tribune242 Editorial:
CALLING FOR electoral reform, Opposition Leader Perry Christie described the weeks leading up to the Elizabeth by-election as "the worst" he'd seen in terms of allegations that FNM members were using their government clout to sway voters. "Up to Monday (the day before the election)," he said, "government was giving people jobs with a clear intention of influencing the vote. That's not proper, ethical or fair."
And this is what Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham had to say about the May 2, 2007 election in which Mr Christie, then the prime minister, lost the government to Mr Ingraham, who was Opposition leader.
On becoming prime minister, Mr Ingraham told his supporters that the 2007 election was the most interfered with election in Bahamian history.
"I am ashamed that on Perry Christie's watch there was more political interference in the electoral process than at any time, even under Pindling," said Mr Ingraham.
It was claimed that $80 million was awarded to contractors "a few months ago and days leading up to the 2007 election."
However, in our opinion the June 19, 1987 general election in the Crooked Island constituency, followed by the November 24, 1989 by-election -- called after the MP elected in the 1987 election was sent to prison for offering a drug court magistrate $10,000 to drop a case before her -- were two of the worst elections that we recall. The late Basil Kelly, who had been MP for the Crooked Island constituency for about 20 years, offered as the FNM candidate in both elections. He lost both.
In last week's Elizabeth by-election the PLP protested the presence of National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest -- who is the minister responsible for Parliamentary Elections -- in the recount room at Thelma Gibson Primary School. However, they forget that in the Crooked Island by-election in 1989, Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling at the end of a Cabinet meeting flew to Crooked Island, ordering all of his Cabinet ministers to get themselves to the island to fight the by-election and watch over the stations. Sir Lynden himself gave all of the Long Cay school children a gift of a hand held video camera with a $400,000 contract going to a PLP council member in the constituency to construct an administrative building. During that by-election Yamacraw MP Janet Bostwick said that the by-election reminded her of 1982 when the PLP took tankers of asphalt to the district and told voters that if they wanted the roads repaired they had to vote for Wilbert Moss. The people voted for Mr Moss and a week after the elections, the equipment was taken away. In the 1989 by-election the people were again told that if they wanted the roads repaired, electricity installed and running water into their homes they had to "walk with Walkine." This, said Mrs Bostwick, was just another PLP ploy to fool voters of that impoverished district. She rightly predicted that after the election the flurry of jobs handed out during the campaign would come to an end.
As Mr Kelly pointed out in his report on the 1987 election one must understand that at the time there were no job opportunities in the entire Crooked Island district except for government employment and one small tourist facility that employed no more than 10 people at any one time. During the 1987 election, he said, these people were given jobs off and on from nomination day until election day weeding the road, as assistant janitresses, assisting in the polls on election day, nurses assistants and "whatever could be dreamt up and paid for out of the Treasury."
Campaigning were two civil servants, school teachers, and the returning officer, who did not openly campaign, but who was "directed by PLP generals throughout the campaign."
The helicopter, ostensibly at the island for the PLP candidates, was "also used to ferry government presiding officers, the returning officer, the mailboat captain, and in fact, picked up the ballot boxes after polling on election day. It was openly admitted by the pilot of the helicopter that this was government's helicopter," wrote Mr Kelly. What everyone wanted to know was whether the Treasury paid for the helicopter.
"There was a new trick that I had never seen before in the form of intimidation," Mr Kelly wrote of the 1987 election. "Voters were told during the campaign by leading PLP generals and civil servants that when a particular voter voted, the presiding officer was instructed to write his signature on the back of his ballot differently to others so that his ballot would be easily identifiable. This way he could tell how that particular voter voted when the ballots were counted, and if the voter did not vote right (in other words, for the PLP) his daughter or whoever was working for government would lose their job."
Throughout that campaign civil servants acted as PLP generals, and the few civil servants who were known FNM supporters were ordered not to vote. Whatever the FNM might have done during the Elizabeth by-election, which Mr Christie claims was "not proper, ethical or fair" cannot be condoned.
But when the PLP held the helm of state, they were absolutely ruthless, particularly in some of these impoverished Family Islands. Now maybe some of them will know what it is like to be on the receiving end. Retribution has come full circle.
