I want to register my concern with the attitude being adopted by Prime Minister Perry Christie and the vast majority of the members of his Government regarding their position on the promised referendum on legalizing “Numbers” in The Bahamas.
Mr. Christie, who is fully aware that the Bahamian public believes that his last political campaign was largely funded by Bahamian “Numbers” men and by other foreign interests allegedly including an oil exploration company with whom he is closely allied, is seeking to get cover for those associations by claiming that he will not campaign in favour of gambling. Neither will Mr Christie reveal how he will vote in the referendum. We must believe that he will take a similar position when the question of oil exploration is put to the people in referendum.
Now Mr. Christie advises that members of his Government will not have to vote on the Numbers issue in the House of Assembly ahead of the referendum, allowing those who choose, to hide from their constituents whether they support or oppose the legalization of Numbers in The Bahamas. How quickly and how far we have come from Government in the Sunshine.
Many of those who voted in support of the PLP in the last elections are already regretting their vote as they are confronted by the naked discrimination and victimization of Bahamian citizens by the new Christie Government. Now they are faced with the duplicitous actions of the PLP Leadership on the gambling and oil issues.
If Bahamian lawmakers are ashamed to admit what their positions are on important public issues like legalized Numbers and oil exploration I do not believe that they are fit to govern.
The Prime Minister and his Government must recognize and accept that they have a responsibility to govern – that means to lead. Governments are not elected and paid handsome salaries and additional benefits so that they can avoid the difficult problems and the tough decisions by laying the blame for hard, problematic decisions on “the people in referendum.”
In any case, we cannot pretend that the referendum will legalize numbers or license an oil company. Members of the House of Assembly will have to vote in the House to change the law on gambling and the Minister responsible and the Cabinet will have to make a decision on the grant of a license to drill for oil. Members of Parliament should not seek, and should not be allowed, to take cover behind the referendum. They must declare their positions clearly to the public now before any referendum.
At a minimum, Mr. Christie must commit to have a “Sense of the House” vote in the House of Assembly so that it may be demonstrated whether or not a majority of the elected representatives of the Bahamian people support or oppose legalized Numbers and oil exploration. The last FNM Government held such a vote concerning the grant of work permits for the engagement of a larger than usual number of foreign nationals on the Baha Mar Project.
I recommend that if either of these issues (legalizing numbers and oil drilling) to not receive 50 per cent plus 1 support from all eligible registered voters, then the Government should not proceed to change the law on gambling or license any oil company to drill for oil. Mr. Christie must acknowledge that while he commands an overwhelming majority of seats in the House of Assembly he leads a minority government. More registered voters voted for the FNM and the DNA than voted for the PLP on 7th May, 2012.
Referendums are expensive exercises and in these difficult economic times the Government should not become engaged with frivolous exercises that waste public money and distract from the truly serious issues confronting our country today. Those problems, least Mr. Christie has lost focus, are violent crime against persons, crime against property, unemployment and under-employment.
Much noise continues to be made by the Christie Government and its apologists for progress being made against crime. If truth be told, any decline in crime is overwhelmingly the result of actions taken by the predecessor FNM government which: strengthened anti-crime legislation – especially making it easier to keep dangerous suspects on remand and stiffening sentences for repeat and hardened criminals, improved the crime fighting assets of the police force, increased the manpower of the police force, dramatically increased social assistance programmes, introduced an unemployment benefit and put in place innovative job creation programmes.
Indeed, on the employment front, Prime Minister Christie has already climbed down from the bold PLP promises of job creation made during the election campaign and immediately after coming to office. Indeed, the only job creation that the PLP can take credit for are those jobs they handed out to themselves and their family and friends since coming to office and those they gave to party supporters filling vacancies they created by firing persons (Bahamians) they met working when they assumed office.
Kirkland Turner
Nassau, The Bahamas
August, 2012
