Dr Duane Sands’ resignation is unprecedented in The Bahamas parliamentary history - in significance and substance

THE MEANING OF THE DR SANDS’ AFFAIR! 

By Gilbert Morris:


This is how one should think about The Hon. Dr Duane Sands MP’s departure:

First, overall - I speak here of the public handwringing and heaving hosannas - it’s really much ado about nothing...as large numbers of Bahamians are about to starve.

Second, As a specific matter, Dr Sands’ resignation is unprecedented in our parliamentary history in significance and substance.

Third, significantly, Dr Sands breached the rules - with the assistance of other ministers - but importantly not to benefit himself or friends. That is a clear significant distinction from previous breaches where a minister would have had his lackey junglisses selling those swabs on the streets!

Dr Sands, it is clear to see was desperately singleminded in getting the swabs for the legitimate purposes. (For those who refuse to think, I hope you can see, I’m not absolving him of breaching the rules, (Aristotle said reasons for errors matter), as such I am merely pointing out that his purposes were legitimate, which has hardly ever been the case so far as I can recall).

What it means is if we are now going to enforce rules against persons with clear good intentions, then every breach of rules must be addressed throughout all of government!

Fourth, in substance, Dr Sands letter is a study in the proper way to apologise in public office. (a.) He took responsibility, (b.) then explained his state of mind, (c.) But didn’t use his state of mind as an excuse, proof of which is offering his resignation after explaining his thinking and objectives.

This constitutes an act of the finest ministerial propriety.

Finally, when a Minister acts in significance and substance as Dr Sands did though it’s hard, it’s still the prerogative of any Prime Minister to accept the resignation. The problem is it forces a “strict adherence rule” (Think of Shylock’s “pound of flesh” in Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice”): that means any other Minister who aided his - since we are enforcing rules with no mercy for legitimate intent - they should also be disciplined.

Moreover, we must understand how LAW IS REFLEXIVE: that means every act (Dr Sands’) and every decision (Dr Minnis’) establishes a standard that must be maintained. Dr Sands’s act and the Prime Minister’s acceptance establishes a foundation for rule-following and everything and everyone afoul of such rules rendering it frowsy with uncertainty must be dismantled, dismissed, or disciplined respectively.

So that means every police officer or civil servant on duty without a mask or any public official who breaches the rule should be disciplined, because that is the benchmark that Dr Sands’s act of grace and the Prime Minister’s acceptance establishes.

It also means any elected person with a conflict of interest or an undeclared interest or any arrangement that amounts to an untendered advantage must also be squashed!

Source

Letter says Ryan Pinder renounced US citizenship before he nominated for the Elizabeth constituency by-election

By BRENT DEAN ~ Guardian Senior Reporter ~ brentldean@nasguard.com:



Progressive Liberal Party Elizabeth candidate Ryan Pinder renounced his United States citizenship on January 20 — more than a week before he nominated for the constituency by-election — according to a letter from the U.S. Embassy in Nassau obtained by The Nassau Guardian.

The letter, which was not provided by the embassy, said Pinder acquired his U.S. citizenship under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act by virtue of birth to a citizen parent on September 13, 1974 in Nassau.

The letter reveals that Pinder renounced his U.S. citizenship at the U.S. Embassy in Nassau.

"The government of the United States no longer considers Mr. Pinder to be a U.S. citizen," the letter reveals. "His U.S. passport is no longer valid and has been forwarded to the issuing agency within the U.S. government."

At a news conference on Sunday at the Free National Movement Headquarters, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham indicated that the governing party would challenge Pinder's eligibility to run in the Elizabeth by-election on the citizenship issue.

"When we go to court we will have Duane Sands' passport; we'll say he's a Bahamian," Ingraham said. "We'll say he has never held any other citizenship at any other time. And we will call upon them to show Mr. Ryan Pinder's American passport, to show us where it was marked canceled by the Americans before the nomination day."

The Bahamian constitution sets out eligibility to sit as a member of the House of Assembly.

It states that no person shall be qualified to be elected as a member of the House who is a citizen of a country other than The Bahamas, having become such a citizen voluntarily.

The constitution also states that a candidate would be unable to sit in the House if the individual, by virtue of his own act, is under any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state.

The PLP had argued that since Pinder obtained the U.S. citizenship as a result of his mother's American citizenship, it was not a voluntary act, making Pinder eligible to run as a candidate with dual citizenship.

In spite of this position, Pinder renounced the status before the January 29 nomination day.

Pinder had previously revealed that he renounced his U.S. citizenship. However, he had not provided any details about the move.

Pinder received 1,499 regular votes to the 1,501 regular votes FNM candidate Dr. Duane Sands received in the by-election. Five protest votes were cast in favor of Pinder. If at least three are allowed, he would be the next Elizabeth MP.

If two are allowed a tie would result.

Pinder has petitioned the Election Court to consider the protest votes cast.

The Parliamentary Elections Act states that if a tie results after all votes are considered — including protest votes — the returning officer shall declare a void election between those candidates.

A new election would then be ordered 14 days after such a declaration.


