Latrae Rahming on Safety For American Tourists in The Bahamas

What About The Safety of Bahamians in The Bahamas, Mr. Latrae Rahming?

OPM DID NOT SEND CBS NEWS TEAM TO COVER MURDER SCENE

STATEMENT FROM COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR:

“The Office of the Prime Minister did not direct any news crew to cover a crime scene in The Bahamas. We have since contacted the team, who indicated they will not use that as part of their story.

The purpose of their (CBS News crew) trip is to show that The Bahamas is safe for Americans to visit and that incidents occurring in The Bahamas are outside of the tourist areas,” Communication’s Director, Latrae Rahming.

Source

Coalition of Independents (COI) Respond to The Communications Director at The Office of the Prime Minister, Latrae Rahming On Safe Areas for Tourists in The Bahamas

"Director Latrae Rahming, your statement is not only a slap in the face to every Bahamian but also a clear indication of where the government's priorities lie. The audacity to publicize areas safe for tourists while leaving your own citizens to navigate through violence and fear is beyond appalling.

It's a blatant display of negligence towards the very people you've sworn to protect and serve. Our nation should not resemble a resort, where safety is a luxury afforded only to those holding foreign passports.

The reality that our own streets have become battlegrounds for our sons and daughters, while the government seems more preoccupied with the nation's image abroad, is shameful. It's a gross failure to fulfill the most basic duties of governance and law enforcement.

Furthermore, let this serve as a stern reminder that the Bahamian people are exhausted by this blatant disregard for their safety and well-being.

Our children, the future of this nation, are growing up in an environment where their lives are undervalued. The government's apparent indifference to the escalating violence within our own borders, while ensuring tourists can sunbathe in peace, is unacceptable.

We demand more than just words and reassurances; we demand tangible actions and policies that prioritize the safety of every Bahamian. The time has come for the government to stop treating its citizens as second-class and start addressing the root causes of this violence.

The people of The Bahamas deserve to feel safe in their own country, not just survive. Our patience has worn thin, and our tolerance for excuses has reached its end. It's high time our leaders took their responsibilities seriously and made the safety and security of their own people their top priority.

I fully understand that tourism is our number one industry, and we've seen how fragile that is, especially when we were struck by COVID-19, and now it is being further threatened by crime. While the need to protect this industry is clear, it's crucial that we move past this outdated model.

The safety and needs of our people must not be overlooked in the process. The continuous focus on the welfare of tourists at the expense of our own citizens' safety is a dangerous imbalance that cannot be sustained.

It's time to explore and invest in sustainable development models that do not sacrifice the well-being of Bahamians. Our people's lives and safety should always be the priority, and any model that fails to recognize this is fundamentally flawed and unacceptable."

Charlotte Green

National Chairman

Coalition of Independents

Source 

The Bahamas Support The Ministerial Declaration on Accelerating and Strengthening the Global Response to Synthetic Drugs

The Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats

We the Ministers and government representatives of the undersigned States, having met virtually on 7 July 2023, affirm our shared commitment to taking concerted and sustained action at the national, regional, and international levels to effectively respond to emerging drug-related threats in an integrated and balanced manner.

We express grave concern about the public health and social harms associated with the non-medical consumption of synthetic drugs, the insufficient availability, accessibility, affordability, and quality of drug treatment, recovery, and support services, and the security challenges associated with their illicit manufacture, diversion, trafficking, and related crimes.

We reaffirm our determination to address these challenges comprehensively through evidence-based public health interventions aimed at reducing demand and at preventing and reducing synthetic drug-related harms to individuals and society, including due to overdoses, as well as by preventing and countering the illicit manufacture, diversion, and trafficking of synthetic drugs and their precursors, including trafficking via the internet.

We hereby establish a Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats to strengthen the coordinated global response to the international public health and safety challenges posed by synthetic drugs through international cooperation to drive comprehensive, balanced, evidence-based, and effective actions at the national and international levels, in accordance with applicable international law.

We are committed to jointly identifying priority lines of effort, developing forward-looking solutions, and advancing national and international actions, including the provision of training, technical assistance, and capacity building upon request, to make measurable progress toward addressing and countering this public health and security challenge, taking into account its evolving nature and long-term impact.

