Some politicians when confronted over their inappropriate and oftentimes brute behavior seek to attack the media for exposing their actions while attempting to justify that which many are frowning upon.
Such was the case of Picewell Forbes, our high commissioner to CARICOM and the member of Parliament for Central and South Andros, when we called him two weeks ago and asked him whether he was prepared to apologize for laughing when Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller spoke in the House of Assembly of abusing an ex-girlfriend.
It was a disgusting and embarrassing display from a man who represents our interests in the region.
At that point, Miller himself had already apologized, multiple times.
But he only did so after public uproar over his insensitive and absurd comments.
Like Miller, Forbes’ initial reaction to The Nassau Guardian on the matter was to blast the paper for daring to question his actions.
Faced with public criticism, Forbes expressed a change of heart on the matter on Wednesday.
Instead of lashing out at The Nassau Guardian as he did initially, he stood up in Parliament and apologized.
The initial reaction to question and criticize the media is unfortunate. But we have seen it repeated so many times.
Today’s Bahamian media are a new breed.
We take seriously our responsibility to hold public officials accountable and we do so fearlessly.
While in some circles these men and women are elevated to god-like status, they are not untouchable and should not be allowed to abuse their office and insult the intelligence of the electorate with repeated bullying of the media, self delusion and unashamed arrogance.
Click here to read the complete article by Candice Dames at www.thenassauguardian.com
