Perry Christie has lost his last shred of credibility.
Mr Christie is supposed to be the Prime Minister of The Bahamas, when in reality he appears to be nothing but a lackey for a mafia-like group of illegal numbers kingpins.
It was the kingpins who got Mr Christie elected; by donating generously to the PLP’s election gampaign, handing out money to Bahamians stupid enough to vote with their wallets and intimidating voters in the Family Islands with Empire Boardwalk-like gangland tactics.
In return, Mr Christie and his drug lawyer Deputy Prime Minister ‘Brave’ Davis, allegedly promised the numbers kingpins that the newly elected PLP government would be sure to legalize the illegal numbers business.
This is the same Perry Christie who led the PLP’s notorious smear campaign against Hubert Ingraham’s 2000 referendum which would have changed the failed Bahamas constitution to make women equal to men.
The PLP’s reason for objecting to the referendum, so they said, was not because they didn’t think women were equal, but because the public hadn’t been “educated” on the fine points of the referendum. At the time, Mr Christie said there hadn’t been enough “public discussion”, so Bahamians couldn’t make an educated decision.
Educated decision? Are women equal to men or not? Does that really take much of an education?
Now, Mr Christie is hell-bent on rushing through a referendum on the legalization of gambling despite the fact that there has been even less public discussion, and absolutely no “education” on the ramifications of such a move.
Back in 2000, Mr Christie said that he didn’t want to rush into a referendum without considering the opinions of church leaders. These are the same church leaders who now so adamantly object to gambling, but Mr Chrsitie apparently doesn’t give a damn about their opinions now.
During the 2012 general election campaign, Mr Christie promised to hold a referendum on a National Lottery. It was assumed that such a lottery would replace the illegal numbers industry that makes a mockery of the rule of law. Many people voted PLP based on that promise.
But it turns out that a mysterious group of foreign “consultants”, quickly hired by the PLP right after the election, has now said that a National Lottery would not work, due to the small population of The Bahamas. So, instead, Mr Christie is going to put to the people a referendum on legalising the numbers industry. And even more, he is informing us that he intends to only legalize some of the numbers houses.
Let’s guess that the kingpins who contributed most heavily to the PLP’s election campaign will coincidentally be the ones who get legitimized. The others will be put out of business. How convenient for the crooks who supported Perry and the PLP.
Is this the government Bahamians really want? A compromised, corrupt government that is bought and sold like fish at the market? A government whose selfish leaders lie, cheat and steal from the public to enrich themselves at the expense of The Bahamas?
Do we really want a society ruled by wealthy kingpins whose total disregard for the law has set such a bad example for Bahamian youth?
Do we really want to go back to the drug-fueled 80’s, with the only difference being that, this time, the drug is gambling instead of cocaine.
Look at the destruction that was wreaked upon Bahamian society during the late 80’s. We are still suffering from the corruption and loss of work ethics that were born in those days.
Can we really afford to do this all over again?