We are committed to sharing technical expertise, best practices, scientific evidence, and other relevant information, as appropriate and in accordance with applicable domestic law, and to taking into account, as appropriate, input from all relevant stakeholders, including international organizations, law enforcement, judicial and health-care personnel, civil society, the scientific community and academia, as well as the private sector.

We affirm that the use of certain synthetic drugs is indispensable for medical and scientific purposes, including for the relief of pain and for palliative care, and that measures to address their illicit manufacture, diversion, trafficking, and non-medical consumption should not unduly restrict their accessibility or availability for such purposes.

We take these actions while underscoring that the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 as amended by the 1972 Protocol, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971, the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988, and other relevant international instruments constitute the cornerstone of the international drug control system.

We reaffirm our unwavering commitment, including in the context of addressing synthetic drug threats, to ensuring that all aspects of demand reduction and related measures, supply reduction and related measures, and international cooperation should be addressed in full conformity with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, international law, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of States, all human rights, fundamental freedoms, the inherent dignity of all individuals and the principles of equal rights and mutual respect among states.

We are committed to contributing to the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs as the policymaking body of the UN system with prime responsibility for drug control and other drug-related matters, as well as to other relevant regional and multilateral bodies and fora, while recognizing the ongoing efforts of relevant United Nations entities, in particular those of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Health Organization, as well as the treaty-mandated role of the International Narcotics Control Board.

We invite additional countries to join these efforts, recognizing these threats have a detrimental and dangerous impact for public health, safety, and security around the world, and require global response.

Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, European Union, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar,  Republic of Korea, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan

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.

High Bahamian youth unemployment, and resulting poverty and social inequality breed high crime levels in The Bahamas

Poverty Breeds 35% ‘No Graduate’ Rate

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

More than one-third of the poorest Bahamians fail to complete secondary education, helping to create what a former Cabinet minister yesterday described as a “stubbornly high” youth unemployment rate that must be reduced urgently .

James Smith, ex-state finance minister, told Tribune Business that the high jobless rate among Bahamians aged between 15-24 years-old, which hit 31 per cent in November 2014, was “structural” in nature.

He said the high rate epitomised the large gap between jobs that were available and the skill sets required by employers, with many young Bahamians not equipped to meet these requirements.

Apart from the “social fallout” caused by high youth unemployment, the former Central Bank governor warned that it also held back economic growth, because unemployed persons lacked the incomes to give them spending power.

The consequences are spelled out in a recent Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report obtained by Tribune Business, which identified high unemployment among young Bahamians, and resulting poverty and social inequality, as key factors behind the high crime levels.

The IDB report, on a proposed ‘Citizen Security and Justice Programme’, found that 35 per cent of 20-24 year-old Bahamians drawn from the poorest segment of society had failed to complete secondary school, compared to just 6 per cent of the rest of the population in the same age group.

Highlighting the startling inequalities in Bahamian society, the IDB report said: “The fact that most students complete secondary education but only half of them graduate (pass a final examination) is a worrying indicator of poor system performance.

“Available data shows that 35 per cent of 20-24 year olds from the poorest decile have not completed secondary education, compared to 6 per cent of the rest of the population of that age.”

While unemployment in the 15-24 year-old age group was slightly down in November 2014 compared to the 32.3 per cent peak hit in 2013, the IDB report left no doubt as to the consequences for Bahamian society.

“Research and evidence, show that a wide variety of risk factors contribute to the prevalence of youth violence, one of them being lack of attachment to school and the workplace during adolescence and adulthood,” its report said.

“In the Bahamas, youth unemployment has doubled from 14.9 per cent in 2001 to 32.3 per cent in 2013 for job seekers aged 15 to 24)”, a rate double that of the overall nation’s.

“Further analysis within the 15-24 age group shows that unemployment is particularly high among 15-19 year-olds seeking jobs (42 per cent versus 24 per cent for those 20-24),” the IDB added, highlighting the problems secondary school leavers face in finding immediate employment.

“Searching for jobs can be a discouraging process given that more than 50 per cent of youth remain unemployed for more than a year,” the Bank’s report said. “Idle young people (not in employment, education, or training) are particularly vulnerable to continued labour detachment, which may contribute to violent or anti-social behaviour.

“The employability of youth hinges critically on the level of education and skills attained to match demands from employers. Even though most students complete secondary education, only half of them actually graduate.

