Investigation into The Root Causes of Crime in The Bahamas is Urgently Needed

The Bahamas Government Can Best Prevent and Address Crime by First Setting Good Examples

Pursuing Sustainable Solutions to Combat Crime and Hostility in The Bahamas with a Collective Approach

By Dr Kevin Alcena

Nassau, The Bahamas

The Bahamas is grappling with significant challenges related to crime and violence, impacting communities and hindering progress within society. While legislation plays a crucial role, addressing these complex issues demands a comprehensive strategy that includes various sectors of society.

This article explores the key aspects of a collective strategy to curb crime and violence in the Bahamas, emphasizing the empowerment of communities, the establishment of a compulsory national service, the enhancement of education, the application of scientific approaches, and economic reforms.

Community Empowerment

Central to the reduction of crime and hostility in The Bahamas are initiatives that focus on the community, offering education, vocational training, and social support to at-risk youth. Such programs can divert these individuals from criminal activities by providing opportunities for positive involvement.

Furthermore, cultivating a relationship of trust and cooperation between law enforcement officials and community members via community policing can significantly decrease crime. This method promotes dialogue and partnership within communities.

National Service

Implementing a compulsory national service program stands as a crucial element in reducing violence and criminal actions. Involving youth in structured tasks such as environmental conservation or improving public amenities can foster a sense of responsibility, self-control, and collaboration. These activities not only equip them with skills valuable for employment but also open up educational opportunities, presenting a constructive alternative to criminal behaviors.

Education and Literacy

Ensuring access to quality education and literacy is vital to breaking the cycle of poverty and curtailing involvement in criminal activities. By launching literacy campaigns across the nation, The Bahamas can enable its citizens to pursue better employment opportunities, make informed decisions, and contribute to societal development. An increase in literacy rates can elevate economic conditions, reducing the desperation that can lead individuals to engage in crimes.

Scientific Initiatives

Investing in scientific research focused on crime prevention and social improvement can reveal important insights and innovative strategies. Utilizing evidence-based approaches is key in identifying the fundamental causes of crime and violence, leading to the development of effective deterrents and interventions. Collaboration among government agencies, academic institutions, and community organizations is necessary for creating tailored solutions that cater to the specific needs of Bahamian communities.

Economic Reform

Gaining a comprehensive understanding of both formal and informal economic sectors is essential for effective governance and crime reduction in The Bahamas. Meticulously recording economic activities, including those in the informal sector, enables authorities to monitor business practices and directly address illegal operations. Integrating informal sectors into the formal economy provides them with access to resources, legal protection, and growth opportunities, thereby reducing the allure of criminal endeavors.

In efforts to decrease crime and violence, The Bahamas must adopt a strategy that addresses social, economic, and administrative challenges. Strengthening communities, engaging citizens in national service, enhancing education and literacy, allocating resources to scientific research, and pursuing economic reforms can create an environment conducive to security, prosperity, and the well-being of all citizens.

The dedication of government officials, social organizations, and the business community is imperative for the successful deployment and lasting effectiveness of these measures. Through persistent efforts and a commitment to change, The Bahamas can establish a foundation for a future free from the scourge of crime and violence.

The Infestation of Crime in The Bahamas

Crime emerges from our lifestyles and the deliberate or inadvertent efforts by family members, friends, and acquaintances to hide criminal activities. Crime is a manifestation bred inadvertently by society’s actions.

According to the French nobleman Marquis de Sade (1740-1814), “Crime embodies lust. What would pleasure be without the thrill of crime? It’s not the debauchery itself that excites us, but the notion of committing evil.”

Former US FBI Director John Edgar Hoover (1895-1972) emphasized that within the upbringing and education of family members, it is crucial to “impart truthfulness to the children.”

CRIME: A SOCIOLOGICAL PHENOMENON

The term “CRIME” originates from the Latin word “CRIMEN” and is defined in BLACKSTONE'S CRIMINAL LAW BOOK as “the act of committing an illegal activity.”

The first recorded crime, a homicide or murder, was committed by Cain against his brother, Abel. Historically, crimes were considered sins. Hence, crime has existed since the sin of Adam and Eve and will persist till the end of days.

“Sociological” is derived from the French word “Societe” and the Latin “Socius,” meaning “Society.” The term “Phenomenon” comes from the Latin “PHENOMENON,” referring to “any observable fact that can be scientifically described” by humans.

Thus, when it is said that “crime is a sociological phenomenon,” it means that crimes are acts committed by individuals based on environmental or societal influences through the senses. Crimes are perpetrated through the senses of touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell. By touching and feeling, one can commit the crime of homicide, through sight and hearing, the crime of pornography, and through taste and smell, the crime against consuming drugs in all their varieties.

A super predator, essentially a psychopath, can commit heinous acts like murder and rape without remorse, believed to be due to the absence of a functioning conscience.

Most crimes, such as murders, rapes, robberies, and other violent offenses, are committed through the senses of touch and feeling. Crimes are classified as blue-collar, committed mostly by the impoverished, and white-collar, committed by those more affluent.

The notion that charity begins at home extends to evil as well.

It follows that parents, with rare exceptions, are not to blame for their offspring's crimes, just as political parties, politicians, or police are NOT responsible for citizens’ crimes. Nevertheless, the governing party, whether PLP or FNM, alongside the Police Commissioner, has a sworn duty to prevent, reduce, and solve crimes. The Attorney-General commits to prosecute all crimes committed by anyone, “without fear or favour.”

The ruling government can best prevent and address crime by setting a good example, establishing proper infrastructure like more entertainment and sports facilities, and promoting friendly relations between the police and the populace.

Additionally, everyday citizens have a responsibility to look after one another and follow the golden rule.

The perspective above is merely a starting point. Further investigation into the root causes of crime is urgently needed.

Not every perpetrator is apprehended. Many cleanly-dressed criminals, in suits or uniforms with polished shoes, walk among us in The Bahamas. The French Philosopher Voltaire noted, "If every man had to display his crimes on his forehead, he would wear his hat over his eyes."

Focus must be on: (A) The Resolution of Crime, and(B) The Rehabilitation of The Offender.

A systematic cultural shift in addressing crime, including the restructuring of the Royal Bahamas Defense Force and establishing a commission to tackle corruption levels, is necessary for the Bahamian people.

This would inevitably foster a culture of respect within society. The government maintains zero tolerance towards corruption.

The Resolution of Crime

Two methods for resolving crime include: The Preventive Approach, and The Practical Common Sense Approach.

The Preventive Approach

The Book of Proverbs in The Holy Bible advises parents to guide their children in righteous ways, promising they will adhere to these teachings lifelong. In essence, instructing children to follow Biblical teachings, such as the ten commandments, love for God and neighbor, the golden rule, and manners.

Source

The Official Opposition - Free National Movement (FNM) Deputy Leader Shanendon Cartwright calls on The Bahamas Government to act with urgency in the crime fight

FNM Deputy Leader, Shanendon Cartwright calls for urgency in crime fight

Following a spate of killings in recent days, Free National Movement (FNM) Deputy Leader Shanendon Cartwright called on the government to act with urgency in the crime fight.

“Our hearts are with the families of the recent murder victims on the islands of Grand Bahama and New Providence,” he said in a statement.

“News of these three killings all within 24 hours is alarming.

“Amidst the global pandemic and ensuing economic hardship, we have experienced our share of challenges which we can ill afford to have compounded with a spike in murder cases. An increase in crime in our society threatens the safety and security of the Bahamian people and ultimately does not bode well in our overall standing as a country.

“The urgency of this moment calls for a comprehensive plan in the fight against crime from the government. The time calls for it now. The official opposition remains with a mindset of working with the government of the day in these matters with a view to returning to seeing a downturn in the number of murders as in recent times under the Free National Movement administration.

“We must intensify our efforts at every level so as to protect the Bahamian people and ensure a peaceful Bahamian society. We dare not turn a blind eye to this issue.”

Police reported that two murders happened on Saturday, two on Sunday and one on Monday.

The issue of legalized gambling in The Bahamas: ...Web shops ...and access to casino gambling by ordinarily resident Bahamians ...threatens the moral, social and economic fabric of the Bahamian society...