February 23, 2010
tribune242
A political blog about Bahamian politics in The Bahamas, Bahamian Politicans - and the entire Bahamas political lot. Bahamian Blogger Dennis Dames keeps you updated on the political news and views throughout the islands of The Bahamas without fear or favor. Bahamian Politicians and the Bahamian Political Arena: Updates one Post at a time on Bahamas Politics and Bahamas Politicans; and their local, regional and international policies and perspectives.
Showing posts with label Crooked Island by-election. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crooked Island by-election. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Need for election reform
tribune242.com editorial:
PLP Leader Perry Christie has called for election reform, accusing FNM operatives of conducting an unethical by-election in the Elizabeth campaign. He said it was a campaign filled with promises of jobs and offering incentives to voters in exchange for their support.
A seasoned parliamentarian of 30 years, Mr Christie condemned the by-election as "the worst" he had "ever seen it" in terms of allegations that members of the FNM were using their government clout to sway voters. He claimed that on the eve of the by-election, a PLP supporter told him that her daughter had been offered a job by an FNM member, presumably to influence her vote.
Up to Monday, said Mr Christie --the election was on Tuesday-- "government was giving people jobs with a clear intention of influencing the vote. That's not proper, ethical or fair."
At present he said too much was happening "below the radar", elections had to be more transparent. What goes on now is just "not fair," he said.
It would seem that the Opposition leader believes his party has patented election practices that are "below the radar" and that at no election should they be imitated, particularly if it means a defeat for the PLP.
This observation does not mean that we condone unfair electoral practices or that there should not be electoral reform. It is just that it seems ironic that such a complaint should come from the leader of the PLP, a party that in the past 43 years has honed unfair election practices into a fine art.
Let's go back three years to 2007.
Mr Christie, PLP leader, was then the Prime Minister. His first -- and only -- five-year term ended that year and an election was called for May 2, 2007.
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham was then the leader of the FNM and headed the official Opposition.
During the 2007 election campaign the FNM also accused the PLP of many unfair practices.
For example, police, Defence Force officers and public administrators always vote before the general public. The day they voted in the 2007 election was government pay day. One police officer told The Tribune that before voting he checked his bank account. He discovered that an extra $150 had been added to his salary. This extra was his pension that had been suspended. He said senior officers also received a lump sum as their pension payment.
It was understood at the time that retired officers on pension, who had returned to the force could not receive both salary and pension while they continued to serve. Their pensions were, therefore, suspended during this working period. However, two weeks before they were to vote they were told that the pension suspension had been lifted. They were paid both their salaries and their pensions on the day they voted.
It was also rumoured that certain government contracts were being hurriedly signed for five-year periods to secure jobs for PLP favourites should the Christie government lose the 2007 election.
About a month before the election it was reported that hundreds of temporary workers had been added to government's payroll.
Civil servants are banned from campaigning for either side during an election, but during the 2007 election -- as in most elections before it --reports were coming into The Tribune from Eleuthera that not only were civil servants campaigning, but they were using government vehicles to do so. The FNM candidate for North Eleuthera complained to the Parliamentary Registrar General Errol Bethel that the North Eleuthera administrator, who was also the assistant returning officer for the 2007 election, was openly campaigning for the PLP candidate.
In the three weeks leading up to the 2007 election, Bahamians were talking about vote buying, intimidation, threats of loss of jobs, pensions and even government housing if they failed to vote PLP.
And where was Mr Christie in the June 19, 1987 Crooked Island by-election that he can honestly say today that the Elizabeth by-election was the worst he had ever seen in terms of allegations that members of the FNM were using their government clout to sway voters? What was the late Sir Lynden Pindling doing when he ordered his whole Cabinet to descend on that isolated constituency, backed up by a Defence Force boat circling the island as further intimidation in the late Basil Kelly's 1987 by-election?
In a four-and-a-half page type written report of that by-election, Mr Kelly said that in one small settlement the mailboat landed an estimated $2,000 to $3,000 worth of groceries. The groceries were issued before the election, $50 worth to every voter. The voters were told that if the PLP got 30 votes or more out of that settlement, they would not have to pay the grocery bill.
Mr Kelly said that this particular settlement was the most isolated in the whole district. They were also told that if the PLP did not get their 30 votes the people's mail boat service would be taken away. The settlement was expected to go 50-50 -- half FNM, half PLP. In the end the district voted 16 FNM, 30 PLP.