“Although there are not available measures of skill levels of unemployed youth, most employers report difficulties in recruiting job candidates because of insufficient specific skills (66 per cent), soft skills (24 per cent) and numeracy skills (12 per cent).”

Responding to the Department of Statistics’ Labour Force Survey, Mr Smith described youth unemployment as “stubbornly high” and “an area that really needs to be addressed”.

He identified the cause as “the gap between available jobs and the skill sets to meet those jobs”, and said: “Jobs being advertised are calling for skills a lot of young people don’t have, plus experience, because a lot of them have never worked before.

“The quick solution to that is really to identify and train the people, if they can, to reach the level of aptitude for jobs that is required.”

Besides the social impact, Mr Smith told Tribune Business: “It’s a restraint to economic growth. Young people joining the labour force at a sufficiently large rate, that keeps an economy going.

“I’m optimistic that over time most of these things will work themselves out.”

The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC), too, in a statement issued yesterday called for “more emphasis” to be placed on training and skills development in the Bahamian workforce.

“In the excessively fast pace world in which the Bahamas competes, things are moving at the speed of light and if individuals do not take the time to tool and retool themselves, they will get left behind,” the BCCEC said.

“Businesses are looking for people with drive and ambition who are able to produce quality work at an accelerated pace. Loyalty in the workplace experienced in years gone by is a thing of the past, and individuals who are high achievers are always looking for something that is more challenging and more gratifying.

“Therefore, it is also important for private sector businesses and the public service to be on the cutting edge of innovation and technology to ensure that they are also keeping pace with new developments and that they are able to attract quality employees in their businesses.”

The BCCEC added that industrial peace would also aid hiring, and called on employers and trade unions to negotiate reasonable settlements to outstanding issues.

Describing the Bahamian economy as “very fragile”, the Chamber said: “Trade unions, particularly in this environment, should remain cognisant of the vulnerability of workers and should ensure that their members remain employed through balanced demands tied with worker performance and the financial position of employers.

“Employee benefits will come, but the first rule should be that of survival in this current economic environment.”

January 16, 2015

Tribune 242

Her Majesty Prisons (HMP) and the harsh realities of crime and punishment in the modern Bahamas

Prison reform must be a national priority

The Nassau Guardian Editorial

Her Majesty’s Prisons (HMP) is obsolete. Built in simpler and more peaceful times, the country’s only correctional facility has seen its physical capacity simply overwhelmed by the harsh realities of crime and punishment in the modern Bahamas.

Today, HMP holds more than 1,500 inmates – a far greater number than envisioned by those who designed it – with the Maximum Security Unit housing more than double the 400 convicts it was originally intended to accommodate.

In addition, there are serious health and sanitation issues, staffing shortages, security concerns and infrastructural problems.

Minister of National Security Dr. Bernard Nottage is aware of the situation. Blaming the chronic overcrowding on the slow movement of the courts and a consequent build-up of remand prisoners, earlier this year, he said it could be alleviated if more inmates were granted bail or sentenced to community service instead of prison time.

While it is true that there are currently hundreds detained at HMP awaiting trial, there are a number of problems with Nottage’s suggestion.

For one thing, despite the repeated promise to usher in Swift Justice, it is unclear whether the government will ever manage to influence the speed at which the judiciary operates – or even whether such an outcome exclusively of the government’s doing is desirable, given the country’s constitutionally-enshrined separation of powers.

For another, the public at large can be expected to express some level of discomfort at the idea of certain categories of accused persons being released on their own recognizance, particularly in light of the many recent claims of persons committing violent offenses while on bail.

Perhaps most importantly, Nottage’s solution seems rather modest considering the severity of the problem and its potential consequences for society.

Back in early 2012, an era of grand political promises, the then opposition PLP said the state of the prison was unacceptable and could not be allowed to persist.

Its election manifesto said: “The increase in crime in our society and the number of offenders at HMP has resulted in severe overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. The ratio of officers to inmates is not ideal, and the health and working conditions are a concern to both inmates and the officers assigned to watch them.”

The PLP promised that, if elected, it would build a much-needed clinic at the prison, increase staff numbers to “safe levels”, establish halfway houses to smooth the entry of ex-offenders into society and even consider building a new prison complex.