Pandora’s Box: Why residents should not be allowed to gamble in casinos

By SIMON

There are few physical reminders left of Hobby Horse Hall, such as the stables, converted into apartments.

The eponymous roadway near Commonwealth Bank in Cable Beach, is another reminder of the defunct racetrack once located in the vicinity of the new golf clubhouse at Baha Mar.

A younger generation of Bahamians have no memory of the racetrack which was shuttered decades ago. While many Bahamians over 50 have some memory of and others over 60 may be somewhat nostalgic about Hobby Horse Hall, many older Bahamians recall the downsides.

Racing was seasonal and when in season it was not daily. Even with limited opportunities for gambling, quite a number of families suffered as scores of gamblers placed bets on the horses in person or by proxy.

A friend recalls that his grandmother rarely missed an occasion to bet on the horses, much to the dismay of his grandfather. The usually sober-minded lady and daily churchgoer was obsessed with the races.

Vastly more Bahamians than tourists attended Hobby Horse. During the relatively short season grocery stores reported a drop in sales, mortgage payments fell off, and many essential family obligations were neglected, because many breadwinners were chasing the dream of easy money. Quite a number of working people exhausted their weekly pay check in a single day of betting.

The Pindling administration resisted calls to reopen the track. As casino gambling expanded and with the experience of Hobby Horse Hall in mind, the UBP and the PLP agreed that residents should be restricted from casino gambling, because they feared the social and economic havoc it might wreak on the country.

Many church leaders were opposed to gambling. A sort of historic compromise was reached in which visitors would be allowed to gamble, but not those ordinarily resident.

Insights

The compromise was based on a number of insights and had various components. Casino gambling was not an end in itself as the vision was not to make The Bahamas a gambling Mecca. That was not our brand.

Licences were granted as incentives for investors seeking to build resorts of a certain size on New Providence and Grand Bahama. Importantly, the restriction on casino gambling was placed on those ordinarily resident, both Bahamian and non-Bahamian.

Visiting Bahamians and non-Bahamians living overseas are allowed to gamble in the casinos, an essential distinction largely obscured in many discussions on the gaming bill.

The question is not about foreigners versus Bahamians. It is about residents and non-residents. Residents who are nationals of another country are also barred from casino gambling. It is essential that journalists and others get the distinction correct.

There is a question as to whether those ordinarily resident should be allowed to gamble in casinos. Some use the language of discrimination, going so far as to compare the issue with the fight for gender equality. It is a specious argument in significant ways.

For now, one example: The restriction on Bahamians owning handguns is viewed as discriminatory by some. For many others, including this writer, it is a reasonable exception in order to avoid the development of a broader gun culture which would have negative social consequences.

Residents gambling in the casino and restrictions on gun ownership are not based on biological givens, such as race, gender or sexual orientation. Instead the former are reasonable exceptions based on possible wide scale social harm.

As noted in a previous column, there are three broad philosophical clusters constituting the body of opinion on gambling, ranging from the prohibitionist viewpoint to that of the libertarian. Prohibitionists would ban all forms of gambling. Libertarians would allow for all forms of gambling.

The third cluster represents a more moderate and intermediate position, prioritizing a communitarian or common good argument of the social effects of certain types of gambling over the question of individual choice and autonomy.

In debating whether those ordinarily resident should be allowed to gamble in casinos, the public policy debate concerns much more than the question of rights. We should be equally concerned about social and economic effects.

There is perhaps a generational divide on the issue, with older Bahamians recalling the effects of Hobby Horse Hall more likely to oppose residents gambling, as opposed to a younger generation with little or no memory more prone to see this as a rights issue. This may be a stark example of Edmund Burke’s admonition: “Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.”

Realities

Public policy debates include both philosophical arguments as well as hard realities informed by historical and sociological insight.

Hothouse gambling in a casino environment with free drinks and a carnival atmosphere with flashing lights, scores of fellow gamblers, inducements to gamble and a panoply of games of chance, is emotionally quite different from buying numbers.

With the country set to legalize gambling activities by web shops, the addition of easy access to casino gambling by ordinarily resident Bahamians would have a devastating effect on the Bahamian society socially, economically, in terms of home life and a potential increase in various types of crime.

The Bahamas would become a gambling Mecca – for Bahamians gambling online and in casinos around the clock.

Add to this a 7.5 percent VAT, likely to go higher, amidst the ongoing decline of the middle class and increased poverty in a still struggling economy. We are courting disaster.

Cairns, a city of approximately 150,000, is the fourth most popular destination for overseas tourists to Australia. There is debate raging over plans for a mega resort and casino for the area.

The Cairns Post reports: “Social workers are struggling to treat large numbers of Far Northern residents for gambling addiction, claiming Aquis [the proposed resort] would push them over the edge.

“Centacare Cairns Executive Director Helga Biro said local social workers were already at saturation point assisting locals for gambling addictions.

“‘These are people who can’t afford to pay their electricity bills. They can’t afford to buy nappies or formula for their babies…so they need to come for social assistance’.”

A report on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation website noted the concerns of “State Coordinator General Markham [who] warned that 1,500 extra poker machines will result in Cairns locals losing an additional $56 million a year by 2021.

“That would equate to each adult resident in Cairns spending an extra $240 per year on pokies [slot machines]. He says 60 percent of those new pokie losses would come from around 4,000 new problem gamblers.

“The modelling forecasts $22 million lost to poker machines by just 950 high risk problem gamblers.

“A further $12 million would be lost each year by around 3,000 so-called ‘moderate risk’ problem gamblers.

“Based on this modelling, Markham says the financial viability of the Aquis casino is likely to be propped up by just 4,000 people who are each spending between $3,000 and $23,000 a year.

“His research also shows that about 70,000 new recreational gamblers in Cairns would lose, on average, $16 million a year on pokies.”

Instructive

The experience of Cairns, with a population of approximately 150,000, is instructive and disturbing for a country approaching 400,000 residents. In such smaller communities, the issue of problem gambling is often more pronounced.

Substitute New Providence or Bimini or Freeport for Cairns, with Bahamians being allowed to play the pokies in casinos, in addition to playing through web shops.

The owner of a popular restaurant near Paradise Island noted to this columnist that he initially thought that the bulk of his revenue would come from tourists. Instead it is repeat business by residents that is his gravy train.

Imagine near 24-hour, year-round access to casinos by residents at Bimini, Freeport and New Providence, with most residents about half an hour or less away from a casino.

This might destroy Bimini and wreak havoc on an already struggling Grand Bahama. In the main population center of New Providence residents would likely gamble in casinos on the way home from work, on lunch hours, and especially on weekends.

With sports betting in the mix in casinos, the increase in gambling by Bahamians will be phenomenal. In the off-season, resorts will likely market cheap rooms to residents, offering incentives for gamblers, including one-night gambling stands and weekend specials.

Younger residents on New Providence looking for something to do on weekends may flood the casinos in droves, creating a new generation of gamblers.

All of this outflow of considerable sums of money will go out of the country, possibly seriously effecting our fiscal position as a country.

Those who are arguing this matter as a rights issue may be quite naïve. We may well happily delight in our newfound “right” or “freedom”, as we spin the slot machines and play other games of chance, all the while gambling away our pay checks, savings and future as a country.

It is a Pandora’s Box we should not open, yet another means for too many seeking to buy hope that rarely comes and instead often leads to despair.

• frontporchguardian@gmail.com,
www.bahamapundit.com.

September 11, 2014

thenassauguardian

The value-added tax (VAT) implementation date nears ...despite the widespread lack of understanding about it in the Bahamian society

To Be Or Not To Be - Bahamians Want Answers On Vat

Tribune 242 Editorial:


BAHAMIAN businessmen are becoming more agitated as the date for the implementation of VAT nears with only reassurances from legislators that draft legislation as to what it will mean to them is on its way.

Gowon Bowe, a Tax Coalition co-chair, has urged that the proposed legislation be brought to parliament before it takes its summer recess.

“If we don’t do a lot in the next six to eight weeks,” he said, “we would be right back in the same situation we were facing when we were looking at July 1 as the implementation date, with the business community again saying that they don’t have enough time.”

