While suggesting recent comments made by Fort Charlotte MP Dr. Andre Rollins were inappropriate, West Grand Bahama and Bimini MP and Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe said Rollins will not be victimized by the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP).

During debate on the constitutional amendment bills on Wednesday, Rollins said the PLP is not open to independent thinkers.

He also said that in the last general election the party used young politicians like him as mere "tokens" to help secure a win.

"When we stand to our feet and speak in a fashion that appears to be contrary to that of the party line, there are those who give orders to politically destroy and do damage to that individual for no reason other than that they espouse independent views," he said.

In an interview with The Nassau Guardian, Wilchcombe said any challenges that arise within the party should and can be addressed internally.

When asked whether he believes Rollins' most recent stance will affect his future within the PLP, Wilchcombe said, "I don't think the party operates that way".

"Andre Rollins is a young man. Does he have potential? Does he have ability? Absolutely. Does he have something to offer? He has already told them that.

"But he is a young man, and along the way, one day, he will come to an appreciation that even in organizations that he runs, he wouldn't want at his clinic for a member of his staff to go public saying things that could be resolved inside the clinic.

"That is something you learn alongside the way.

"We are not going to victimize Andre Rollins. For what purpose? We are not going to penalize him for his words. Penalizing him is not going to change his words.

"Can we learn from his words? That is what we have to look at, but we don't want to hurt anyone. We brought him into the PLP."

Wilchcombe said the PLP never puts a "seal over people's views".

He said although he would have gone another route, each member has a right to express him or herself, and the organization celebrates that freedom.

"The way I would have done things is quite differently," Wilchcombe said.

"I am a part of a team. And being a part of a team requires that you understand that if I want to win the championship I have to practice in-house.

"That's how basketball teams win, football teams win; that's how politicians win and that's how teams win generally."

But he said Rollins is "a man and he makes his own decisions".

"There is an apprenticeship program and a process in which you learn the game," he said.

"The party never casts anyone aside.

"But along the way, everyone, whether you are in politics, sports, the church or in school, you have to go through processes.

"You can't walk in today and tomorrow it's all going to be there. You have to learn a few things."

Asked about Rollins' assertion that orders are handed down to politically destroy members who speak out, Wilchcombe said he and the deputy prime minister have expressed opposing views to the party in the past.

"It happens all the time," he said. "It is just a part of politics.

"You do speak out. The truth is, we also understand in the party politics there is a place that we can speak."

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