If Mr Christie in fact believes that Elizabeth was the worst he has seen then maybe we should continue this discussion in this column tomorrow with quotes from Mr Kelly's report. Surely we can't let our Opposition leader remain uninformed.
February 22, 2010
tribune242
PLP Leader Perry Christie has called for election reform, accusing FNM operatives of conducting an unethical by-election in the Elizabeth campaign. He said it was a campaign filled with promises of jobs and offering incentives to voters in exchange for their support.
A seasoned parliamentarian of 30 years, Mr Christie condemned the by-election as "the worst" he had "ever seen it" in terms of allegations that members of the FNM were using their government clout to sway voters. He claimed that on the eve of the by-election, a PLP supporter told him that her daughter had been offered a job by an FNM member, presumably to influence her vote.
Up to Monday, said Mr Christie --the election was on Tuesday-- "government was giving people jobs with a clear intention of influencing the vote. That's not proper, ethical or fair."
At present he said too much was happening "below the radar", elections had to be more transparent. What goes on now is just "not fair," he said.
It would seem that the Opposition leader believes his party has patented election practices that are "below the radar" and that at no election should they be imitated, particularly if it means a defeat for the PLP.
This observation does not mean that we condone unfair electoral practices or that there should not be electoral reform. It is just that it seems ironic that such a complaint should come from the leader of the PLP, a party that in the past 43 years has honed unfair election practices into a fine art.
Let's go back three years to 2007.
Mr Christie, PLP leader, was then the Prime Minister. His first -- and only -- five-year term ended that year and an election was called for May 2, 2007.
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham was then the leader of the FNM and headed the official Opposition.
During the 2007 election campaign the FNM also accused the PLP of many unfair practices.
For example, police, Defence Force officers and public administrators always vote before the general public. The day they voted in the 2007 election was government pay day. One police officer told The Tribune that before voting he checked his bank account. He discovered that an extra $150 had been added to his salary. This extra was his pension that had been suspended. He said senior officers also received a lump sum as their pension payment.
It was understood at the time that retired officers on pension, who had returned to the force could not receive both salary and pension while they continued to serve. Their pensions were, therefore, suspended during this working period. However, two weeks before they were to vote they were told that the pension suspension had been lifted. They were paid both their salaries and their pensions on the day they voted.
It was also rumoured that certain government contracts were being hurriedly signed for five-year periods to secure jobs for PLP favourites should the Christie government lose the 2007 election.
About a month before the election it was reported that hundreds of temporary workers had been added to government's payroll.
Civil servants are banned from campaigning for either side during an election, but during the 2007 election -- as in most elections before it --reports were coming into The Tribune from Eleuthera that not only were civil servants campaigning, but they were using government vehicles to do so. The FNM candidate for North Eleuthera complained to the Parliamentary Registrar General Errol Bethel that the North Eleuthera administrator, who was also the assistant returning officer for the 2007 election, was openly campaigning for the PLP candidate.
In the three weeks leading up to the 2007 election, Bahamians were talking about vote buying, intimidation, threats of loss of jobs, pensions and even government housing if they failed to vote PLP.
And where was Mr Christie in the June 19, 1987 Crooked Island by-election that he can honestly say today that the Elizabeth by-election was the worst he had ever seen in terms of allegations that members of the FNM were using their government clout to sway voters? What was the late Sir Lynden Pindling doing when he ordered his whole Cabinet to descend on that isolated constituency, backed up by a Defence Force boat circling the island as further intimidation in the late Basil Kelly's 1987 by-election?
In a four-and-a-half page type written report of that by-election, Mr Kelly said that in one small settlement the mailboat landed an estimated $2,000 to $3,000 worth of groceries. The groceries were issued before the election, $50 worth to every voter. The voters were told that if the PLP got 30 votes or more out of that settlement, they would not have to pay the grocery bill.
Mr Kelly said that this particular settlement was the most isolated in the whole district. They were also told that if the PLP did not get their 30 votes the people's mail boat service would be taken away. The settlement was expected to go 50-50 -- half FNM, half PLP. In the end the district voted 16 FNM, 30 PLP.
If Mr Christie in fact believes that Elizabeth was the worst he has seen then maybe we should continue this discussion in this column tomorrow with quotes from Mr Kelly's report. Surely we can't let our Opposition leader remain uninformed.
February 22, 2010
tribune242
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