Mr Bowe said that the business community has still not had “the critical elements. There is no legislation, no regulations on what will be exempt, or what is ultimately going to happen. We need to urge the Government to be proactive.

“There is a concern,” said Mr Bowe, “that time isn’t on our side in that regard. We understand that there was a lot going on in the Budget, but now that is out of the way, this is the most critical time in terms of our fiscal course of action. We have had some casual conversations with the Financial Secretary and he had indicated that they were just waiting on Cabinet now.”

John Rolle, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, recently confirmed to Tribune Business that VAT preparation/readiness efforts were being delayed because they were waiting for “final directions” from the Government.

Government brought two tax experts from New Zealand — one of the few countries that has a good word to say for VAT – to advise legislators on its merits and how to implement it.

Dr Don Brash and Mr John Shewan, both closely involved in the implementation of New Zealand’s Value Added tax in 1985-86, could not emphasise enough the importance of an extensive education programme, both for business and the general public. It was this programme that was the secret of New Zealand’s success. Such a programme would be even more important for the Bahamas, a country, unlike New Zealand, that has no income tax, but relies solely on indirect taxation and trade tariffs. In other words, Bahamians in general are not tax savvy.

“The reason our education campaign was so successful,” said Professor Shewan, “was because there was a commitment to an 18-month educational programme, six months of which was prior to the implementation date, but the most important things happened 12 months after the implementation because there were a series of detailed explanation programmes targeted at all kinds of groups.”

Government, which had planned to implement the tax on July 1 —13 days ago — was forced to delay it to January 1 next year — six months away – because, not only was legislation not ready, but there was not enough time to discuss it with the business community or to educate the public. Soon, if government continues its thumb-twiddling, another delay for implementation will have to be announced.

In their report, the New Zealanders expressed concern “at the widespread lack of understanding of how a VAT would operate in the Bahamas”. They were also “concerned at the complexity of the VAT proposal as currently envisaged (obviously government’s first draft on their arrival). This complexity would lead to high compliance costs and potentially extensive abuse of the system,” they predicted. Hopefully, this complexity has since been simplified. The state of business in the country today can certainly not absorb high compliance costs.

It was explained that VAT was urgently needed, not only to expand government’s tax base, but also for the country to be eligible to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Having had to reduce its original 15 per cent tax proposal to 7.5 per cent, the government maintains that it cannot afford to also reduce Customs duties. If joining the WTO is its objective, then Bahamians can count on the VAT rate being increased so that the Bahamas – a non producing country — can qualify for WTO membership. Qualification means that all Customs duties have to be abolished. Government, while explaining VAT, should also explain in detail the advantages of the Bahamas having WTO membership.

Several months ago, Social Services Minister Melanie Griffin outlined how our sluggish economy has hurt those in the lower income brackets – the group with the potential of being the most affected by VAT. With the September opening of schools, Mrs Griffin said, there was a substantial increase in demand on Social Services to feed and equip children for school. At the time, she was being interviewed she said that 1,606 out of just over 3,500 children had requested uniform assistance.

There was also more demand for food stamps, a relief system that is growing, she said.

Mrs Griffin appealed to corporate Bahamas and private citizens to partner with government to assist children in need. Recently the 58-year-old Ranfurly Home for Children appealed for financial aid. Mrs Griffin said government would assist to make certain that the Home, which has cared for so many children sent by Social Services, would not have to close. She also said that her Ministry will have to step into the breach to assist those who might be severely affected by the implementation of VAT.

A few days ago, we were discussing VAT with a businessman who said that what his company had traditionally set aside as donations for the various charitable organisations and student scholarships would now go to VAT. This shift in donations will put an even heavier strain on Mrs Griffin’s Ministry. In other words VAT will force the public sector to curb its generosity.

No matter how we look at it, VAT is going to create a vicious circle, and regardless of how it is introduced, Bahamians will not be satisfied until the government demonstrates that it too is making substantial cuts in its unnecessary spending. Bahamians are not going to pay taxes to give government a licence to spend foolishly. 

July 14, 2014

Tribune242

Constitutional reform Pt. 1: ... ...After 39 years of constitutional practice in The Bahamas, it is now time that we examine our constitution ...to determine if it conforms to the demands and expectations of contemporary Bahamian society... ...Does the Bahamian constitution reflect the contemporary shared expectations and experiences of the Bahamian community today?

Constitutional reform Pt. 1

By Alfred Sears

On Wednesday, August 1, 2012, Prime Minister Perry Christie, in a communication to the House of Assembly, announced the appointment of a Constitutional Commission to review and recommend changes to the Constitution of The Bahamas, in advance of the 40th anniversary of Bahamian independence.  The commission is chaired by Mr. Sean McWeeney, Q.C. and the members include Mr. Loren Klein, a member and technical co-ordinator of the commission’s secretariat; Mr. Carl Bethel; Madam Justice Rubie Nottage (retired); Mr. Mark Wilson; Mr. Lester Mortimer; Mrs. Tara Cooper-Burnside; Professor Michael Stevenson; Dr. Olivia Saunders; Mr. Michael Albury; Ms. Chandra Sands; Ms. Brandace Duncanson and Mrs. Carla Brown-Roker.

The newly-appointed commission will be able to complete the constitutional review process that had been started by the Constitutional Commission, that had been appointed by Prime Minister Christie on the December 23, 2002, under the joint chairpersons Paul Adderley and Harvey Tynes, QC, but which process the government abandoned after the 2007 general election.

This series of 20 articles on constitutional reform in The Bahamas, parts of which were first published by The Nassau Guardian in 2000 and are now updated, is intended to engage the Bahamian community in public conversation about the constitution in a frank and constructive manner, in light of the changing shared experience and expectations of contemporary Bahamian society.

While I will examine the limitations of the constitution, I will also provide recommendations, informed by the experience of other constitutional democracies, to assist us in creating a more perfect democracy in The Bahamas.  It is my hope that these articles will encourage public discussion about our governmental structure, citizenship, fundamental rights, the independence of the judiciary, campaign finance reform, public contracts, the Privy Council, the death penalty, republican status and the need for more effective checks and balances in our system of government.

The Constitution of The Bahamas, framed during the early period of modernization in The Bahamas, concentrates too much power in the Office of the Prime Minister, discriminates against women; does not guarantee the right to vote, the freedom of the press, protection of the environment; and does not promote economic and social rights.

The American legal scholar, Professor Myres McDougal, asserted that a constitution should be “a living instrument, a dynamic and continuing process of communication, practices and decisions.  It is made and continually remade in response to the changing demands and expectations of the people under ever-changing conditions.  It should reflect not only the shared expectations of the original framers of the constitution, but also those of succeeding generations.  It should also reflect the contemporary shared expectations and experiences of community members today.”

The Bahamas Independence Order 1973, an act of the British Parliament, provides for The Bahamas to become an independent sovereign nation.  The constitution is actually the appendix to The Bahamas Independence Order 1973.  The representatives of the Bahamian people at the Constitutional Conference in London in December, 1972 comprised the following individuals: Sir Arthur Foulkes, Sir Orville A. Turnquest, Sir Lynden O. Pindling, Sir Clement Maynard, Arthur Hanna, Paul Adderley, Philip Bethel, George A. Smith, Loftus A. Roker, Cadwell Armbrister, Norman Solomon, Sir Milo Butler, Sir Kendal G.L. Isaacs, Mr. Carlton Francis and Mr. Henry Bowen.  These 15 men are collectively known as the framers of the Bahamian Constitution.  There were no Bahamian women represented at the Constitutional Conference of 1972.  Therefore, the review of the constitution will afford Bahamian women, for the first time in our history, an opportunity to be directly involved in the remaking of our constitution, as members of the Constitutional Commission, members of Parliament and electors in any referendum.

