THE BAHAMAS. OPPOSITION CRITICAL OF PM’S DEATH PENALTY REMARKS

accusing Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie of pandering for votes on the issue of capital punishment, Free National Movement leader Hubert Ingraham said the country should not believe the present government will carry out hangings of condemned murderers at Her Majesty's Fox Hill Prison.
"They practice the politics of desperation," he told close to 1,000 party supporters. "In the wake of calls for a return of capital punishment (hangings) after the prison break (Christie) said he too is in favour of hanging.
"I believe him, but don't wait for them to hang anybody," Ingraham continued. "It is a shameless case of mouthing what some people want to hear; pure pandering – nothing more."
Former FNM Chairman Senator Carl Bethel also slammed the Christie administration on the issue of capital punishment, saying the Prime Minister would be hard pressed to fight those opposed to capital punishment since at least three members of his cabinet were "abolitionists."
"The Attorney General Alfred Sears and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell have in the past expressed opposition to the death penalty," Senator Bethel pointed out. "The last time that anyone was hanged in The Bahamas, the Minister of Transport Glenys Hanna Martin was leading the demonstration against the carrying out of the law at the barricades outside Fox Hill Prison."
Senator Bethel, during his rally address, indicated that Prime Minister Christie was therefore unlikely to get the undivided support of Cabinet he would need to bring laws to parliament regarding capital punishment.
Ingraham said that when his party is returned to office it will, unlike the present government, carry out the law of the land and hang condemned murderers as it did five times during its previous two terms in office. Fervent calls for hangings to be carried out in the country were sparked by the deadly January 17 prison break-out at Her Majesty's Prison that left prison guard Corporal Dion Bowles dead, and one of four escapees still at-large.