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| Opposition leader still has no office |
Krystel Rolle
Guardian Staff Reporter krystel@nasguard.com
Published: Sep 12, 2012
Opposition Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis claimed he is being "overtly victimized" by the government because it has yet to give him several things that normally accompany his office. Cabinet usually provides the leader of the opposition with an office, an aide, secretarial staff, a messenger and a car for that messenger as well as other trappings of the position, but he said so far the Christie administration has failed to live up to those obligations. "I'm being victimized and discriminated against," Minnis told The Nassau Guardian yesterday. “I do not yet have an office. I am practicing from the FNM (Free National Movement) office on Mackey Street. "I'm supposed to be provided with a personal assistant, driver, etc. I just got a driver recently but I didn't get a car. So I have to use my car. What [would have] happened if I didn't have a car? What am I supposed to use, my bicycle? That's what the messenger is supposed to use. Then my personal assistant, whom I got about two months ago, she has not been paid yet.” Minnis said he's spoken with Prime Minister Perry Christie several times regarding the issue, however he said Christie continues to promise him he will soon have an office. "So any time there’s a courtesy call, because it's inappropriate for them to go to the FNM headquarters, I have to go to the House of Assembly. That's overt discrimination and victimization," Minnis added. When he was leader of the opposition, Christie’s office was housed in the Bayparl Building on Parliament Street. However, Christie said he hardly ever used it because of its state of disrepair. Meantime, Minnis said he hopes he will have an office before 2017. "We should not be treated like this," he added. It was unclear up to press time why an office has not yet been provided for Minnis. |