The form and structure of the Constitution of The Bahamas was patterned after the constitution of Jamaica of July 25, 1962, which was itself patterned after the Nigerian constitution of October 1, 1960, incorporating a bill of rights based on the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.  All of these constitutions were drafted under the supervision of the Colonial Office in London.  The heading of chapters, the numbering of the parts, and over 60 percent of the sentences, clauses, phrases and words used in the Bahamian Constitution are to be found in exact form in the constitution of Jamaica and the earlier constitutions of Nigeria and Sierra Leone.  Due to this Westminster constitutional model received by The Bahamas and other Caribbean countries, Professor Trevor Munroe, in his book “The Politics of Constitutional Decolonization: Jamaica 1944 to 1962”, argues that the real founding fathers of these constitutions were not the Nigerians, Jamaicans and Bahamians, but the British who promoted the model to their former colonies.  Similarly, the noted constitutional lawyer, Berthan Macaulay, QC, argued that the Westminster constitutional model is an attempt by the British to “implant the legal form, conventions and understandings and governmental history of an alien people into ex-colonial societies, and expect them to grow overnight without regard to the conventions, understandings and history of the local people... In their inflexible form these constitutions leave much room for those who seek absolute power, or whose goal is the achievement of almost unlimited power, in short, dictatorship.”

The present constitutional review will provide the entire Bahamian civil society an opportunity to shape and model a constitution in our own image.

As we review the Constitution of The Bahamas, we should learn some lessons from the constitutional practice of the United States of America.  The Constitution of the United States, adopted in 1789, is the oldest written constitution in our hemisphere.  It is a living document, given new meaning and vitality under ever-changing conditions through Supreme Court decisions and formal amendments.  It extends its protection to all persons in the territory of United States, citizens rich and poor as well as aliens.  In establishing a national government, the United States’ constitution sets up three branches and provides mechanisms for them to check and balance each other.  It balances central federal authority with dispersed state-reserved power.  It protects the citizenry from the government and gives the power of judicial review to the judicial branch of government.

The limitations of the original United States constitution are very apparent from a brief historical review.  In 1789 when the constitution was founded, African Americans were still in slavery and, as property, were not considered as full citizens.  However, there has been a continued process of correction, through constitutional amendments, judicial decisions, legislation and executive measures to create a more perfect democracy in the United States, as the society moved from an agrarian to an highly industrialized nation.  The first 10 amendments of the United States constitution were passed in 1791.  The 13th Amendment, adopted in 1865 immediately after the Civil War, abolished slavery.  The 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868, gives citizenship to all persons born in the United States and guarantees due process and equal protection of the laws.  Bahamians who had children in the United States, such as the parents of Sir Sidney Poitier, were and are the beneficiaries of this provision.  The 15th Amendment, adopted in 1870, guarantees the right to vote irrespective of race, color or previous condition of servitude.  Up until 1971, the United States constitution had been amended 27 times.

Similarly, our sister Caribbean countries have also been trying to bring their constitutions in line with the shared expectations and aspirations of their contemporary societies.

Constitutional reviews have been undertaken and amendments proposed or effected, for example, in Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.  Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago have totally replaced their independence constitutions.

After 39 years of constitutional practice in The Bahamas, it is now time that we examine our constitution to determine if it conforms to the demands and expectations of contemporary Bahamian society.  Does the Bahamian constitution reflect the contemporary shared expectations and experiences of the Bahamian community today?

 

• Alfred Sears is an attorney and a former minister of education, and chairman of the Council of The College of The Bahamas.

Aug 16, 2012

thenassauguardian

...as a society we should not put our confidence in the legalization of gambling for Bahamians ... we should rather rely on our abilities, discipline and hard work ...and appropriate public policy to improve our circumstance

Put not your confidence in gambling

By Phillip P. Sands

The Progressive Liberal Party’s pledge to conduct a referendum on aspects of gambling is the right thing to do in light of the sustained public debate on the issue.  Political parties should refrain from politicizing this matter as occurred in the 2002 referendum.  Civil society and individuals should lead the debate.

I oppose the government endorsing gambling by Bahamians in The Bahamas not because of any religious piety on my part, but due to my increasingly strong conviction that the arguments advanced by those in support of gambling are faulty, misguided and short-sighted.

Three main arguments are advanced to support allowing Bahamians to gamble in The Bahamas namely: constitutional discrimination; unenforceable laws; and enhancement of state revenues.   However, each of these arguments is fundamentally flawed and/or lacking sufficient objective evidence to support claims made.

Constitutional discrimination

It is clear that casino gambling in The Bahamas is discriminatory, but this does not violate the constitution.  The principal purpose of the constitution is to outline the fundamental rights and responsibilities of the country’s residents.  Bahamians cannot gamble and tourists can, but tourists are unable to engage many of the constitutional rights and responsibilities (like voting and employment rights) reserved for residents.  So, the constitution is discriminatory, but this does not make it self-violating and neither under the letter or spirit of the constitution can gambling be considered a right or responsibility.  Even if this were a constitutional matter, the right action to take would be to have the tourists conform to the current standard set for Bahamians and not vice versa.

Unenforceable laws

There is little doubt that it has been virtually impossible for law enforcement agencies to “break” gambling activities among Bahamians in The Bahamas.  However, a similar fate befalls the police in their attempts to stamp out strip clubs, the drug and firearms trades and prostitution.  Therefore, does this mean that the current inability of the police to tackle these problems should lead to their acceptance?

Using the premise that difficult to enforce laws should be abandoned, why not decriminalize the marijuana trade?  It also involves a large proportion of the population and, despite the high public expenditure devoted to its eradication, many of its users are never caught.  Of those who are imprisoned, thousands of dollars are spent to warehouse them in an overcrowded prison environment which, many argue, does little to rehabilitate and more to create hardened criminals of its inmates.

Families also pay a tremendous monetary and emotional price during and after the incarceration of their sons and fathers who often struggle to re-integrate into society, including the labor market, as they are saddled with a criminal record and the stigma of having been to prison.  Because of this, ex-cons seemingly are never able to repay their debts to society – some just for smoking a marijuana cigarette.  Yet, as a society, we have decided rightly that marijuana is contraband and its use is not permitted.  So, if we hold firm on this, why should our position be any different in relation to illegal gambling?  Decisions like this should be taken on principle, not on a whim.

Finally, if it is impossible to control web shops now that gambling for Bahamians is illegal, why do some of us think that the government would be able to regulate (including collecting all taxes due) these establishments which have become skilled at circumventing and defying laws, rules and regulations?

Enhanced state revenues

According to the May 24, 2012 edition of The Tribune, a national lottery could generate $190 million.  This money, unlike that gained from casino gambling, is money already in the local economy.  Yes, there will be some multiplier effects, but not anything more than if the money were used on some other forms of recreation (e.g., going to the movies and the bowling alley).

While prime minister, Hubert Ingraham projected the government collecting $30-40 million in taxes, which would represent about two percent of government expenditure, currently at $1.8 billion per year.  But, for the sake of argument, let’s be generous and project that the government would receive 40 percent of the $190 million.  This would total $76 million, or about four percent of the current government expenditure.

With average annual household income equaling $30,318 in 2008, a significant portion of household income would have to be devoted to gambling as reflected below in the chart.

According to the Bahamas Living Conditions Survey Report, the average Bahamian household spent 12.6 percent of its income in 2001 on personal care, clothing, footwear and entertainment collectively.  So, if 70 percent of Bahamian households participated in gambling, they would need to spend two-thirds of the money that they should be spending on these items ($2,592.17) on gambling alone.

Since lotteries, like any business, advertise and try to convince and entice people to buy their product, if the government facilitates Bahamians gambling, it would become party to encouraging its citizens in irresponsible behavior.  When families make poor money management decisions and neglect their responsibilities (i.e., housing, utilities, etc.) then the government too will be partially at fault – all for a mere four percent of its income.

The nature of the game

Moreover, gambling is a zero sum game and for every winner, there must be losers.  In fact, for every winner there are many losers.  If one spends $1 and wins $600 playing the numbers, I estimate that at least another 999 people must lose (assuming they spent $1 each).  State-sponsored gambling is a tax.  We already have an unjust regressive taxation regime which disproportionately burdens the poor.  What Bahamians should really be calling on their government to do is to restructure the system of taxation where the upper middle and wealthy classes “man-up”, embrace “the Buffet Rule” and take on a greater share of the tax burden.

