Judgeship In Jeopardy

PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts, who has been very critical of Mr. Adderley’s performance as an MP and his decision to resign from the House of Assembly, suggested that Mr. Adderley’s future on the bench may be bleak.

"Based on rumors circulating I hear he has enough to worry about. What he left you for Elizabeth, he may not get. As I understand that the judgeship [isn’t] looking too promising. You know what they say about a promise, it is a comfort to a fool," he told a huge crowd of supporters during a PLP rally on Elizabeth Estate Park. 

"But he played his part in what is nothing but a fiasco to use you, Elizabeth, to take our minds off of a failing economy, and a society wrought by crime and violence."

Mr. Roberts has had harsh words for Mr. Adderley since his resignation and has painted him as a "political prostitute" and a traitor.

Many in the PLP believe that Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham singlehandedly orchestrated a backroom deal with Mr. Adderley to get him to leave the PLP and the House of Assembly.

It is a claim that Mr. Ingraham has repeatedly denied.

The PLP has lashed out at the Free National Movement (FNM) leader for his conduct regarding the Elizabeth by-election.

Mr. Roberts said despite Mr. Ingraham’s denial that he orchestrated Mr. Adderley’s resignation, his statements in the media suggest that he engineered a by-election.

During the FNM’s campaign launch in the Elizabeth constituency Mr. Ingraham said "The PLP cashed in; threw their hands in and said they don’t want the seat. The man that they put in the House of Assembly has decided he wants to resign, which has put Elizabeth back in election place."

PLP Leader Perry Christie claimed that Mr. Adderley has a "back room deal in his back pocket to become a Supreme Court judge."

Mr. Adderley, who served as an acting Supreme Court judge before, said he is ready, willing and able to serve once again.

The FNM has acknowledged Mr. Adderley’s desire to become a justice.

"We understand that Mr. Adderley is willing to continue in the service of his country as a justice of the Supreme Court – a position for which he is well qualified, especially at a time when there is urgent need for qualified Bahamian judges willing to serve. If that is so, we highly commend him," the FNM said following Mr. Adderley’s resignation.

Meantime, Mr. Roberts said he is currently assessing whether Mr. Ingraham is using the tragedy in Haiti to gain political mileage in the Elizabeth constituency.

The Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince was devastated by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake last week.

"I am being asked around town if there was any inference to be made during his first press briefing when he allowed Dr. Duane Sands (the FNM’s candidate in the by-election) to sit next to him as he pledged our country’s support to Haiti and announced the release of the Haitian nationals in our detention facility," he said.  

"Was he sending any signals as papa sat next to doc? Is he wooing any support in Elizabeth as papa walks about the Haitian communities with doc? With even the Punch (local tabloid) alluding now to his dictatorial style on the handling of this Haitian crisis, is there any connection between the imagery of papa and doc and Papa Doc (François "Papa Doc" Duvalier – the notorious ruler of Haiti throughout the 1960s). I am watching and I know you are watching too."