Grand Bahama Human Rights Association president Fred Smith made the case against the government in response to a Guardian story, which said according to reliable sources, the Progressive Liberal Party government voted in favour of Cuba becoming a member of the new United Nations Human Rights Council.
“Regardless of whether the UN required the government to vote by secret ballot or not, the Bahamian people are entitled to know which way their duly elected democratically representative government voted,” Mr Smith said. “Why should the Bahamian people not know which side of the human rights fence our Bahamas government sits on?”
In the UN election in New York on May 9, Cuba was voted in (135 votes) to represent the Latin America and Caribbean region, along with Argentina (158), Brazil (165), Mexico (154), Peru (145), Guatemala (142), Uruguay (141) and Ecuador (128).
Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell declined to say how The Bahamas voted.
Mr Smith also charged that the government was selectively using its “consultative card” to woo the electorate, adding that there were too many instances where Heads of Agreements were signed, the details of which remain secretive.
“The time for secrecy on the part of government on issues which are not of a critical national security issue is over,” he said. “The Bahamas, like every other civilised nation now, should have a Freedom of Information Act.”
Former Prime Minister and Opposition Leader, Hubert Ingraham, also blasted the government for what he described as the “vote for Cuba.”
Mr Ingraham, while addressing party supporters on Grand Bahama on Saturday, said under an FNM administration, no such move would have taken place. “If we were in office, Cuba would not have the nerve or the gumption to ask us to vote for them to be on a Human Rights Commission,” he said. “That’s an unthinkable event.”
He added, “He (Prime Minister Perry Christie) would now have us believe that The United Nations wants him to keep secrets from the Bahamian people. Secrets on of all things – human rights. Can you believe that?”
Meantime, leader of The Bahamian National Party Dexter Johnson said the vote for Cuba was a blot on the progress of all freedom-loving people.
“It is a further stain on the UN voting record of The Bahamas if we did indeed commit the sin of voting for Cuba as it is reported the Cabinet approved,” Mr Johnson said. “This vote in effect places the wolf inside the chicken coop!”
“It is almost inconceivable that a Christian and freedom-loving country like The Bahamas,” he added, “could be so ill-served by its government as to vote to support a country like Cuba with a known history of suppression of individual, political and press freedoms.
“Surely this government is way out of touch with its own people, is playing dangerous foreign policy games, and simply does not care for its people’s welfare, or for any international standard.”
Touching on Cuba’s social systems, Mr Johnson said advances in that country’s health care and education have no meaning if its people are not free to speak out, free to disagree with its government, and free to leave.
By: MINDELL SMALL, The Nassau Guardian
