Cassius Stuart and Omar Smith have quite literally done it again.
And just as predictably these two men have literally made the news. They are – again – quite evidently- quite savvy as to what it means to dramatize an issue, and thereby command the attention of media.
Our reference here is to some of what happened this past week in Rawson Square and in the immediate environs of the House of Assembly as the government sought to finesse the sorry matter involving the embattled Sydney Stubbs. To put the matter as clearly as possible, the government was subjected to a baptism of fire. They were inundated with criticisms from their parliamentary and extra-parliamentary opposition; which brings us back to Stuart and Smith.
It is quite clear to us and a host of other Bahamians that the Stuart and Smith duo is on a mission. And while there are many who would dismiss these men as upstarts and spoilers, that would be too easy a conclusion. Fact is, they are showing the public that there are circumstances, which make men; and that there are men who make circumstances. Take for example, some of the tactics and provocations that this duo has used, all of which dare the police to charge them.
To date Stuart and Smith have prevailed; and the public is taking note. In their most daring assault, they have challenged the prime minister as he sought to make his way to the House of Assembly. And the fact today is that they did so successfully. We would have thought that having dared the police by deliberately flouting the law, the next best thing would have automatically followed: Stuart and Smith would have been charged, and made to answer certain questions about their activities in the immediate environs of the House of Assembly.
In this regard, we make the point that politics and policing should not ever reach the point where police act as if they are politicians, and try to curt favor with the public. And for sure, politicians should not be allowed to act as if they were advisers to the police. There are already too many whispers about the ‘word coming down from the top’ about any number of matters involving allegations about politicians who – as the whispered allegations go – routinely seek to put pressure on the police.
There is another more insidious aspect to this matter purporting collusion, conflict and any number of allegations of wrong contact between police and politicians. This time around it involves situations where the police will pursue certain avenues or abandon others because of what they imagine are the preferences of certain highly placed politicians.
This is the worst form of abuse for the criminal justice system.
All we say at this juncture is that the attentive public is watching all of this very closely, and very carefully. And while some politicians and some police officers might think they are ‘getting over’, the public knows what collusion and corruption smell like, taste like, and look like on any given day of the week.
And so, while we make no allegation about anyone concerning why Cassius Stuart and Omar Smith were allowed ‘a slide’ by the police, we wish to remind both the police and the politicians that everything should be done ‘decent and in order’.
And yet again, we reiterate a point we previously made to the effect that these two men are quite aware of what it is they wish to achieve. And for sure, they are doing what they believe they have to do. The police should be as focused on what it is they are mandated to do.
The same principle applies to politicians. As legislators they should know that wherever there is law, there are limits. By necessary extrapolation, the implication here is that when those who are charged with carrying out the law enforcement function, they jeopardize the entire community.
The police did precisely this when they refused to charge Cassius Stuart and Omar Smith for the offence they committed when they blocked Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie as he made his way to his assigned place in the House of Assembly.
The point we make, and which we wish to underscore, is that while Stuart and Smith might well be on to a very smart tactic in their efforts to win sympathy for themselves and to show case their cause through various and sundry ‘guerrilla-media’ tactics, the police should simply do what they have to do. Stuart and Smith knew just what they were doing; why they were doing it, and the effect they wished to achieve.
In the ultimate analysis, then, the peace, order and development of this society will be determined by the extent to which all Bahamians know their roles; play their assigned parts; and not allow themselves to get mixed up and confused.
Editorial from The Bahama Journal