Yes, many Bahamians currently gamble and there is a loud call for its legalization.  However, under scrutiny the justifications offered for the legalization of gambling are fatally flawed.  It may be true that currently there is little that the state can do to stamp out the illegal gambling which takes place in the country; and even if the majority of citizens voted against it, thousands of Bahamians will continue to gamble in The Bahamas.

So, the real issue is not whether or not our laws vis-à-vis gambling are discriminatory or that the government cannot enforce its current prohibition related to Bahamians gambling, or even that the proceeds from gambling can supplement government revenue.   The real issue is whether or not the society and government, without strong justification, should endorse gambling, which is likely to create other more fundamental policy and moral dilemmas and problems.

I say as a society we should not put our confidence in the legalization of gambling for Bahamians, but rather we should rely on our abilities, discipline and hard work and appropriate public policy to improve our circumstance.

Jun 22, 2012

thenassauguardian

caribbean Blog International

The shareholding society Hubert Ingraham has sought to encourage is a direct link to the progressive aspirations of those who struggled for majority rule... ...This is an inconvenient truth for the doom and gloom crowd, Ingraham’s opponents ...and those who believe that they have a copyright on majority rule

Hubert Ingraham’s Quiet Revolution

Front Porch

“The Bahamas Achieves a Quiet Revolution as Its First Black Government Takes Hold” was the headline of a New York Times story announcing the achievement of majority rule in the Colony of the Bahama Islands in 1967.

The story began: “A quiet revolution has been achieved in these resort islands as a Negro government has taken office this week to end three centuries of white rule.  The impact has been nil on the tourists who have packed Nassau's hotels, but the changeover seems to have touched the heart of every Negro citizen.”

By quiet, it did not mean that the movement for majority rule was quiescent or a laid back struggle.  The word quiet speaks to the nonviolent nature of the fight for the second emancipation in Bahamian history.

In newspaper editorials and columns, from pulpits and on talk radio, we continue to read or hear the trite and factually wrong gibberish masquerading as commentary that The Bahamas has dramatically regressed in relation to the aspirations of majority rule.

This decline meme has variations, but in all versions the sky is falling or getting ready to fall.  This is accompanied by the requisite wailing and gnashing of the teeth by those who have little sense of irony or historical perspective beyond their nose and the morning newspapers.

 

Doom and gloom

That these prophets of doom and gloom are even able to spin and spew their poorly reasoned viewpoints from the vantage point of a pulpit, a free broadcast media or writing in a newspaper is testament to the legacy of majority rule.

Moreover, those black Bahamians including black women, able to offer such opinions and who enjoy the privilege of an advanced degree and notable professional status might wish to recall that without majority rule little or none of their success would be possible.

Like all great movements, the legacy of majority rule is mixed.  There are noticeable and continuing successes.  In other areas there is much work to be done.  Majority rule was about political, social and economic empowerment.

As noted last week, many of the progressives in the struggle for majority rule appreciated that attaining political power would be relatively easier than wrestling economic power from entrenched interests.

Moreover, surprisingly, the early ambitions of some of these progressives to dismantle the economic monopolies of the Bay Street Boys were thwarted by their more reactionary colleagues in the fight for a majority government.

Yet on the eve of the 45th anniversary of majority rule, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham announced that his government was nearing the final stages of the dismantling of the near monopolistic control of the port business by a few families.  These families included some of those Bay Street Boys from whom political power had to be wrestled.

Ingraham has added his own chapter to the Quiet Revolution.  He has dismantled many decades of entrenched economic domination in port ownership in New Providence.  He is also transferring some of that wealth and the opportunity for wealth-creation to the Bahamian people.

For some time, Ingraham has been building a shareholding society as a means of broadening and deepening ownership in the economy by Bahamians and especially so by a broader cross section of Bahamians.

During his first term in office the government made 49 percent of the shares of the Bank of The Bahamas available to the Bahamian public.  When the funding for the second Paradise Island Bridge was done it was through the issuance of Treasury Bonds which were made available to the general public.

 

Good investment

The introduction of cable television provided another opportunity for Bahamians to buy shares that have proven to be a good investment.  Today, Cable Bahamas is fully Bahamian-owned.

When the Bahamians who owned the majority stake in Commonwealth Brewery sought the approval of the Ingraham administration to sell their controlling interests to a foreign company, the approval was conditional.  It was conditional on Heineken, the new owners, making 25 percent of the shares in the company available to the Bahamians.

With the new port on Arawak Cay, Bahamians will have the opportunity to purchase shares in a potentially lucrative venture.  Some of the same white merchant elite who held political power prior to majority rule also controlled many of the country’s lucrative enterprise including the port.  These included families with surnames like Kelly, Symonette and Bethel.

The surnames of those who can now own shares in the Arawak Port Development (APD) will run the gamut from A to Z in the telephone directory.  Members of the Mailboat Association will also own shares in the port development.

Civil servants will be afforded the opportunity to buy shares in APD through salary deductions.  Those who mindlessly claim that little progress continues to be made in the advancement of the aspirations of majority rule may wish to suspend their commentary long enough to purchase some shares.

Perhaps they can also suspend their insipid rhetoric long enough to talk to the thousands of ordinary Bahamians who now own shares in various Bahamian enterprises including cable and banking, and soon at BTC.

The shareholding society Hubert Ingraham has sought to encourage is a direct link to the progressive aspirations of those who struggled for majority rule.  This is an inconvenient truth for the doom and gloom crowd, Ingraham’s opponents, and those who believe that they have a copyright on majority rule.

frontporchguardian@gmail.com

www.bahamapundit.com

Jan 24, 2012

thenassauguardian

Caribbean Blog International

All the pillars of society - the government, the opposition parties, the church, the judiciary, the security forces, the educational system, the family to name a few - must work cooperatively and congenially for the reduction of crime in our Bahamas ...The blame game is most dysfunctional and, at best, divisive...

IS THE SOLUTION TO CRIME TO CHOOSE ONE SIDE OR TO WORK TOGETHER?

By JOSEPH A WALKER
PhD, LLB (Hons) CLE



KINDLY allow me some space in your valuable column to make a few comments on the issue of crime in The Bahamas.

In recent times, it has become fashionable and convenient for those who were themselves at one point or the other, in one capacity or the other, in charge of our country to make public proclamations on the cause of crime and to point fingers at others for the same.

Nothing is wrong with this as it keeps focus on the problem but, in all of it, the proclamations appear to miss the real target. I will return to this point later.

One has heard the Leader of the Official Opposition pontificate about who is responsible for the crime wave we are experiencing and as to what he would do about it if he and his party were returned to political power.

It appears, however, that he has conveniently forgotten that he and his party had five years to deal with this said problem of crime but he and his party did little or nothing to solve the problem and they were removed leaving the problem to grow and fester.

When the crime, at the material time, touched personally, the Leader of the Official Opposition, there were many promises of what he was going to do to get to the bottom of it but, alas, nothing was done. The problem remained unabated.

The Leader of the DNA, like the Leader of the Opposition, has blamed the present government for the problem of crime going so far as to hold the Minister of National Security personally responsible for the problem, quite conveniently forgetting that he was a senior member and Cabinet Minister of the now governing party and therefore shares part of the blame.

While one acknowledges that the crime issue is one of grave concern, leaders as well as those aspiring to be political, religious and social leaders ought not to allow themselves to make pronouncements on this most serious issue based on emotions, spite, political pandering, personal, arbitrary and ascriptive criteria or on poorly understood facts or principles. To do so is to be divisive and it bodes no one well nor does it contribute to the solution of the problem which should be the aim of all those who engage in the debate on the issue.

With all the noise in the market place about crime, particularly crimes involving murder, the salient point that is being missed or ignored or not understood or factored in the analysis is that no one, not the government, not the Minister, not even the parent or spouse of the murderer can prevent a murder unless the murderer makes his intention known prior to carrying out the act.

Even so, one may articulate an intention and may not follow through on the expressed intention or follow through may be delayed.

Murder is ideally personal and, in most cases, private, even if it is committed in a public way. Some murders are spontaneous.

Thus, because murder and other violent crimes can only be prevented if one has prior knowledge of their impending incidence, it is shortsighted and, in many ways, unfair, in one's view, to hold any one personally responsible for them save the perpetrators.

