When Abner Doubleday introduced the sport of baseball almost one hundred and eighty years ago, he probably never expected for it to develop to the extent that it did to become America’s favorite past time. ﾠﾠThe success of the development of baseball was probably due to its simplicity and any child playing the game whether on the blocks or at school can easily learn to play. ﾠHowever, the underlying ﾠprinciples and rules of the game were formulated by Alexander Cartwright. ﾠIt was based on the fact that three strikes ﾠagainst the batter and he is out.When three batters have been retired, the other side then has the opportunity to bat.
The simple principle of “three strikes and you are out” has since been applied to many areas in life especially when a strike refers to an action that has a negative impact on one’s life. ﾠSuch activities are usually discontinued after one has failed after three attempts.
The controversial situation involving Sidney Stubbs, the Member of Parliament for the Holy Cross constituency is yet another example of the policy of “three strikes and you’re out ” ﾠin action. History will show that this was the final Waterloo of Sidney Stubbs’ political career.
The first strike against Mr. Stubbs was when exercising his authority at BAIC fired a number of employees reportedly because of their political beliefs. ﾠTreating a group of people in this manner is what is referred to as “discrimination!” ﾠThis is completely contrary to the laws and constitution of the Bahamas.
In common lingo, ﾠthis abuse of one’s constitutional rights is what is referred to as”victimization,” ﾠthat ungodly evil that Bahamas hoped would never return to the Bahamas.For the record, Prime Minister Perry Christie on a number of occasion during the 2002 campaign and after has categorically stated that his PLP government would not tolerate the evil practice of victimization. ﾠPrime Minister Christie position is clearly contrary to Mr. Stubbs’ action. ﾠMany persons felt that Mr. Stubbs’ action was due to his political inexperience and ﾠbeing a ﾠrookie in the House of Parliament. ﾠBut other ﾠPLP politicians who were newly elected but did not display this kind of ﾠundesirable actions ﾠthat Mr. Stubbs did.
The 2nd strike against Mr. Stubbs was his involvement ﾠwith the Korean fishing boat scandal. ﾠConflict of interest , ﾠbad judgment and improper procedure all adds up to a politically disastrous situation that should have ended Mr. Stubbs political concern right then and there. ﾠBut we as Bahamians all too often accept mediocrity and contradiction as acceptable moral behavior. ﾠPrime Minister Perry Christie’s Code of Ethics had ﾠmade it quite clear on a number of occasion that there will be zero tolerance for any of his Ministers and Parliamentarians who violate the Code of Ethics. This position of course is hogwash as Prime Minister Christie’s slow and limited action on this ﾠmatter appears almost ﾠto be a stamp of approval of Mr. Stubbs’ actions with his ambiguous reaction to Mr. Stubbs andthe Korean boat scandal. ﾠClearly Prime Minister Christie is a man who does not mean what he says or say what he means !Freeport ﾠNews editor Oswald Brown had ﾠrecently reported in one of his editorials that Mr. Stubbs has some pretty ﾠimpressive credentials having studied at some prestigious universities in both North America and Europe.While ignorance of the law is no defense, ﾠMr. Stubbs must surely be aware that in those countries in which he had resided such as Switzerland, ﾠUnited Kingdom, ﾠCanada, ﾠUSA, etc, once the scandal was exposed ﾠthe government would have expected nothing less than his immediate resignation. ﾠFailure to do so could have also cost the Minister his job as the Minister is vicariously responsible for his subordinates.A worst case scenario of alleged corruption could have brought down the entire government.
The third and final strike against Sidney Stubbs is enshrined in the Constitution of the Bahamas where it is clearly defined who is qualified to sit in the Honorable House of Parliament.Age, ﾠcitizenship, mental incapacity and imprisonment of ﾠthree months or more clearly disqualifies anyone from taking a seat in the Honorable House.A good example is Wilbur Moss, the PLP representative for Acklins, Crooked Island and Long Cay who was imprisoned in 1989 was forced to resign after his imprisonment. ﾠThis led to a Bye-election in the Acklins, Crooked Island and Long Cay Constituencies in 1989.
Bankruptcy also disqualifies one to be a Parliamentarian.The courts has determined Sidney Stubbs ﾠto be a bankrupt. ﾠAs this is a provision in the Constitution, ﾠSidney Stubbs only recourse is to resign from the honorable House of Parliament. ﾠTo try to defend the indefensible is foolish as the only court that remotely might be able to assist Mr. Stubbs is the Privy Council.Environmental Minister Code Smith’s opinion that demands for ﾠMr. Stubbs to resign is at this time is premature ﾠis pure nonsense and is serving only as a delay tactic.This is most unfair to the good people of Holy Cross who had elected who they thought would have been a full time Member of Parliament and not one who is too busy defending himself and has little time to take care of the people’s business.To continue under these circumstances, ﾠMr. Stubbs is only serving his own selfish agenda. ﾠThis is most unfortunate, After three strikes, ﾠclearly Mr. ﾠStubbs is out of the political game and it is now time for someone else to step out on the plate to bat for Holy Cross.
Dr. Leatendore ﾠPercentie
Boston, Massachusetts
July 25th, 2004
