The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Shortly after it was revealed that Prime Minister Christie and his administration were making plans to legalise and regulate the webshop businesses, a red flag went up. Last week, he also revealed that that he knew in 2012 through a Central Bank report that certain situations regarding the circulation of large sums of money in our economy, could cause problems in our local banking infrastructure making the possibility of over-liquidity may be a real danger (my opinion).

If he knew all of this, what was the last referendum all about? The evidence suggests that it was an attempt by him to avoid the responsibility of making a decision that was entirely in the purview of his administration.

Now he finds himself a the crossroads and the futile attempts of various messengers to pacify the Christian Council and a wary public have not met with any success. Now that the Prime Minister has struck out with the voting public I am afraid that the webshop owners are going to inherit a problem. The pending “legislation” that the Minister of Tourism plans to present to Cabinet will be another attempt to do something that goes against what was rejected in January of 2013.

This morning’s Nassau Guardian has informed us that the “Government may lift Casino Ban”, I believe that this was the intent all along, and the webshop issue was only a smoke-screen; the people who want casino gambling to be legalised on a national basis, really don’t care about which side of the bridge the money is on, and, there are rumours that there are some very active casinos operating in Nassau already.

If the casino ban is to be lifted, it also means that the “legal “ ownership of casinos will be addressed. If I were a webshop owner, I would want to know what is in the amendment or legislation that the Minister of Tourism plans to present to Cabinet, and if there are any pending casino license applications just waiting for this “legislation”. Even more problematic, if “regulation” means that the webshop owners are going to deposit huge amounts of cash into a system that is already too liquid, there may be problems. However, for the Government to lift the ban on casino gambling and ownership and not do as they have proposed for the regulation of web shops, would be “throwing the fellows under the bus”.

We are back to 1974 all over again, and this time the “pastors” who have given their support to the present administration will have to face the music, because I do not think they saw this far ahead. One of the things that should get their attention and cause them to back away from this “support” they have been giving is the fact that it is exactly “40 years” since the first incident where they stood by and allowed one of their brothers to be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. Funny how the issue of betrayal always finds a stage in the Lenten season.

EDWARD HUTCHESON

Nassau,

March 17, 2014.