The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Dear Mr Moss,

Thank you for your kind complimentary letter published in The Tribune Wednesday, April 11 under the heading: "Ben Albury should be commended."

It is my personal philosophy and I have stated it in my campaign, "All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing."

I am the Democratic National Alliance candidate for Montagu. I have always been involved in trying to build a better Bahamas for my family, and my fellow Bahamians, and to do right as God intends.

In the Montagu, Blair area our community has seen rising crime and we have for some time now been actively monitoring our area. We are not prepared to tolerate any form of crime. I want better for all of us. I want a better Bahamas.

My involvement in trying to better my area include cookouts along with the support of many business friends over the past years to generate funds to better assist the hunger in the poorer areas. I am an active member and sit on the Board of Directors of the Bahamas Motor Dealership Association, member of the Rotary Club of East Nassau and a number of other groups of persons who try to create better conditions for all.

In my Montagu constituency, the DNA is the popular people's movement where I have a lot of support from people wanting change. People are suffering in these times, a lot of social issues need to be resolved. Many of these social issues remain unresolved and manifest themselves in crime being one of the many results. Ironically, sadly and most disappointing is that many politicians just say "drugs is to blame", or as Mr Lightbourn the FNM candidate stated on a recent interview on Bahamas at Sunrise "crime is our culture".

I know that our Bahamian culture is rich, and diverse with strong religious teachings, and crime is in no way a part of our culture as he would want us to accept. From our DNA party's founding some eleven months ago and my involvement in the Kemp Road area and environs, one can see many reasons for deviant social behaviour. Poverty, unemployment, hunger-no "bread on table", lack of opportunities, single parents under stressful conditions, teenage parents, uncontrollable youth, a lot of tense social dynamics from other cultures, lack of education, groups of persons replacing the traditional Bahamian families (who have moved out of these low income inner city areas to the thousands of low cost homes in the suburbs), and a lack of police presence among others. Crime is a multi-faceted problem which my DNA party and I have commented on, we will show by action, hard work and good plans to resolve.....rather than pie in the sky, where have you been all this while, last minute political rhetoric usually about two weeks before election and last minute grandiose plans "jonseing" for votes as has been the recurring theme for decades. Hot air speeches, catchy insult phrases, free tee shirts, pom- poms, mesmerizing, and hypnotic mass rally chanting does not solve crime. Action, education, jobs, opportunities, eradication of grinding poverty and anchored with good Christian "broughtupsy" are among our plans to reduce crime.

Apart from the issue of crime, I am an avid fisherman, hunter, boating enthusiast and I am also passionately concerned with environmental issues and preserving the wonderful country that God has blessed us with. While I am not adverse to oil resources being utilised for the benefit of our nation, I am not willing to exclude other alternative energy sources especially after seeing the struggles the mega oil giant British Petroleum had in containing the devastating oil spill costing over $40 billion and BP (British Petroleum) setting aside some $20 billion for claims. One must bear in mind that this accident was not supposed to happen. As Bahamians with one major industry and billions of dollars in major tourism hotel assets and ancillary businesses located on beach front properties plus our fishing industry and others we simply cannot be hurling down this road at breakneck speed without iron clad safety precautions and research and consent by the majority because we have everything to lose. We live here, we are Bahamians, we live in this God-given island paradise we call home.

For more of my plans and my party's plans on making our Bahamaland better, I ask that you visit us on our website at mydnaparty.org or contact our office at 326-9362. If you would like to volunteer or assist Montagu, your invaluable help to do something of benefit naturally would be appreciated.

Again thank you, Mr Moss for your wonderful and inspiring letter.

BEN ALBURY

DNA Candidate

for Montagu,

Nassau,

April, 2012.