It is for this reason that when the accused of a murder or other crime is convicted of his crime, not the government, the minister or his parents, is punished personally.

This is not to be construed to say crime cannot be prevented for surely certain measures can be put in place to discourage or reduce its incidence, but this will only be effective when we as a society have a clear understanding of the root causes of crime in our society.

Not the causes of crime in the US or other Caribbean territories as published in reports and textbooks, but those causes, if any, characteristic to The Bahamas.

The factors involved in causing crime are varied, multifaceted and, some cases, interrelated and, as such, any number of or any combination of them can synergise in any individual or group of individuals to result in the commission of a crime.

What we, as a society, need to do is to try through detailed and valid longitudinal scientific research, to identify, if we can, those factors, conditions, circumstances, community characteristics, family variables and even national linkages that are common among murderers and perpetrators of other violent crimes that may be trigger factors and therefore attempt to identify and develop and apply practical ameliorative strategies.

Even so, we may, at best, only make a small dent in the problem.

If we can, that would be a starting point from and on which we can build and learn. Crime is not a simple issue in any society.

There is no simple or easy solution therefore. If there were, other more developed and advanced societies would have solved it a long time ago because they have been grappling with it longer than we have.

All the pillars of society - the government, the opposition parties, the church, the judiciary, the security forces, the educational system, the family to name a few - must work cooperatively and congenially for the reduction of crime in our society. The blame game is most dysfunctional and, at best, divisive.

October 20, 2011

tribune242

Caribbean Blog International

There are many who want a sex offenders' list to be compiled and published... This is a small island, a small community -- at worst a homophobic society in which no sex offender, even the reformed ones, could survive

Sex offenders' list not the answer

tribune242 editorial



"WHY DIDN'T God save him?"

This is the unanswerable question that the sixth graders of Columbus Primary School want answered. Their class teacher did her best, but as the children looked at the empty desk and chair, opened their classmate's text book to his first writing assignment that started with the words: "My name is Marco Archer. I am 11 years old..." there were no answers.

Eleven-year-old Marco Archer was dead -- murdered and believed sexually assaulted. The schoolboy had disappeared from his Brougham Street home on Friday, September 23. His lifeless body was discovered four days later by police under a suitcase behind an apartment complex on Yorkshire Street, Cable Beach.

There are no answers to the question: Why? And when a finite mind tries to grapple with the mysteries of the infinite, only an excruciating headache results. And so we satisfy ourselves with the answer that "God moves in mysterious ways... He is his own interpreter, and He will make it plain." It is now up to all of us to find out how we can assist those "mysterious ways" to eventually end with positive results.

It is society's duty to make certain that little Marco Archer did not die in vain.

For this, decisions have to be made by those with a level head, not those carried away by the angry emotions of the moment.

There are many who want a sex offenders' list to be compiled and published. This is a small island, a small community -- at worst a homophobic society in which no sex offender, even the reformed ones, could survive. No community would accept them. No employer would hire them. They would be open prey for vigilante justice. If we are now horrified by 104 murders, we would lose count if a sex offenders' list were published. There is also the danger - with the hysteria now being unleashed - that mere suspicion and gossip could target the innocent. The police know who the offenders are. We have to leave that knowledge with them to make certain that these people are carefully monitored.

No, as a society we have to make intelligent decisions. We cannot rush into something that could make our present situation even worse.

Sexual offenders should be put in the care of a psychiatrist as soon as the prison doors close behind them. Assessment and treatment should start immediately and continue until it is time for their discharge. A police officer suggested that whatever time they might have earned for good behaviour to warrant an early release should be assigned as a probationary period when treatment for their condition would continue.

At present, the maximum sentence for a first offence -- no matter how gruesome -- is seven years, followed by 12 years for a second, and life for a third.

We do not think that a sexual offender should be allowed to offend three times before he can face life imprisonment. Depending on the enormity of the crime, life imprisonment should be possible with the first offence. The judges should be able to grade the seriousness of the crime and hand down a sentence that would fit that crime. No judge should be put in the position of having to admit that the crime warranted more than seven years, but by law no more could be given.

While these offenders are in prison, they should be assessed by a panel to determine whether they can be safely returned to society. Those with psychotic problems, who are obviously dangerous, should be held for life. Even in prison special consideration will have to be given as to how they can be segregated from the rest of the prison community.

Persons applying for a teaching position, or any post that involves children should be carefully screened. No one with a questionable sexual history should be employed. Many restrictions can be put in place to safeguard our children, but they have to be fairly administered.

* * * *

For the first time in almost a year, Sgt Skipping, Public Affairs and Communications Officer, sent the press a most welcome release. For Sunday's crime report she wrote: "The night was quiet; there are no matters to report."

However, she did add her usual crime tip. This time for joggers. Said Sgt Skipping: "Jogging/walking is a great form of exercise; however, a frequent error that joggers/runners make is that they become so preoccupied in their activity that they fail to be on the alert and pay attention to their surroundings. As you enjoy your exercise, remember to always be on the alert, paying attention to suspicious people, vehicle and activities."

We hope that our community can enjoy many more quiet nights -- and that Sgt Skippings will be able to send us many more "no matters to report" memos.

October 03, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Caribbean Blog International

...critics of a proposed sex offenders list said creating a public register would alienate convicts who have completed their prison terms, make it harder for them to reintegrate into society and make them targets for persecution

Sex offenders register 'would protect public'



CALLS for authorities to create a sex offenders register continued a day after 11-year-old Marco Archer was found dead.

Supporters of such a list feel it would protect the public from attacks by alerting them when a sexual offender is released from prison or when they move into a neighbourhood.

However critics of the proposal said creating a public register would alienate convicts who have completed their prison terms, make it harder for them to reintegrate into society and make them targets for persecution.

Her Majesty's Prison Superintendent Dr Elliston Rahming said such a policy would be like placing additional prison time on inmates who have already served their allotted sentences.

"I hear this talk about developing some register - that is easy in a big place like the United States but if a register is developed in Nassau then the court sentence effectively becomes a life sentence.

"It means I could never hope to get a job or life again even if I have changed," said Prison Superintendent Elliston Rahming yesterday.

The minister responsible for Social Services, Loretta Butler-Turner, said she began groundwork for a sex offenders register in the beginning of her term but shelved the idea.

"When I first became a minister I felt very strongly about the implementation of a sexual offenders register."

She said she understands the outcry but added that the idea must not be seen as a "panacea" for preventing sex crimes.

"But I think many countries are finding that once you identify these people (as sexual offenders) many times they are rejected everywhere they go, so what do you do?

"I think we have to weigh the pros and cons before we drive this as a panacea."
Crime activist Rodney Moncur said he supports a sex offenders register for convicted paedophiles.

He said: "I'm more particularly interested in a sex register in cases of children who are victims.

"Children are vulnerable, are innocent - children can't give consent."

Police discovered Marco's partially decomposed body Wednesday morning in bushes in western New Providence.

A well-place source in the RBPF said the boy's body showed signs of sexual assault.

Marco disappeared from his in Brougham Street last Friday afternoon.

His mother said he left home to buy candy from a nearby gas station and never returned.

Three men are assisting police in their investigations.

September 30, 2011

tribune242

Caribbean Blog International

The PLPs believe that their Urban Renewal policy, which is still in existence in a new form, is the answer to all prayers... They are fooling themselves... The social deterioration in this society is so deep that it will take more than urban renewal to bring it back to health

Crime should not be used by politicians

tribune242 editorial



IT would be a tragedy if this country's escalating crime were to become an election football.

Crime in the Bahamas has been steadily building from the politically violent sixties into the drug violent seventies and eighties until it is now hitting a crescendo in our time.

The PLP believe that their Urban Renewal policy, which is still in existence in a new form, is the answer to all prayers. They are fooling themselves. The social deterioration in this society is so deep that it will take more than urban renewal to bring it back to health.

"The government must send a clear and strong message to criminals that they will be swiftly caught and swiftly punished and I am not satisfied that this is being done under this present government," Opposition Leader Perry Christie told a press conference, called yesterday to discuss the escalating crime.

