Bahamian Politicians and sand lot rules

Sidney Sweeting, DDS

When we were kids there seemed to be a game of some sort on most days -  marbles, spin the top, "rounders", rugby, etc. In most of these games there was usually someone who decided that the rules that had been decided the day before did not suit him on that particular day, usually because he was not winning by the established rules so he wanted to change them.

I was reminded of those days when I read the Tribune Thursday morning and was shocked, but not surprised, to learn that MP Glenys Hanna-Martin created an uproar in Parliament because she wanted to "raise an issue of public importance". She was denied this opportunity because the rules state that she was required to have previously served notice in Parliament that she intended to bring up the matter.

She was asked to take her seat and she refused to do so. That too is not surprising. The real shock followed when the Speaker asked the Sergeant-at-Arms to remove her from the house and the other members on her side of the House surrounded her to prevent the police from doing their duty.

Can we really be surprised when so many young Bahamians believe that the rules apply to everyone else except them?

Most of us can recall a similar "incident of shame" in 1965, which again proves the old adage that "the fruit does not fall far from the tree."