So I was in Foxhill over the weekend and got in a convo with a few friends. The general gist of the convo was that they felt that Mrs Higgs was making up serious ground on Mr. Mitchell and that if the trend continued that he was going to get beat. I asked why was this and they replied that he has lost touch with the common man and is way to busy with other stuff. My question to the BI community is do you think that it helps or hinders an MP when they're also a Minister of govt. and should this play a part in them getting re-elected? ps: please no PLP vs FNM debate, just the issue at hand. :p

The Bahamain electerate are a demanding bunch. We want our MP's to memorize the names of all 10,000 people in the constituency (at least who voted for them), attend all our funerals, church services, graduations and weddings, fix our infrastucture, and if they are a Cabinet Minister to do their job well simultaneously. The thing is an MPs job isnt really none of that. An MPs job is to be a good representative of their constituents in Parliament. One can't really do that properly if they are also a cabinet minister with the responisbility of a function of government administration over the entire nation. That person definately wont have time with his/her voters. Which is why I think non MPs and Senators should be able to be appointed to these areas.

But in this nation, where we presume the job of our MP to include all of the above and people vote for entire different (and messed up) reasons, an MP could be elected because the majority in his constituency thinks he did a good job as a Minister....and they want him to stay in to continue.

So I was in Foxhill over the weekend and got in a convo with a few friends. The general gist of the convo was that they felt that Mrs Higgs was making up serious ground on Mr. Mitchell and that if the trend continued that he was going to get beat. I asked why was this and they replied that he has lost touch with the common man and is way to busy with other stuff. My question to the BI community is do you think that it helps or hinders an MP when they're also a Minister of govt. and should this play a part in them getting re-elected? ps: please no PLP vs FNM debate, just the issue at hand. :p


Being a Cabinet Minister definitely hurts an MP's chance at reelection. A Minister has duties and responsibilities which take her or him away from his/her constituents. That being said almost all MPs are accustomed to making far more than an MP's salary so they also have careers which keep them busy. We as Bahamians must realize that for MPs to be truly effective they must be full time MPs and as such must be paid more. MPs should spend more time advocating for their constituents and less time advocating for their party and its position. Senators should be elected and Cabinet Ministers should be chosen from among the populace and not among Parliamentarians. I realize that our form of Government has served us well for many many years and the men that put it in place certainly knew more about Governance than I do but I think these changes would afford us better representation and Ministerial appointees.

This is very interesting,
Prime Minister Christie,being the longest serving MP and knowing the demand has given all Cabnet Ministers the option to hire Personal or Special Asst. whoose jobs also includes updating their Ministers on what's going on in their areas,even though these are not the person elected to serve by the people,they make sure that their Ministers are awere of the concerns and in many areas have help alot in times when these Ministers are working for the entire Country.

So I was in Foxhill over the weekend and got in a convo with a few friends. The general gist of the convo was that they felt that Mrs Higgs was making up serious ground on Mr. Mitchell and that if the trend continued that he was going to get beat. I asked why was this and they replied that he has lost touch with the common man and is way to busy with other stuff. My question to the BI community is do you think that it helps or hinders an MP when they're also a Minister of govt. and should this play a part in them getting re-elected? ps: please no PLP vs FNM debate, just the issue at hand. :p

that's no excuse...he shouldve thought of that before taking on two govt ministerial positions...JMO...but when you take on a challenge you must perform...not blame it on too much to do...get it done!

..I think someone got haughty and full of themselves and took for granted what they had and started sleeping and this is what we have now...outside toilets in fox hill are we serious in this relatively wealth country that shouldve already been a reality?

Being a "good" Minister almost assures that an elected official would be re-elected! If each palimentrian would be honest and keep the office open (which we pay them to keep open) where the people can reach him/her or their agents, they need not be "all up" in we house and ting!

Hell, we can understand that a Minister has a "national" work to do. And if doing it to the best of his/her ability for "all" the people keeps the constituency office open to be reachced year round...why won't we keep him/her? But these jackazzes round here close the offices door on election night, go on an extended power trip, clean out the treasury with they tiefing azz friends and then can't be found like Jerry Rocker!

Then every 4 years they must come round kissing "tails" and some Ugly azz babies...all up in ya house just to get ya smile at them again!

But the irony of the matter is: "WE DAMN SMILE AFTER GETTING DISSED FOR ALMOST 5 YEARS!!!!!!

SO UNTIL WE LEARN TO DO IT DIFFERENT.....WHERE MA FRIDGE AND STOVE MA BOUY?:dancer2:

Ministers should be doing their specific job, 22/7 ..
Do they ever do any research themselves or just rely on the word of others?

Being a "good" Minister almost assures that an elected official would be re-elected! If each palimentrian would be honest and keep the office open (which we pay them to keep open) where the people can reach him/her or their agents, they need not be "all up" in we house and ting!
hallelujerrr!

Why do they want to be MPs...
Surely its not to improve their community...that's a myth?