Maybe justice under this government is not swift enough for Mr Christie, but nor was it swift enough during Mr Christie's administration when the backlog of court cases grew out of all manageable proportions.

Under both governments -- PLP and FNM-- we have been complaining about the justice system. In our opinion it needs a complete overhaul.

So on this score, no fingerpointing can be justified.

The problem on our streets is obvious - most crimes are being committed by criminals killing criminals, all out on bail when they should be behind prison walls. And as the Commissioner of Police has often commented, the police can't be blamed. They do their part by arresting and taking the offenders to the bar of the court, where the lawyers with their crocodile tears bleat for their release, and the courts send them on their merry way to terrorise society. Witnesses could not be killed, if those who threaten them were in jail.

We hope that when the House reconvenes after the summer recess legislation will be introduced to curb the courts in its release of persons who could be a danger to society. When that debate takes place there shouldn't be a squeak from the Opposition about interfering with a judge's discretion.

The only way to cut down on many of these murders is to keep these persons with long criminal records in prison until trial -- not only for society's sake, but, as has already been shown by the number of their bodies in the morgue, for their own sakes.

And if judges will not exercise their discretion with this objective in mind, then legislation is the only solution. Society cannot have it both ways.

The same analogy can be drawn by the rules that now have to be followed when one travels by air. No one likes to be searched -- it is demeaning and interferes with a person's rights and freedoms. However, for the sake of safety, travellers are willing to relinquish some of their freedoms.

It is the same with the judiciary when one has to make a choice between the exercise of a magistrate's discretion and the mayhem on the streets. We can't have criminals laughing at the courts.

They must understand that if they do wrong they will be punished -- swiftly and severely. And until their date in court, they will be incarcerated, not out on the streets pushing up the murder count.

In the meantime, this society has to be analysed as to what has gone wrong, what has caused us to move from a once courteous, decent people to what we see today.

To find a cure, we need parents, teachers, psychiatrists and a whole gamut of professionals to work together to try to save the next generation.

Persons complain that no one respects our institutions. That is true, and the reason is that many of the people who head them do not understand that in their positions they have to lead by example -- if they do not respect themselves, or their organisation, they cannot expect anyone else to have respect. Members of the House of Assembly should take note.

The breakdown of family life is our greatest tragedy - no father in the home, the mother out to work and the children left at home to join the village gang. In the old days when the mother was at work, the grandparents took care of the children.

Today children are having illegitimate children, so that when the young mother is at work, the grandmother is still young enough to hold down a job and so is the great grandmother.

As a result no one is at home to guide and correct little Suzy and Johnny. A great burden is put on the schools, not only to teach these little ones their ABC's, but also their manners, to point out what is right and wrong, and to make them understand that for every right there is a corresponding duty, and when they break the code, there are consequences, and those consequences can be serious.

Instead of pointing the finger of blame, these politicians should get back to basics. They should start with an examination of themselves, determined to lead by example, and then move on to helping society get back on course.

September 16, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Caribbean Blog International

The slave mentality in The Bahamas is alive and well... and the time has come for Bahamians to open their eyes... The indoctrination of Africans (Blacks) into mental slavery and European culture continues even today in the Bahamian society

Bahamians have a slave mentality

BY DEHAVILLAND MOSS



Crime is out of control; it’s the master’s fault, aka the government. Illegal immigration is out of control; it is the master’s fault, aka the government. The economy is bad; it’s the master’s fault, aka the government. The master will fix the problem. He knows best.

But what are “you” doing about it? We should know by now that the change starts with us. During the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, Africans were illegally sold as slaves. Many of these Africans ended up in the Caribbean and thus were forced into a new way of life.

The indoctrination of Africans (Blacks) into mental slavery and European culture continues even today. The celebration of Guy Fawkes Day, Halloween and that “foreign is better” are just a few examples of the former in The Bahamas. We as Black Bahamians are mentally enslaved and even though we are free physically, we face some of the most dangerous times in our history. One hundred and seventy-seven years after the proclamation was read to free slaves in the British colonies, Bahamians still continue to have a slave mentality.

Slaves in The Bahamas worked on small plantations when compared to other Caribbean islands, and the treatment of Bahamian slaves was much better than their Caribbean counterparts. James Stephen, an abolitionist wrote, “the provisions and stock raised on the plantations did not provide the remuneration received by planters in other colonies, ‘but to slaves the effects were ease, plenty, health and the preservation and increase of their numbers, all in a degree, quite beyond example in any other part of the West Indies”. (Source from The Story of The Bahamas by Paul Albury, chapter 14, p126). In my view, this explains the basis of the way that we act toward our “Master” today.

Bahamian slaves accepted their master as a good person and viewed him favorably. Our Caribbean counterparts were treated more harshly than us and as a result they had a fundamental distrust of their master. Could this explain why they are more aggressive than us and the fact that our attitude is more laissez-faire?

Since 1967, in The Bahamas, the black master (government) replaced the white master (government). There was a changing of the guard, but most Bahamians have not seen the kind of progress that is to be expected. Black Bahamians in particular still do not possess the majority of the land; we still do not own a major hotel and we are still second-class citizens in our own country. We now have Black masters as our gatekeepers but they are continuing the historical trend of our demise, albeit in the same subtle nature. Yet we elect the same people over and over. When will the cerebral revolution come?

Look at the way that our country is run with little or no objection from Bahamians. The government sold BTC and there were only about 1,000 marchers on Bay Street. In fact, Minister of Labour Dion Foulkes literally squawked when asked about the effectiveness of the march for BTC. Lawyers illegally sold land owned by Arawak Homes to unsuspecting Bahamians. Due to the large scale of Bahamians who were defrauded, there should have been major campaigns initiated by Bahamians in protest of this. The government refuses to do all it can to help curb our crime and immigration problems and its policies have failed miserably, specifically over the last two decades. Additionally, government policies have caused the price of land in The Bahamas to soar so high that the average Bahamian can no longer afford to buy land (except for those in Mackey Yard); and yet Bahamians sit back and do nothing. Sadly, we still believe in the old slave adage that “Master (aka the government) knows best”.

Listening to the talk shows daily, concerns by Bahamians appear to be on the rise. They call in and seem to expect more accountability from the government representatives. This is a good thing and this type of activity on a wide scale can certainly help break this slave mentality that we continue to be suffering from. I feel proud as a Bahamian when callers suggest that the issues affecting us should be looked at for what they are worth. Forget party lines. For too long, we have been using our party biases and not looking at issues from a nationalistic point of view. We must realize that when our ancestors were enslaved, the underlying tone would have been to regain freedom for all in the British colonies and this bode well for all involved.

Bahamians by heart are not a fighting people when it comes to challenging “the master”. In fact, the only time I can say with certainty that Bahamians would come together and fight the master is when he “messes with their pay”. From the Burma Road Riot on June 1st, 1942 to the teacher’s general strike in the mid 80s, Bahamians came together in solidarity to protest wage disputes. In fact, before the Burma Road Riot, even the American workers who were earning higher wages were agitating for the Bahamian workers’ wages to be increased. Foreigners were given preferential treatment even back then. Does this sound familiar? In the case of the general teachers’ strike, the government of the day said that the Treasury was broke. Yet, after the teachers’ salary was increased, then Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling and his Cabinet increased the salary of all members of Parliament.

If the government had told BTC workers that they would be receiving pay cuts you would have seen a different outcome from the employees. Contract after contract can be given to foreign contractors without a whimper of dissatisfaction from Bahamians. Let me go on record as saying that I was utterly surprised that the present government was able to take overtime pay away from customs and immigration officers with virtually very little opposition from the Bahamas Public Service Union membership.

The recent debacle of the government in the Mackey Yard sub-division speaks again to our slave mentality. Here we are as Bahamians are just sitting back and allowing the government to do what it wants to. Let the “master” handle it is the conclusion of many Bahamians. There are Bahamians though, whose minds have bypassed this slave mentality, but these numbers are infinitesimal.