February 25, 2010


thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

Ryan Pinder faces challenge on citizenship issue

By Candia Dames ~ Guardian News Editor ~ candia@nasguard.com:


As far as Ryan Pinder sees it, the matter of his U.S. citizenship — which he announced he has renounced — is a non-issue.

But when the Elizabeth Election Court challenge commences, the Free National Movement plans to raise the question of whether he was in fact qualified in the first place to run as a candidate in the recent poll.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, who leads the FNM, confirmed this intention at a press conference at the party's headquarters yesterday.

"When we go to court we will have Duane Sands' passport; we'll say he's a Bahamian," Ingraham said. "We'll say he has never held any other citizenship at any other time. And we will call upon them to show Mr. Ryan Pinder's American passport, to show us where it was marked canceled by the Americans before the nomination day."

The Progressive Liberal Party has announced its intention to go to court for the court to decide on five protest votes cast in Pinder's favor during last week's by-election in Elizabeth. At the end of the recount early Friday, Sands was ahead by two votes and during yesterday's press conference was repeatedly referred to as the member of Parliament-elect for Elizabeth.

No winner has been certified, however, as the protest votes could still impact the outcome of the race, should the court rule them to be valid.

The prime minister said yesterday it is very important for the process for the court to know upfront that each person who is before it is qualified to be there.

"There's nothing wrong with him (Pinder) or anybody else being a citizen and running for office," Ingraham explained. "Just being a citizen is not an offense by itself because any of our children could be born in America and grow up in The Bahamas, and live here and never take advantage of their American citizenship. That would not disqualify them from running for office."

But the prime minister said someone who takes advantage of his American citizenship — by voting, working and benefiting from special university rates — is a different story altogether.

"If you've done that, then you need to get rid of that citizenship before you nominate and certainly before you are elected," he said.

"But if you didn't do that before you nominated then your nomination is a nullity, null and void, of no use. And that certainly will be a preliminary point that the FNM side will put forward to Mr. Ryan Pinder."

During the campaign for Elizabeth, Pinder repeatedly faced questions about his dual citizenship. One week before the election, he announced that he renounced his U.S. citizenship, but insisted it had nothing to do with politics.

At a Free National Movement rally the night before the election, the issue was again raised, this time by Mount Moriah MP and National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest, who pointed out to the nation that Pinder never voted in an election in The Bahamas.

"In fact, Leo Ryan Pinder only registered in The Bahamas for the very first time in his life in October 2008," Turnquest said.

"He has never voted in The Bahamas before; not in 1997 when he was 22 years old; not in 2002, nor in 2007. He is now 35 years old and he has never voted in The Bahamas. He has only voted where he is a citizen and where he was interested in the affairs of that country. He has only voted in the USA and never in The Bahamas. Is this someone you want to try Elizabeth?"

Pinder told The Nassau Guardian last week Monday that the reason why his name still appears on the U.S. voter register is that that register is only updated during election time.

"My U.S. citizenship is not an issue and renunciation is not an issue in this campaign," Pinder said. "I am focused on the good people of Elizabeth, addressing their issues and concerns as the representative and I will not be brought down into the personal attacks that the Free National Movement has found themselves involved in."

Februray 22, 2010

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

Elizabeth by-election: FNM ahead by one vote

tribune242:

ONE vote decided the winner of the hotly contested Elizabeth by-election, unofficially leaving the FNM's Duane Sands as the representative for the area vacated by the PLP's Malcolm Adderley last month.

Nevertheless, Prime Minister and leader of the FNM Hubert Ingraham said that the governing party would not be declaring victory just yet, admitting that things can go "either way" following today's recount.

As The Tribune predicted, the election came right down to the wire as Dr Sands unofficially won the contest with a total of 1,501, beating his closest contender PLP Ryan Pinder, who obtained 1,500 votes.

In the end third party candidates and low turn out made a huge difference in this election.

While typically for a general election the voter turn out is in the 90 per cent range, approximately 64 per cent of voters turned out on Tuesday.

Altogether third party candidates gathered a total of 141 votes. Literally had any of these votes cast for the NDP, BDM or Workers' Party gone to the PLP or FNM it could have been a game changer.

However, yesterday's "official unofficial results" left FNM's cautiously optimistic and PLPs saying they were not willing to give up as yet.

Returning officer Jack Thompson told The Tribune yesterday that there would be no official recount until today.

There were a lot of factors at play in the Elizabeth by-election, among which is the issue of contested and protest ballots. While the challenged votes were included in the tally, the protested votes were not.

According to Mr Thompson, voters whose names were on the register, but were disputed by party agents, were challenged and required to swear an oath.

Voters whose names were not on the register or had questionable voter cards were protested and required to vote on coloured ballots.

Mr Thompson did not have the official numbers of challenged or protested votes up to press time.

Weeks ago, members of each contending party in the by-election raised an alarm over irregularities with the voting register published by the Parliamentary Registration Department.

Party members claimed they were unable to find hundreds of people on the register during house-to-house visitations. They were not satisfied everyone on the list had lived in the constituency for three months.

