I listened with great interest to Steve McKinney’s radio talk show last week Thursday on More 94.9 FM. Early on during the show it became very apparent to me that Mr. McKinney had his own agenda in regards to my father’s press conference which was made evident by his countless editorial comments in between callers.
This agenda consisted of nothing more than a cheap attempt to narrowly focus on but a small number of issues raised during my father’s press conference. If ignorance is truly bliss, Mr. Steve McKinney must have been in heaven for those two hours last week Thursday as he completely missed the facts at hand.
Clearly Mr. McKinney was fascinated about my father’s comments in regards to ‘flies in the eyes and noses of children’. The fact is that there is a completely unnecessary high level of poverty in the Bahamas. However, poverty does not always translate into not having enough to eat but also relates to education and opportunities for a better life. I think it would be difficult to find a majority of people who would disagree with my father’s comments that this country is only living at a fraction of its potential. Obviously Mr. McKinney was oblivious to this and is a stranger to the word ‘metaphor’. In addition, I would like to point out that English is my father’s fifth language.
The issue of my father helping people was also questioned by Mr. McKinney. As he asked one caller if he had ‘ever seen Mr. Harajchi helping people’. The fact is that my father is not the type of man who wishes to have a public spectacle every time he sees fit to help someone. However, according to Mr. McKinney my father should hold a media event for every dollar he might give a person in need. If my father took that approach he would surely be branded as a man just looking for some positive press with no real interest in helping people.
Mr. McKinney agreed with a caller who stated that it was inappropriate for my father to have revealed his financial help to Wendel Jones. Yet Mr. McKinney saw it fit to switch sides and join another caller later in the program who wondered why he had never personally heard of my father helping people. According to Mr. McKinney’s logic it appears that my father is damed if he does and damed if he doesn’t.
The Ronald Newbold family is a good example of Mr. McKinney’s ignorant question to his caller. Mr. Newbold was accidentally shot in the head by police which almost resulted in his death. After recovering, Mr. Newbold tried unsuccessfully to get justice in court for many years as his injury has left him unable to work. Close to losing his home, being unable to feed his family and financial ruin knocking on his door – my father helped Mr. Newbold and his family to get back on their feet. Did my father hold a press conference to announce this deed? No. Did my father video tape his meetings with Mr. Newbold to ‘document’ his kindness? No. The Newbold family knows and that’s all that matters to my father.
Yet when my father made it public that he was willing to help the straw vendors after the devastating straw market fire, he was immediately accused of having a hidden agenda by the government and certain private Bahamians. My father’s ‘open press’ approach resulted in the straw vendors receiving a temporary fix instead of a new straw market building which my father had initially offered to build. Yet people like Mr. McKinney, who sees fit to criticize my father, appear to have no problem ignoring the straw vendors’ issue of still sitting under a tent after all this time.
The biggest mystery for Mr. McKinney appeared to be the reason for my father having a press conference last week. To use a metaphor of my own, it appears that Mr. McKinney is standing in the forest but cannot see the trees. My father held a press conference last week to voice his own opinion about the problems in this country and to answer certain questions which have been laid out to him. I fail to see what Mr. McKinney did not understand about this.
On the same day my father held his press conference, an attorney by the name of Paul Moss held his own press conference outside the prison. Mr. Moss voices his outrage over the inmates’ living conditions at the prison. He even went as far as saying that “The animals at the Humane Society live under far better conditions than the inmates at Fox Hill Prison”. However, if my father had said that the government was treating some of its own citizens worse than they would treat a dog – I think it is safe to say that all hell would have broken lose. This is the double standard which people like Mr. McKinney seem to subscribe to.
However, even to the simple act of my father voicing his own opinion raised some angry voices. The last time I checked the Bahamas is a country where freedom of speech is still allowed. Yet despite that right, Mr. McKinney saw it fit to question whether a non-Bahamian should be allowed to voice their opinion in regards to criticizing the government. My family has lived in the Bahamas for almost 25 years. My wife is a Bahamian and my daughter is a Bahamian. I have personally lived here for two-thirds of my life. Is Mr. McKinney telling me that should someone at the Department of Immigration stamp my citizen application today – my voice will carry more weight today than it did yesterday?
If so, perhaps that is this same reason why the government appears to have put my father’s citizenship application into a locked drawer with no key for the past 15 years. Even though I personally have also applied (twice) for citizenship over the past 8 years, I still have not received an approval from the government, even though I have been married to a Bahamian for over 10 years and lived here for 24 years. It appears that my applications must have landed in the same drawer as my father’s.
Another important issue for my father and one he raised during his press conference is low cost housing. Mr. McKinney sees it fit to ramble on about flies for two hours but fails to address my father’s remarks about a possible solution to the housing shortage in the Bahamas. My father stated that he offered the government a 800 square foot concrete house for less than $50,000. Why is Mr. McKinney not debating this issue instead of focusing on flies?
The issue of the PLP and the 2002 campaign seems to be another hot topic. However, before getting into the facts of this issue, one point should be made very, very clear: it was Mr. Christie who approached my father and not the other way around.
After several meetings, Mr. Christie and my father agreed to work together. I was asked by both my father and Mr. Christie to take a very active role in the PLP campaign. As a result I was very deeply involved with virtually all aspects of the PLP campaign for the last 5 months leading up to election day. I initially worked with Mr. George Smith who was later replaced by Mr. Philip Galanis. Together we organized all of the PLP mass rallies in Clifford Park, printed virtually all of the PLP’s flyers, designed most of the artwork for T-shirts, bumper stickers and handled the day to day planning of the campaign.
My father contributed greatly to the PLP campaign. He made it possible for the PLP to deliver its message to the voters in a way Mr. Christie had only dreamed about. I personally find it disgusting that he is now shunned by the same people who came to him for support and help in their hour of need. For me the issue is not one of how much money my father donated. That is totally irrelevant. For me the issue is Mr. Christie turning his back, the moment he became Prime Minister, on a man who wanted to improve the living standards in this country.
In closing I would like to say this: my father did not inherit his money. 30 years ago he, my mother and I lived in a one room housing project apartment. It is only through his determination, hard work and the grace of God that we are where we are today. He is determined to help people wherever and whenever he can. He believes in standing up and fighting for his own rights and the rights of others. I find it incredibly ignorant for people like Mr. McKinney to pass judgment on my father without ever even meeting him once.
Michel Harajchi
Letter to the Editor, The Tribune
