and after that we subsequently left the compound. I want to ask the member (Minister Gray) to protect his facts and I am so proud that members of the press were there as a witness. The Bahamian people will hear the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me God.”

Despite Dr. Minnis’ rebuttal, Mr. Gray stood firm that the opposition leader was out of bounds. He warned the opposition leader to keep the matter professional.

“I don’t want the leader of the opposition to get personal with me,” he said.

“If he has a different set of circumstances to present to the house to contradict what I said, I have no problems with that. But if he is seeking to get personal, personal I can get.”

Dr. Minnis told Mr. Gray that he couldn’t have been honest about heightening security at the school’s site because numerous entrances were left unattended and security guards were nowhere to be found.

“After completing the tour of the facilities, we moved on to view the farms and listen, not one security was in place,” he said.

“And you are telling people that security has been beefed up? Maybe you need to explain what that term means because clearly, security could not have been increased.”