The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune,

No word in the English dictionary can accurately describe my extreme disgust, revulsion and shock at the “verbal diarrhoea” that spewed from the protuberant lips of prominent attorney, Queen’s Council, and now Progressive Liberal Party member, Wayne Munroe, regarding immigration and how to properly deal with people who enter our country illegally.

This allegedly well-educated “gentleman” is actually calling on the government of The Bahamas to start flogging (aka whipping) illegal immigrants as a deterrent to anyone (read, Haitians) who dares to enter our country illegally. I actually had to read the main headline in this morning’s Tribune twice, just to be sure that what I was reading wasn’t a joke or a misprint.

About a month ago, I wrote a letter to this very same newspaper stating how this country needs to immediately ban corporal punishment as a method of punishment for children because of its abusive nature, and how it actually does more harm than good to the recipient by causing psychological trauma as well as physical. All too often, we have seen people go way too far when dishing out corporal punishment on children, using anything and everything they can get their hands on to deliver beatings, and “licking” the child with such force, that the victim ends up suffering serious injury, or in some cases, even dying.

Now, here we have Mr Munroe suggesting we use this Draconian form of punishment on illegal immigrants! One has to wonder if the majority of lawyers and politicians in this country ever, for once in their lives, stop to think before they speak.

Unless Wayne Munroe, QC, lives under a rock or on another planet, he would know that the Bahamas’ human rights record does not look good to the outside world. The shooting of an Haitian man by an immigration officer; the unlawful detaining of a Jamaican national (who was held without charge, and made to suffer inhumane treatment); and the unlawful detaining of a Japanese national (who was also held without charge) are shameful examples of how this country all too often treats people whose only crime is not being nationalised Bahamian citizens.

Whether we like Haitians or not (and sadly, most of us Bahamians absolutely do not), these are human beings, not animals, and as human beings, they deserve to be treated as such. The fact that prominent attorney, Wayne Munroe, QC, would not only make such an asinine and “Nazi-esque” suggestion on how to deal with illegal immigrants, but actually stand by said suggestion, only goes to show that neither he nor the government he now works for, has even the slightest clue on how to deal with this country’s many problems, be it crime or illegal immigration, and the only things they are good for is speaking foolishness and appeasing to their loyal followers.

CONCERNED CITIZEN

Nassau,

December 7, 2015.