Minister of Works Desmond Bannister on Monday evening addressed what he termed the "fake news" surrounding his absence from the swearing in of the new Cabinet ministers last Monday.
Many rumors circulated about his absence, but the following Tuesday, Cabinet Office issued a statement indicating that Bannister had "prearranged commitments outside of The Bahamas and requested to be sworn in at a later date".
After he was sworn in at Government House on Monday, Bannister told the media, "It is stupid for people to be doing the kind of silly and immature things that they are doing by putting a lot of nonsense on the blogs.
"Bahamians know better.
"But what happens when you do that is you impact people's families.
"I have a son and I have a daughter.
"My son is in California.
"You make people's families panic.
"You make them call unnecessarily.
"It's very nasty and it's very unfair.
"I hope that we get out of that kind of... I can't even call it politics... that kind of nastiness."
Bannister reiterated that there is "no need to engage in fake news".
He charged Bahamians to only listen to professional and credible news outlets.
He also asked that the media continue to hold ministers accountable for their actions.

Ready to serve
The minister said he met with the permanent secretary for the Ministry of Works and the two have exchanged notes about future plans.
He noted a number of improvements that need to be made in the ministry.
"There's a lot of work to be done," he said.
"Anyone who lives on this island can see the poor state of our island.
"New Providence is a beautiful island.
"We have a beautiful country, but we cannot leave it in the way it is.
"If you drive on the roads [you will] see too many light poles that are hanging.
"Last night, I drove out to the airport and half of the lights seemed to be off.
"I drove out east this morning and two traffic signals were down.
"Coming on Carmichael Road, the lights still weren't functioning properly.
"We've got to make sure that this island and country operates properly for Bahamians.
"My function, as long as I'm in office now, is to make sure that things Bahamians expect to work are working and working properly.
"We are going to have an orderly society, and as much as possible I'm going to do that."

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