Sen. Fred Mitchell
Chairman of The Progressive Liberal Party
For Immediate Release
23 May 2020
The letter purportedly written and now on social media sites by James Albury to the Prime Minister requesting an inquiry into the handling of the Dorian casualties is perplexing. Mind you it is interesting that the FNM MP has now aligned himself with the concerns of the PLP.
Mr. Albury, a Parliamentary Secretary, is bound by Cabinet conclusions even though he doesn’t attend Cabinet meetings. What took place regarding the handling of those fifty-five bodies over the last eight or nine months and the eventual mass burial, budget included, were sanctioned and approved by Cabinet conclusion. James Albury is bound by these decisions.
It therefore begs the following question: How could Mr. Albury question the conclusions of the Cabinet by asking the Chairman of the Cabinet Committee, the Prime Minister, to investigate a matter that was unanimously agreed to and concluded on.
Mr. Albury is well advised that in light of this what must naturally follow: he must do the honourable thing and resign or be relieved of his duties failing his resignation.
There is recent precedent on this. Mr. Albury has fallen into the same error as did his parliamentary colleague Travis Robinson, who by convention was bound by the Cabinet’s decision to hike Value Added Tax by sixty percent, yet Robinson opposed and voted against the tax hike in Parliament.
We all know what naturally followed under Westminster conventions.
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