One of the biggest side stories of this election was Tommy Turnquest's revelation at an FNM rally the night before that 35-year-old Ryan Pinder had never voted in the Bahamas but had deemed it important to vote in two US elections.

This fact left Mr Pinder vulnerable to open mocking by his opponents.

FNM Chairman Carl Bethel said when Ryan Pinder arrived at Thelma Gibson yesterday morning, the FNM supporters gathered outside sang the US national anthem.

When their candidate Dr Duane Sands arrived, the group sang the Bahamian national anthem.

NDP candidate Dr Andre Rollins said that he was embarrassed for Mr Pinder.

Dr Rollins said that had the FNM come out with this information sooner, the PLP candidate would have never been able to overcome it.

PLP candidate Ryan Pinder called Tommy Turnquest's revelation about his voting history "gutter politics" and said he was not going to respond.

However, PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts said this was nothing but FNM "propaganda" that was being used as a "red herring" to distract PLPs.

Roberts said it was "not a big deal" and that Turnquest's comments were not a matter of any substance. He further suggested that Pinder had renounced his US citizenship before he nominated and that the FNM was aware of this all along.

PLP Deputy Leader Philip "Brave" Davis chiming in on his candidate's voting history said he thought it was disingenuous of the FNM to reveal this information at the last minute giving Ryan Pinder no chance to respond.

He pointed out that during the time in question, Pinder was living and working in the United States and so would not have had the residency required to vote in a Bahamian election.

There were no major disturbances yesterday but police had to be called to quiet rowdy FNM and PLP supporters who gathered outside the polling station at Faith Temple, where the votes were tallied.

Tensions were mounting with supporters of both parties shouting at each other and becoming increasingly aggressive.

The man who was the catalyst for all the excitement on Tuesday, former PLP MP for Elizabeth, Malcolm Adderley, was suspiciously quiet and spent the day away from the spotlight.

When contacted by The Tribune he refused to comment on the election proceedings, saying, "I'm not speaking today."

The election was plagued by low voter turnout and throughout the day swing voters said they were still unsure of who they were throwing their support behind.

The low voter turn out concerned both parties with leader of the opposition, Perry Christie, saying he and his members were getting anxious because voter turnout has been so low.

BDM candidate Cassius Stewart suspects the voter turnout was low because many of the people who appeared on the register weren't actually eligible to vote.

He said if a better analysis of the registry could be done, it may reveal that turnout among eligible voters could be closer to 70 per cent.

Meanwhile, supporters of both major parties are eagerly awaiting the outcome of this morning's recount.

February 17, 2010

tribune242

Bahamas Blog International

Ryan Pinder Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Elizabeth by-election candidate renounces his United States citizenship

By Krystel Rolle ~ Guardian Staff Reporter ~ krystel@nasguard.com:


Progressive Liberal Party by-election candidate for Elizabeth Ryan Pinder yesterday announced that he surrendered his United States citizenship. The decision comes after weeks of criticism in the political arena. However, yesterday he denied that his decision had anything to do with politics.

Pinder, who is the son of former politician Marvin Pinder, had dual citizenship in The Bahamas and the United States - his mother is an American.

"It happened a while back," he told The Nassau Guardian, referring to his decision to renounce his U.S. citizenship.

"It's not a political decision for me. I'm a man that discusses the issues. The issues are important to the constituents of Elizabeth and it's a shame that this insignificant issue has caused a state of confusion."

"I love the country that I'm a part of. I love The Bahamas. I'm a Bahamian and that's where I stand," he stated.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham recently took an indirect swipe at Pinder.

"In Duane Sands you have a patriotic Bahamian," Ingraham said speaking about the Free National Movement's candidate in the by-election.

"He is a full-blooded Bahamian, loyal to The Bahamas, he is only a Bahamian - not dual, single," Ingraham said.

While some political observers believe that Pinder was pressured in making the decision, Pinder said that the choice to give up his U.S. citizen was his alone.

Asked whether the PLP asked him to renounce his citizenship, he said, "no, absolutely not."

Pinder, who has worked in the United States for several years as a tax attorney and returned to The Bahamas about three years ago, said he has no regrets about his decision.

"I work in Nassau, The Bahamas. This is my permanent place of work and permanent place of living. So I work in Nassau and this has no bearing on that."

In July 2008, Becker & Poliakoff, P.A., the U.S. company that employed Pinder, named him to head the firm's new office in New Providence.

According to its website, Becker and Poliakoff is a diversified commercial law firm whose core areas of practice include real estate, condominium and homeowners association law, construction, international business and trade, government law and lobbying, civil and commercial litigation, and corporate securities and tax law. The Elizabeth seat became available last month when former Progressive Liberal Party MP Malcolm Adderley resigned from the House of Assembly. He also resigned from the party.

His resignation came at the halfway mark of the Ingraham administration's third, non-consecutive term in office.

In addition to Sands and Pinder, other candidates in the election are Bahamas Democratic Movement leader Cassius Stuart, Workers Party leader Rodney Moncur and National Development Party chairman Dr. Andre Rollins.

February 12, 2010

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International