National Security Minister Dr. Bernard Nottage said that if there is not unanimous parliamentary support for the proposed constitutional amendments on gender equality, the government would not proceed with the referendum slated for November 6.
"This is not an exercise in futility," he said. "If it becomes clear that there is not unanimity, then we will not proceed with the referendum. If there is unanimity and we are satisfied it is genuine, then we will do so."
Yet so far, most of the expressed opposition to the content of the proposed amendments has come from some of the government's own members of Parliament. Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller criticized the provision allowing a foreign man to be granted automatic citizenship if he marries a Bahamian woman, while Marco City MP Greg Moss said a better way to approach establishing equality in this regard would be to withhold the right to transfer citizenship to a spouse from both men and women.
Montagu MP Richard Lightbourn, an FNM, said he has a problem with the bill that would allow a Bahamian man to pass on citizenship to his child/children by a foreign woman who is not his wife.
And Nottage himself has weighed in, saying that in his opinion, the proposed referendum questions are too complex.
Astute political observers could not be blamed for reading Nottage's announcement as suggestive of an administration that is insecure and wants to hedge its bets before going into the second referendum since it came to office.
What's more, Nottage is backing away from the government's unequivocal promise of a constitutional referendum when most of the dissenting voices should be well within the prime minister's sphere of influence.
The government cannot be blamed for feeling gun-shy about hosting a referendum, considering the catalogue of failed public votes in recent Bahamian history.
In January 2013, the Christie administration held a referendum on the future of gaming in The Bahamas at a cost of $1.2 million to the public, only to see the "no" vote win convincingly.
And 12 years ago, the former Free National Movement (FNM) government's first referendum on gender equality also crashed and burned, with many feeling this contributed significantly to that party's election loss shortly thereafter.
However, Prime Minister Christie should keep in mind that his own Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) led the opposition to the 2002 referendum. Meanwhile, the vast majority of the criticism over the recent gaming referendum was not aimed at the fact that the public voted against the proposals, but rather that after spending the public's money the government has decided to ignore the outcome.
It is clear that the Christie administration is working hard to overturn a growing reputation as a government of blunders, failures and broken promises. However, breaking yet another promise is no way to go about doing it, particularly under so thin an excuse as the lack of parliamentary unanimity in what is supposed to be an exercise in unleashing the voice of the people, not political parties.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian