The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

When it comes to crime, the hypocrisy of the present PLP Government and its Party supporters knows no bounds.

And, the willing complicity by some leading citizens in our country in tolerating crime and unlawful activity is shameful.

It is difficult to believe that Cynthia “Mother” Pratt, an ordained Minister of Religion, did not choke on the words attributed to her in Friday morning’s Tribune as she attributed the politicisation of crime in The Bahamas to the FNM. The Lady is out to lunch!

I have no memory of the FNM harassing Mother Pratt to resign or calling for her to be fired as the PLP did to Tommy Turnquest for five years.

I have no recollection of the FNM mounting billboards advertising the number of murders occurring on the PLP watch. And this notwithstanding the fact that more than 200 murders have been recorded in the first 18 months of this current PLP watch! So far, 5 murders have been recorded in the first 5 days of this year. And, the death of a fifth victim from last month’s shooting in Fox Hill takes the number of murder victims this year to six!

Nor do I recall, for that matter, that the FNM ever advertised that on the PLP watch no convicted murderer had been executed since 1984! The last execution of a convicted murderer in The Bahamas was in 2000 – one of five executions carried out by the State on the FNM watch.

We can all agree that the blame game will not solve our crime problem. Still, the truth is that there are far too many Bahamians who make excuses for criminals and criminal behaviour.

Uncomfortable as it may be to admit, the leadership of the Progressive Liberal Party has for too long been among apologists for crime in our country. The records of the 1984 and 1993/94 Commissions of Inquiring into corruption in high places in the Government speak for themselves in implicating some members of prior PLP Governments with unethical if not criminal behaviours. And those records also clearly show the great reluctance of PLP administrations to seriously tackle corruption – the root of all crime.

Many Bahamians will remember the words of the late former PLP Attorney General Paul Adderely who said in a speech following the 1984 Commission of Inquiry, words to the following effect:

“…from what I have seen and read, if I do my job, I will not be given a nomination by the PLP to run in any constituency in the next general election. And, if I did get a PLP nomination, I would not be elected in any constituency anywhere.”

Mr Adderely did receive a nomination from the PLP for the next general election and he in fact won election. I don’t have to say anything more on that score.

I also recall a time in the early days of the first FNM Government when then Leader of the Opposition, Sir Lynden Pindling, excused vandals who threw rocks through the windows of the offices of the Ministry of Tourism, damaged several other businesses in the Beaumont House and badly damaged parked Tourism Ministry and private vehicles parked on Bay Street. Sir Lynden likened the criminals to participants in the historic “Burma Road Riot”!

On another occasion, Sir Lynden brought members of crime gangs onto his Party’s Convention Stage where surrounding him, they displayed various gang signals recorded by TV and newspaper cameramen.

Mother Pratt herself chose to begin her tenure as Minister of National Security in 2002 by touring the prison and visiting with hardened criminals confined to Her Majesty’s Prison.

Following the Election Court decision in the Elizabeth by-election 2010, some FNM supporters say that the police warned them to leave the Thelma Gibson Primary School where they had assembled to await the outcome of the court case because they had information from the street that PLP agitators were nearby awaiting instructions to take action against FNMs if the decision did not go in their favour.

Similar allegations have been made regarding some of the protestors who assembled on Bay Street to protest the sale of a majority interest in BTC to Cable and Wireless. Following that protests, just as following the Elizabeth by-election, loud bullies assembled outside of the office of the Leader of the Opposition on Parliament Street demanding to see Deputy PLP Leader, Brave Davis.

The present Minister of National Security, B J Nottage began his term as Minister in 2012 by advising the press that he was heeding complaints from convicted criminals that penalties given to them were too harsh and that all the tough anti-crime legislation enacted by the FNM would be reviewed as a result.

Dr. Nottage had revealed his position on crime far ahead of his appointment when, during the 2012 general election campaign he organised a PLP stunt to prevent then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham from visiting the constituency of Bains and Grants Town. He went so far as to declare that he could not vouch for the safety of the prime minister and his supporters if they ventured into the area – as if PLP strong holds had become “garrison towns”.

He then organised all the “bad boys” of his constituency and swelled their numbers with others bused in from other PLP strongholds with the singular intention of stopping the prime minister’s walk about in Bains Town. His angry exchange with then Minister of National Security, Tommy Turnquest, was caught by television and press still cameras revealing an angry man determined to stop the FNM at any cost.

More recently, Prime Minister Christie described protests by admitted and convicted lawbreakers engaged in the illegal sale of lottery numbers as wonderful “expressions of democracy”. The PLP Member of Parliament for Tall Pines calls these same admitted lawbreakers national heroes.

Unfortunately, persons of many political persuasions and professions think nothing of mixing with illegal numbers men and others of less than stellar repute. Some charities and even churches accept financial contributions from them.

It is difficult to believe that these groups and individuals do not understand that they are participating in the laundering of the illicit proceeds of crime. And by their acceptance of unlawful activity by some they create an atmosphere in which other illegal activities proliferate.

Some of those protesting the escalation in criminal activity are the same individuals and groups that see nothing wrong in receiving a 10 per cent or 15 per cent payment tacked onto Government contracts in which they have served as some kind of “coordinator”. This is unethical and illegal and contributes to unjustifiable increases in the cost of Government projects.

The hypocrisy of Government representatives and by other leaders in our communities on the crime issue is especially insulting to Bahamians who increasingly believe that they must barricade themselves in their homes against the rising criminal tide while our leaders pander to criminals even while they arm themselves and increase their own personal security at public expense.

GEOFFREY COOPER

Nassau,

January 5, 2014