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- Bimini, Bahamas
The Punch
This Week in
Politics
Obie
and Brent in turkey and coward bust-up
June
13, 2005
Tourism
Minister Obie Wilchcombe called Montagu MP Brent Symonette, a
"coward" during a heated exchange in the House of
Assembly.
Mr.
Symonette had used the word "turkey" in an apparent
reference to reports that alleged Mr. Wilchcombe had
distributed to his Bimini constituents turkeys paid for by
Gerardo Capo, a resort developer in Bimini.
Speaker
Oswald Ingraham interrupted the exchange by urging Mr.
Wilchcombe to refer to Mr. Symonette as "an honourable
member". Mr. Wilchcombe said: "Honourable
members will be referred to in an honourable way. A
member in this honourable chamber on the floor I
referred to when I spoke. And I dealt with matters that
are part of the record. And I did...the Member for High
Rock (Kenneth Russell)...and I wasn't talking about the
turkey.
"But
if a member decided that he wants to raise it from his chair,
always in a cowardice approach, then I will respond to the
coward. The Member for Montagu shouldn't be talking in
here among honourable gentlemen."
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High
Rock MP Kenneth Russell withdrew allegations that Bimini
developer Gerardo Capo paid for the air, land and sea travel
for five Cabinet Ministers who attended a town meeting in
Bimini.
His
withdrawal came after an angry denial by Tourism Minister Obie
Wilchcombe that ignited a half-hour row in Parliament.
And the row forced a 10-minute suspension of Parliament for
Government and opposition leaders to discuss the matter
privately.
"I
believe as a Member of Parliament, I have a right to state
what I saw and what I was told. Now maybe the conclusion
that was drawn from what I saw and what I was told could be
argued.
"So
I withdraw the part where I drew a conclusion on what I stated that
I saw and was told," MP Russell said later.
Mr.
Russell alleged that Cabinet Ministers Wilchcombe, Bradley
Roberts, Glenys Hanna-Martin, Allyson Maynard-Gibson and
Alfred Gray as well as Environment Ambassador Keod Smith
all flew to Bimini on Mr. Capo's aircraft.
And
he further alleged that the developer also paid for their
transportation by car from the airport and by ferry to north
Bimini for the town meeting.
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