Free National Movement (FNM) Deputy Leader Loretta Butler-Turner yesterday criticized the government's planned agenda for debate in the House of Assembly as "frivolous" and out of touch with the concerns of the public.
Butler-Turner said the opposition was informed that topics for today's debate include Majority Rule Day, environmental bills and a resolution for the National Insurance Board to acquire the Rodney E. Bain building.
"With all of the headline grabbing [issues that are] going on in this country today, we are going back in the House of Assembly tomorrow morning for the first time in 2014 and they're going to be talking basically about something that we already debated [and passed], which is Majority Rule Day," the Long Island MP said.
Majority Rule Day will be observed as a public holiday for the first time on January 10. Parliamentarians debated and passed legislation for the holiday last year.
"That is going to top the agenda. They're coming back to rehash that same story when we have these pressing matters that are on the minds of every Bahamian -- crime, unemployment and VAT (value added tax)," Butler-Turner said.
"This government lacks concern, leadership and they think that it's all a game so they are not doing the business of the people."
The former minister of state for social development also criticized Minister of State for Legal Affairs Damian Gomez, who last week said the Office of the Attorney General was drafting new crime bills for Cabinet's consideration.
His statement came just weeks after MPs passed several crime bills in the House of Assembly.
Those bills included the Evidence Amendment Bill, the Penal Code Amendment Bill, the Firearms Amendment Bill, the Anti-terrorism Amendment Bill, the Justice Protection Amendment Bill and the Prevention of Bribery Bill.
The amendments to the Penal Code are specifically intended to target gang activity.
After the bills were debated in the Senate, the government decided to further review amendments to the Firearms Act and the Penal Code to bring more clarity to them.
The decision to review the bills came about after Opposition Senators Carl Bethel and John Bostwick raised technical issues regarding the wording of certain clauses and the need for more clarity.
Gomez said the Office of the Attorney General is drafting a "three strikes" law and stricter anti-gang legislation.
He said proposals are being drafted to amend the Bail Act so that "attempts to commit further offenses or cavorting with" others on bail would lead to bail being revoked.
Butler-Turner said the fact that the government is drafting new crime bills so soon after the recent bills were passed suggests a lack of competent leadership.
"They've got probably the highest ratio of attorneys sitting around that Cabinet table and they bring the most ill-crafted bills, poorly presented, poorly thought out, and then they want to bring those to debate," she said.

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