I would like to comment on an article about a very interesting debate between Free National Movement (FNM) Senator Michael Pintard and Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Senators Hope Strachan and Jerome Fitzgerald in the Senate on October 27.
I believe that Senator Pintard was well within his rights to criticize FNM and PLP Parliamentarians for defending known criminals before our courts. Pintard’s condemnation was bipartisaned.
He was not seeking to gain political brownie points by attacking PLP Parliamentarians who are criminal defense attorneys. There are also FNM Parliamentarians who defend known criminals. Pintard also took a swipe at FNM Parliamentarians. That is why Opposition members should not seek to turn this into a political issue.
I am glad that we still have in this country high ranking government officials who have the courage to call a spade a spade. I commend the senator for his brutal honesty and audacity.
I also would like to commend the President of the Senate, Lynn Holowesko, for not asking the senator to withdraw his comments.
Senator Jerome Fitzgerald had asked the President to have Pintard withdraw his comments. But I don’t see why he should have.
Pintard said nothing wrong. Further, Pintard didn’t even single out any parliamentarian. Therefore, why were Fitzgerald and Strachan so up in arms over what the senator said? Senator Holowesko was right when she stated that what Pintard had said was a general truth. Senator Pintard only said what most right thinking Bahamians are saying nowadays. For Fitzgerald and Strachan to take issue with Pintard raises more questions than answers. Anyone who denies what Pintard had said is either hopelessly naive or just plain silly.
Moreover, I utterly reject Strachan’s claim that Pintard had denigrated attorneys by what he had said. How is saying that Parliamentarians who defend known criminals a denigration of attorneys or Parliamentarians?
Strachan’s argument in the Senate made absolutely no sense at all. In my humble opinion, it was totally devoid of logic. Perhaps the PLP senator simply wanted to oppose Pintard because of his political affiliation.
Also, we must all bear in mind that Pintard’s wife is an attorney. Therefore, I don’t believe that it was Pintard’s intention to defame his parliamentary colleagues who are attorneys. And even if the senator has something against Parliamentarians who are attorneys, so what?
Pintard is not the first person to criticize parliamentarians who are attorneys, nor will he be the last. Besides, the legal profession has already fallen into disrepute in this country. Every other week it seems as if an attorney is hauled before the courts for misappropriating their clients’ money.
The fact of the matter is that everyone who has a little bit of sense in his country knows that many of the heinous crimes that are committed in Nassau are committed by chronic offenders who are either out on bail, or whose attorneys had successfully represented them. No honest person would deny that even if a Senator or Member of Parliament does not defend a known criminal, his/her partners in their law firm does. Therefore, they are still benefitting from the proceeds of their law firms; while at the same they are arguing in the House of Assembly how best to break the proverbial back of crime.
Yet, how can one enact laws to fight crime and then turn around and defend known criminals who are constantly breaking those laws?
Politicians have been insulting the intelligence of the Bahamian people for years. This is one reason why I paid very little attention to the Crime Bill Debate in the House of Assembly. And this is why I take issue with what the two PLP senators said.
Like many Bahamians, I believe it can be rightfully argued that the politicians who defend known criminals themselves must bear some of the blame for the escalating crime crisis that has rocked the very foundation of Nassau.
I find it utterly amazing that Fitzgerald and Strachan would stand up in the Senate and defend attorneys at a time like this. They were simply defending the indefensible. This country has recorded a staggering 109 murders for the first 10 months of 2011.
Many of these murders were committed by persons who are well-known to the police. Many Bahamians are now wary of attorneys.
That the two PLP Senators would even attempt to challenge what Pintard had said suggests to me that they are woefully out-of-touch with the Bahamian people.
Moreover, I utterly reject Strachan’s argument that attorneys must be dispassionate towards a case. If I were an attorney and I had a strong hunch that my client was guilty of a crime, I would not insult my God and my people by defending him. To do so would go against my conscience.
That an attorney would say such a thing might explain why so many known criminals are always out on the streets terrorizing peaceful, law-abiding citizens. I wonder if the senator is willing to stand before a massive audience at a PLP rally and criticize anyone who takes issue with parliamentarians who defend career felons. I wonder what the audience’s response would be. I believe they would boo her right off the podium.
Furthermore, I think that it was wrong for Senator Strachan to draw comparisons between doctors and attorneys in this particular case. If I were a doctor, I would have no problem treating a cold-blooded murderer who is either sick or injured. He might be as evil as the former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, but he still possesses the image of God. Therefore, he must be treated with dignity by the physician. Besides, most doctors take the Hippocratic Oath anyway. Attorneys, on the other hand, should never represent persons who they know to be bona fide criminals. Never! Therefore, to make comparisons between doctors and attorneys is like making comparisons between apples and oranges.
Many residents from New Providence have been impacted in some way, shape or form by the crime crisis. I had two first cousins who were brutally murdered in Nassau. Despite what Strachan believes, the beleaguered people of Nassau could care less about the constitutional rights of known felons. In fact, I believe that criminals have too many rights in this country.
Be that as it may, I hope that the good people of the Sea Breeze and Marathon Constituencies have taken note of what had transpired in the Senate. I think we have too many attorneys in this country who don’t care who they defend. They are too nonchalant about their clients who they know are career felons. As Pintard said, everybody knows who the criminals are. New Providence is a very small island. And as the senator remarked, if you as a parliamentarian don’t know who the known felons are, then you have no business leading this country. I couldn’t have said it better.
Pintard should continue to sound the alarm on this glaring hypocrisy in this country. Many decent Bahamians, whether they are PLP, DNA or FNM, are in full agreement with the courageous senator!
By: Kevin Evans
Nassau, Bahamas
October, 2011
