SENATOR SEYMOUR IS WRONG ON SILENCING DISSENT

Senator Maxine Seymour is usually a sober voice for the Opposition Free National Movement.  This past week, she wrote an OP ED piece in The Tribune in which she accused the PLP of threatening to stifle voices in Opposition to the PLP.  Let us allow for the usual Opposition hyperbole in The Bahamas and say that it is important for an opposition party to always make that allegation.  However, it must be tested by facts. One fact that she used to justify her comment was that of the suspension of the Deputy Leader of the FNM Shanendon Cartwright for refusing to apologize for accusing a member of lying to the Parliament. In fact the Deputy Leader said that he never said the word lie and in good conscience he could not apologize. There result is that he is suspended for one sitting of the House that is not scheduled to meet again until 8 October.  When you listen to the tape of the alleged conduct, it is clear that he said the word lie on two occasions.