The now governing party made a number of pledges in the run-up to the May 2012 election, many of which have been forced onto the back-burner by unpleasant economic realities.

Even in these cash-strapped times, addressing the state of Her Majesty’s Prisons must remain among our top national priorities.

The majority of HMP inmates are young men who will one day rejoin this society, but it is very difficult to rehabilitate a person under inhumane and unsanitary conditions. Whether they return to us as promising assets or dangerous liabilities therefore hangs in the balance.

September 27, 2014

thenassauguardian editorial

Bahamians encouraged to unite to fight crime

Citizens Voice Concerns on Crime

By Jones Bahamas:

The incidents, victims and perpetrators of violent crime are oftentimes based in over-the-hill communities that have for years gotten a bad rap for the country’s crime woes, but on Thursday The Bahama Journal took to the streets to find out what some citizens in these areas had to say about this vexing issue that seems to grip headlines on a daily basis.

Residents in the Bains Town and Grants Town constituency care calling on the government to up the ante to fight a problem that is now out of hand.

A mother of four and resident of the Bain Town community said that she is in fear of her life and fear the safety of her family.

“This crime level is ridiculous and they need to start hanging because it’s getting worse each and every day, you can’t even sit down on your own porch, you’re getting shoot or gun downed something need to be done,” said Stephanie Burrows.

Others shared similar sentiments.

“I think it’s really out of hand now, the authorities really need to pay closer attention to it, I think it’s a shame, I think it falls like how everyone has been saying on the parents,” said Carla Jackson.

“If we had responsible parents bringing up the children in the right way, in my personal opinion I don’t think crime would be in the position that it’s in now.”

“I think they need to implement and do what they say they’re going to do rather than just locking them up, sending them back out with ankle bracelets and when you listen they get kill, they go out and commit more crime out on bail and they get their life taken away and it’s sad,” said Anishca Moxey.

“I think the problem with the crime is that the family members, if you have a brother who does a crime and you say nothing, if you see your cousin doing crap and come to your house with the money, you take the money, you’re not helping the country and that’s what really causing the problem,” said Julian Farrington.

A 33-year-old man and resident of the Bain Town community said that youth unemployment contributes to crime.

He also expressed dismay with young men who would decide chase fast money from crime rather than look for a job.

Marlene Dorsett, a 76-year-old store owner who grew up in the area of Bain Town said she has been a victim of robberies on a number of occasions.

Ms. Dorsett said that crime is everyone’s problem and encouraged Bahamians to unite.

“The government is trying its best but the government does not have children, parents have children and they need to learn how to train these children from small, we’ll just have to all work together and try to make it a better country, whatever we do crime will be here, when the end of the world come then we will have peace,” she said.

Prime Minister Perry Christie on Wednesday said that the country is now faced with a kill or be killed situation, adding that the justice system continues to be challenged by the revolving door of bail granted to people charged with serious criminal offenses.

However, Mr. Christie foreshadowed dramatic improvements in the judicial system as ten criminal courts are set to come on stream.

September 05, 2014

Jones Bahamas

The Bahamas' War Against Crime

Losing The War On Crime

By PACO NUNEZ

Tribune News Editor

pnunez@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas will never win this war against crime – never.

 

Forget all the talk about the “downward trend”, of things heading in the right direction. Ignore the claims of those who have something to gain, political or otherwise, by encouraging public confidence.

 

The fact is that in the face of renewed efforts by the police and increased investment in law enforcement, violent crime – let’s face it, the only kind people really care about – is up again this year.

 

Up one per cent, over the most violent year in our history.

 

And that’s without factoring in the category of “causing harm” which police revealed doesn’t count as violent crime, even though it may include dozens if not scores of stabbings, shootings, assaults.

 

But please have patience, they will say.

 

New programmes take time to put down roots, new strategies can’t bear fruit overnight.

 

Don’t believe them.

 

The truth is that no amount of effort or level of commitment to this war can produce a peaceful society, because it was always the wrong war to begin with.

 

And all along, we’ve been fighting the wrong enemy – an imaginary opponent, an enemy of our own invention.

 

This adversary is known in law enforcement language as the “bad apple”, an individual who resides in one of several clearly defined “hot-spots” – a collection of isolated sores on an otherwise healthy body.

