The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Is Perry Gladstone Christie the prime minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, or is it attorney Wayne Munroe?

Is the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) the duly elected government of the commonwealth of The Bahamas, or is it Munroe and his fellow attorneys Jeff Lloyd and Alfred Sears and the CEOs of Island Game, FML, Island Luck, Asue Draw, Paradise Games, Whattfall and Chances?

From my vantage point, it would appear that Munroe and the numbers bosses have more authority than this prime minister and his government, which was elected by the people of this country on May 7 of last year.

My observations are based on the developments surrounding the gaming referendum which was held in late January and the conservatory order which was issued by the courts after the government ordered all web shop cafes to immediately stop all their gaming operations, which includes all online gaming and the numbers game.

Prime Minister Christie issued this order on January 29, exactly one day after the referendum. The prime minister’s order came on a Tuesday.

On the following Wednesday, Munroe filed a Supreme Court injunction, which blocked the government and the Royal Bahamas Police Force from shutting down the web shops after the outcome of the gaming referendum.

Not surprisingly, the Christie administration said that it will not take any action against the web shops, pending the outcome of the conservatory order.

Well, Supreme Court Justice Sir Michael Barnett lifted the injunction on April 9, clearing the way for the Christie administration to carry out the will of the Bahamian people, who spoke loud and clear on January 28. They voted overwhelmingly to shut down web shop gaming.

However, despite this latest Supreme Court ruling, it seems as if the prime minister is reluctant to keep his end of the bargain to the Bahamian people. And this despite the repeated promises by the government that if a judge rules in favour of the government, they will use all necessary resources to shut down illegal web shop operations immediately.

As well, Munroe said in the press that what the court says is important; not what the prime minister says.

However, despite saying this, Munroe advised his web shop clients to remain open despite Justice Barnett’s ruling on April 9. Nobody wants to abide by the Supreme Court ruling, it seems.

It would also appear that the Christie administration, web shop bosses and their attorneys are not the least bit interested in abiding by the outcome of the gaming referendum results of January.

This leads one to question why the Christie administration went through the cumbersome ordeal of holding a gaming referendum if it wasn’t interested in abiding by the wishes of the people in the event of the no vote prevailing.

I listened to Christie in a radio interview when he said in no uncertain terms that if the Bahamian people say no to the regularisation of web shop gaming and no to the establishment of a national lottery, his government would move to close down the web shops.

Judging from the demeanour of this government, it is clear to any objective person that Christie lacks the will and the courage to keep his promise to the Bahamian people.

The government wants to backpedal on its promise, but is afraid that it would suffer a political backlash if it comes out and publicly admits this.

One thing is certain though, if this case goes all the way to the Privy Council and the web shop attorneys are successful in keeping the status quo of web shops to remain as it is, this PLP government will suffer the consequences in 2017.

On the other hand, if Christie keeps his word and shuts down the web shops, this will inevitably lead to job losses in the hundreds.

The persons affected by this will no doubt vent their anger and frustration on the PLP in 2017.

Either way, this is a no-win situation for Christie. He is damned if he do and damned if he don’t. Surely Christie should have known that touching this issue is like walking through a land mine. But in his eagerness to become prime minister again, he made many lofty promises to the Bahamian people. Holding a gaming referendum was one of those campaign promises.

Be that as it may, the Bahamian people elected the PLP to govern their affairs for five years, not Wayne Munroe and the numbers bosses.

But it looks like Munroe has more authoritative clout than Prime Minister Christie and his duly elected government. If Christie and his government are afraid to carry out the expressed will of the people, who put them where they are today, then they should all stand down, so that we the Bahamian people can put persons in their respective government positions who have the will and the courage to shut down the web shops.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama,

April 10, 2013.