Just as the slave trade was supported by Africans themselves, who helped capture their own countryman for a few dollars, more we have replication going on in The Bahamas in 2011. Many in the remaining middle class in The Bahamas are utterly quiet as to the state of affairs because they are still getting their hefty salaries. They are still able to live their lives, buy what they want and travel when they want. In their eyes because they are not directly affected by these adverse policies, they choose to turn a blind eye. They are not speaking out and are allowing their “brothers” to be further humiliated and defrauded. In the same vain, thousands of people turned a blind eye to the slave master during the slave trade because they were thinking about self and not country.

The slave mentality in The Bahamas is alive and well and the time has come for Bahamians to open their eyes. We cannot just leave it in the hands of “the master” and hope and pray that the correct decisions will be made, and take for granted that we will always have bread to eat. Bahamians, we need to change our sorry, lethargic and lackadaisical attitude towards the myriad policy decisions that affect us. We will continue to suffer as a people in our own country if we don’t.

As Disraeli, the great English statesman said, “Nurture your mind with great thoughts for you will never go any higher than you think”.

Jul 20, 2011

thenassauguardian

Caribbean Blog International

It appears that there will be political bloodletting in Bamboo Town where the governing Free National Movement (FNM) and Official Opposition - Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) plot to ambush Branville McCartney at the polls

Branville McCartney and the 2012 election

By ADRIAN GIBSON
ajbahama@hotmail.com




IN THE next general election, it appears that newly independent MP Branville McCartney and his purported new party are hoping that Bahamians are tired of playing musical chairs between the two major parties--FNM and PLP--and are more inclined to vote for, and even elect, a third party force. Frankly, our politically expedient culture, coupled with our more traditional Westminster system--where third parties are speedily dispatched to the political gallows and certain political death--dreams of a third party capturing the imagination of the masses are futile this electoral cycle, regardless of the false promises of support made by many fair-weather bandwagon riders in the months before the official campaigns/rallies kickoff.

Without a doubt, Mr McCartney is a self-styled populist whose recent resignation from the FNM--whilst expressing opposition to the BTC deal with Cable and Wireless Communications--has sent shock waves throughout the political sphere and wider Bahamian society. Indeed, whilst there are some who see McCartney's move as standing up for his beliefs and being demonstrative of him showing that he has heart and isn't merely a bootlicker, others see it as a display that is nothing short of full-blown, megalomaniacal grandstanding.

Contrary to the speculation regarding the BTC sale--where a widespread mutiny was rumoured to be in the works within the ranks of the FNM's Parliamentary caucus and was supposedly inclusive of Mr McCartney and three other FNM MPs--no such incident occurred. Whether the alleged MPs chickened out or not remains a mystery, however, there was no crescendo of voices--within the FNM, among the masses and, I'm told, not even among scores of the employees at BTC--absolutely rebuking the sale of the telecoms company.

Quite honestly, it appears that there will be a political bloodletting in Bamboo Town, with both the FNM and the PLP running candidates and plotting an ambush of Mr McCartney at the polls. With lots of finger-jabbing and verbal bricks being thrown, the contest for the Bamboo Town seat has quickly become a highly contentious matter, seemingly leaving McCartney at a political crossroads and facing a stormy, most combative political season that will see the electoral machinery of both major parties descend upon Bamboo Town.

According to some accounts, Mr McCartney's purported new entity--if it comes to fruition--could feature one or two political rejects who were cast off by the major parties due to character flaws and questionable dealings. Mr McCartney must be careful not to surround himself with shifty characters and sycophants and must, if he leads a new party, seek to establish a renewed sense of purpose and a coherent political philosophy that appeals to the national consciousness. So, is Bran McCartney close-up-ready? What are his views on the Bahamas' future?

It remains to be seen whether Bran McCartney's apparent out-performance of many of his former Cabinet colleagues was merely artificial hype and a fluke because he headed a highly emotive ministry--Immigration--or because he genuinely possessed ideas and leadership acumen. That said, in this upcoming election cycle, it appears the third party votes will merely tip the scale in favour of one of the major parties as opposed to the other, and not the third parties themselves. I'm doubtful that any of the current or yet-to-be-announced third parties in a general election have reached the stage where they would've encroached upon the percentage of any given party (FNM/PLP) to make people think that a third party is a force to be reckoned with.

Can Mr McCartney woo independent, non-ideological voters particularly in this age of identity politics? Will Mr McCartney's resignation and the impending showdown in Bamboo Town, coupled with the formation of a new party, expose him as having stepped into a pair of oversized shoes?

As good an MP as he appears to have been, will Mr McCartney find himself hopelessly in the political wilderness after the next election?

And, why didn't Mr McCartney own his political moment and vote no to the BTC sale whilst sitting as an FNM and then allow the FNM to expel him from the party? Why did he resign and walk out of Parliament instead of facing the music-- wouldn't that have had greater historical effect? No doubt, he would have gone down in history and become an even bigger political rock star.

Why didn't McCartney bring some of his Bamboo Town constituents with him to Parliament as a show of support for his vote on the BTC sale and his resignation from the FNM?

Indeed, it is true that some within the FNM are whooping and hollering now that Mr McCartney has divorced the party, particularly as he was a strong threat to their chances of ascending to the FNM leadership in the post-Ingraham era (likely 2017).

Has McCartney's political stock depreciated from self-inflicted wounds or is it just burgeoning?

Did McCartney buy into his own public relations?

Is the FNM's ongoing and much publicized response to Mr McCartney's resignation an indication of a seismic crack in their electoral machinery? Now that McCartney has abandoned the FNM, will he ever be catapulted into a much higher political stratosphere--that is, that of Prime Minister? Will Mr McCartney do a "Bernard Nottage" and abandon the proposed political entity and one day return to the FNM, this time to assume the party's leadership? Is McCartney's rumoured formation of a new party merely a vehicle to demonstrate his leadership abilities in hopes of impressing the internal machinery of the FNM and being invited back as their political saviour in 2017?

As I said in an earlier column, now that Bran McCartney has taken his fate into his own hands, if he remains an independent--a true independent--he's likely to still attract many marginal, non-ideological and independent-minded voters--a class of voters that's rapidly expanding with today's younger, more educated electorate.

Indeed, there remains a jingoistic adoration of the Bamboo Town MP. Moreover, Mr McCartney--regardless of the chair throwing and stirring dramatics at the FNM's recent town hall meeting in the constituency--has a sizeable FNM following and FNMs have, in the past, shown themselves willing to vote independent if they feel that the party didn't do the right thing. In this case, McCartney may not find that support as many FNMs feel like he walked out on them.

Frankly, Mr McCartney would likely suffer a political death if he joins another party--or perhaps forms his own--and thereby returns to the electorate after one term with another "label" attached.

Quite honestly, McCartney should postpone any plans for a third party and instead focus on winning his own seat!

Moreover, this political season Mr McCartney must avoid appearing like a disgruntled FNM and engaging in petty bickering, instead promulgating ideas and promoting national initiatives.

In Bamboo Town, he has demonstrated an ideal work ethic and has a body of work--within the constituency--to bolster his campaign. McCartney, among his constituents, is heralded as a hard worker, a young man who understands the true purpose of Parliamentary representation of his constituents.

Reliable sources have informed me that there are plans afoot to outfox Mr McCartney at the polls, writing him off as a showman, whose "groundless" braggadocio, will douse his electoral prospects and place him on a treadmill to oblivion whilst also serving as a teachable moment to a cadre of political newcomers. One FNM insider advised me to watch the "shifting landscape."

Bran McCartney must now wade through a political minefield and, as one who was once considered the future face of the FNM, his resignation has led to a man--who potentially could've risen to the leadership of the FNM--ushering himself out of the throne room.

Frankly, if Mr McCartney is relegated to the political dustbin following the next general election, he would be another politician crushed by the machinery of the major parties. However, if he wins, he's likely to be a force to be reckoned with, particularly if he articulates ideas and is not blinded by ego.

That said, if the Bahamas continues to be a red (FNM) and gold (PLP) state, young persons promoting change and aspiring for leadership may have to fight from within the internal structure of the major parties, seeking to convince council and executive members of the value of their candidacy and the importance of new ideas in advancing the country--unless, of course, there is a political revolution!


April 09, 2011

tribune242

Bahamas Blog International