 

Cut out the sores, the argument goes, and the body will thrive.

 

It’s said these individuals commit crimes because they are confident of escaping severe punishment; that they would respond to stiffer prison sentences, the enthusiastic application of the death penalty, maybe the occasional whipping.

 

Apparently, they are hardened criminals, irredeemable, rotten to the core, but somehow at the same time easy to transform into stand-up citizens. You just have to scare them a little.

 

Meanwhile, as we struggle against this improbable enemy, the real menace continues to grow all around us.

 

None of this is the fault of the police. They are doing their job, investigating crimes and bringing suspects before the judge.

 

But their success proves the point: the court schedule is already packed, the prison full to bursting.

 

If it were simply a case of identifying and removing the rotten fruit, violent criminals would be an endangered species by now.

 

Instead, they thrive. And honest officers admit that in addition to the usual suspects, they find themselves in pursuit of an ever growing roll call of new criminals. Often young, fresh faced criminals.

 

“Do you understand as a public that there are scores of healthy bodied men that are not fully employed who have taken to a life of crime?” the Commissioner of Police said last week.

 

“Their crime is to steal cars and return a profit or to sell parts of those cars; their crime is to sell drugs and to return a profit and to commit armed robbery so they could purchase whatever they want for themselves and for their family and friends.

 

“That is what is happening. Why can’t we open our eyes to it?”

 

He is right. But it’s more than just hard economic times.

 

There is a reason why even as the Bahamas grapples with the problem of violent criminals, it is also struggling to explain why more and more young people are harming or killing themselves.

 

And psychologists will tell you that in many cases – even most cases – we are talking about the same people.

 

The reality is that a widespread sense of hopelessness and futility exists among Bahamians – particularly among young men – which unemployment merely inflames, causes to boil to the surface.

 

The pressure must find a release, and it often does so in the form of blind rage, directed either at the self or at someone else.

 

Or, if an explosion can be avoided for long enough, it leads to a hardening of the heart, to a view of the world in which everyone else is either an obstacle or a target.

 

And this real enemy is a criminal who no threat of punishment will deter, because he places no value on life, not even his own. Who only became “a criminal” by taking one final step off a cliff where even as you read this, literally thousands more are already standing.

 

And behind those thousands are yet more, many times their number. Only children today, but already on the same path to senseless destruction.

 

And on and on, unendingly. Each wave more numerous than the one before.

 

The real enemy isn’t a group of people, it isn’t a neighbourhood. It’s an outlook, a way of thinking.

 

An adopted identity that is contagious and spreading.

 

The origins of this disease are complex, but an important contributor is the deterioration of the Bahamian home, which has for complicated reasons degraded over the years to unthinkable levels of violence, abuse and neglect.

 

Somehow, the place where children are supposed to be nurtured and fortified has become the scene of their rejection and abandonment. The place where they are battered, exploited, raped.

 

True, these secret obscenities – hidden away behind walls, doors and in the silence of mutual guilt – are most pronounced in the inner city household, the engine room of our crime problem and ultimately the most important battlefield in this war.

 

The most important, but not the only one: because the enemy is often your co-worker, your customer, your boss. The guy you pass in the street.

 

And, ultimately, the enemy is also every one of us who harbours deep within their heart, that oh-so-Bahamian tendency toward dishonesty, entitlement and self-gratification.

 

Because this attitude is the other side of the crime coin.

 

Our attachment to unearned privileges is the thing to which emotionally damaged young people turn in search of escape, relief, fulfilment.

 

The example of this society is: “Get what you can for yourself, to make yourself big, by whatever means necessary.”

 

Let me be clear, this is not about making excuses for violent behaviour or attacking the idea of individual responsibility.

 

But we should not be surprised when brushes dipped into the same bucket of paint continue to emerge the same colour.

 

It’s easy to see why we’ve avoided acknowledging this war in favour of a far simpler, more reassuring version.

 

For one thing, how do you repair critically dysfunctional households, made so by complicated interactions between the people who live in them – each with complex, hidden, inaccessible problems of their own?

 

Is there even a household to speak of anymore, considering the staggering numbers of single parents, absent fathers, illegitimate children?

 

Who, for that matter, is entitled to intervene? Should the relations between father and son, husband and wife, be regulated by the government?

 

And what role does the public education system – the one entity that touches the lives of virtually all these young people – have to play, and to what extent has the failure of this system to adapt contributed to the problem?

 

There are no easy answers in this war, no convenient, us-versus-them battle-lines.

 

But we had better find a way to engage with it – or at the very least acknowledge that simply locking ‘em up is no real solution – before this society is too far gone to save.

 

What do you think?

 

Email questions or comments to pnunez@tribunemedia.net, or join the conversation at: http://www.tribune242.com/news/opinion/insight/

 

June 03, 2013

 

Tribune 242

 

Caribbean Blog International

 

The Bahamas is facing a crime crisis... but the nation is not in crisis mode

Crime crisis threatens nation
High crime threatens future

BY CANDIA DAMES
Guardian News Editor
candia@nasguard.com

The Bahamas today is facing a crisis, but the country is not in crisis mode.

There is no sense of urgency or direction from government, or any key area of society for that matter to address the alarming rate of violence in the country, and a worsening erosion of our moral fabric.

The crime situation today is like a bucket with a million holes.  There is a leak from every direction.

The government has touted the success of its Urban Renewal 2.0 program, but in New Providence the crime problem rages on.

No one is comforted by reports from the national security minister and the police commissioner that there are fewer murders now when compared to last year.

Gunshots are ringing out at a rate that threatens communities on a nightly basis. The bodies are piling up, and there is a sense that the fear of crime is also rising.

Countless young men especially have been carted off our streets in body bags and too many of us appear to be growing numb to reports of more murders.

This past weekend, three more were recorded. There were two on Wednesday and four over the recent Whit Monday holiday weekend.

So between Saturday, May 18 and Saturday, May 25, the country recorded nine murders.

The government says it has increased resources for police and patrols have been beefed up.

But the terror continues.

More than a year after the Progressive Liberal Party erected its famous murder billboards in key areas in New Providence — most notably tourist areas — the government seems paralyzed in presenting solutions.

If ever there were a lesson on why no one should politicize crime, this would be high on the list.

The politicization of crime is not new, however.

In its 1999 report, the Crime Commission headed by Justice Burton Hall observed that politicians, from all sides, have succumbed to the temptation to treat the issue of crime as a target for partisan posturing.

“While we recognize that, in a democracy, any government must be open to criticism over its perceived failure in the area of crime, as with all areas which form the fabric of national life which governments are elected to secure and enhance, we are concerned that in the welter of political rhetoric it tends to be lost that the facet of government responsibility for the social phenomenon of crime is but one of many,” the commission said.

Long after the PLP billboards, many Bahamians are more fearful in their homes, afraid to travel the streets at nights and more cautious about their movements even during the daytime hours.

Parents of young adults find it increasingly difficult to sleep at nights when their children are out of the house.  The peace of our beloved Bahamas is threatened.

While we have much to be proud of as it relates to our young people, there is much to worry about.

With some streets in New Providence being turned into war zones, and growing fears that crime could seriously threaten our economy, there is need for national outcry, but more importantly, national action to arrest the problem.

In the face of mounting criticisms that the church has lost its voice after winning the January 28 gambling referendum, the Christian Council intends to announce today that it is planning a national prayer gathering on June 18.

“If you are tired of what is happening to our beloved country you need to be there,” Christian Council President Rev. Dr. Ranford Patterson wrote on his Facebook page.

“The problem we face is not a government alone problem, no matter what is being reported.

“It is a Bahamian problem, so let us take responsibility to solve it. I believe the answer is in God.”

Patterson added that he believes that at the prayer gathering “the power of God will shake this country once and for all”.

There is no doubt that we as a nation need to be shaken up.  The church’s role in this fight, however, will need to be more than just praying.

Let us pray for God’s guidance, but let us also be serious about acting to change our communities.

The Christian Council must show leadership on issues outside gambling if it is to be taken seriously.

Losing hope

On the eve of the 40th anniversary of our independence, we have a Bahamas that is ‘drifting’, according to retired Anglican Archbishop Drexel Gomez, who 20 years ago chaired the Consultative Commission on National Youth Development.

In 1993, he called for a national youth development policy, saying a successful policy “would be one that addresses the real needs of the nation’s youth”.

“What has happened over the last 20 years is that social pressures have increased from several different directions,” Gomez told The Nassau Guardian when contacted for comment.

“And so, the impact on the society generally has been a negative one in that the whole drug scenario hasn’t left us.  In fact, in many instances it has become worse.  It has certainly become more violent now.

“There is evidence to indicate there is definitely some kind of warfare going on among gangs and retaliation and armed conflicts.

“I firmly believe that if as a society we had stopped 20 years ago and really made some decisions to get serious about what we do about our neighborhoods and what we do about creating community, that we would have made some headway, but I think we’ve gone in a negative direction and the other pressures in society have increased.

“I hope we can come to terms with it, but it certainly must be a community exercise.  One or two groupings cannot do it.”

Gomez said the findings of the youth commission were not sufficiently appreciated by the general public at the time they were presented.

“In fact, some of the findings were highly questioned because there were many people who preferred to remain ignorant than to face up to the truth,” he said.

What has transpired in the two decades since has been a worsening situation, he observed.

Gomez said many young people today are lost.

“So many are unemployed,” he noted.  “So many don’t see much of a future and they aren’t encouraged to even look for things because many have reconciled themselves to the fact that life is going to be difficult.

“Among the people I talk to, I detect a strong sense of hopelessness and the economic situation is only making that worse.

“So I really pray hard that we can get employment for our people because the unemployment is a serious problem that has negative effects from several perspectives.”

Asked what he sees as the general state of the nation at this time, Gomez said, “I think we’re drifting really.

“Right now it seems to me that the present government is trying to address the economic situation and they are trying to work in terms of increasing the social welfare products and trying to find resources at a time when the financial resources are extremely limited.

“And it is lack of financial resources that is crippling the situation.  We have to find ways of increasing the revenue.”

Gomez said the nation’s moral compass is going in the wrong direction.

“There is too much of an emphasis on individualism,” he said.  “There are too many people who take life happy go lucky, with no morals and no interest in standards where whatever happens, happens.”

Moral re-armament

It is this erosion of morality that is fueling social ills, Gomez noted.

What to do about the nation’s crime problem has been aired on many levels over the last two decades.

In 1998, Justice Burton Hall was named chairman of a high-powered National Commission on Crime.

When it reported in 1999, that commission observed that crime is, at bottom, a moral failing, both of individuals and of the society and, consequently, the ultimate solutions lie in programs of what used to be described in a less cynical age as “moral re-armament”.

Commissioners said, “We are convinced that Bahamian society is more threatened by a pervasive culture of dishonesty, greed and a casual disregard for social norms and formal regulation, than it is by crimes in the narrow sense…”

They also wrote that while the fear of crime in the restricted sense has reached such a level in New Providence as to suggest a state of near social collapse, when the reality of reported criminal activity is examined in its national, regional and global context, we should not be alarmed into a state of hysteria.

Nearly 15 years after that report, much of what the commissioners observed is still relevant.

There have been other crime committees and commissions since.

What is clear is that we know what the problem is.  We have had numerous experts suggest solutions.

But we continue to drift.

Our country and its future are suffering as a result.

I have heard at least two of my friends with young children say they are educating and raising them with a view to living outside The Bahamas.

This is a tragic sign that too many people are losing hope in our country.

While the situation is bad, all is not lost, however.

I believe that we are at a critical juncture in our national development.

We are not completely without hope, but we are at a point where strong leadership is needed on all levels to make tough choices before we descend into chaos — before our economy is ruined by crime; before thousands more of our young people get to a place where there is no turning back from despair and destruction.

As former Parliamentarian George Smith opined in a chat with Guardian National Review, societies can be transformed.

“But the political and civil leadership, spiritual leaders of all denominations, they have to recognize that we need to transform this society, but they have to take the lead in doing it,” he said.

“We live in a society where people wake up and say ‘I wonder how many it was last night’.

“The political directorate in this country is not providing the leadership for the society to get this country out of this malaise.

“Civil society is not doing it and the most responsible spiritual leaders, their silence is deafening.  I call on my bishop (Patrick Pinder). I want to hear from him about these things.”

So, while we pray, we indeed must act for the sake of us all.

As Bishop Gomez puts it: “We have to shock this nation into facing up to reality and coming together to work together for the common good.”

May 27, 2013

The Nassau Guardian

Caribbean Blog International