The Tribune

YESTERDAY a worker was discussing crime —which is the main topic of discussion these days. Only this time, he was approaching it from a different point of view. He believes that it depends upon who a person is related to or knows as to how long an offender can remain under the radar in this country and not hear the clang of prison gates closing behind him.

What sparked his irritation were the police traffic checks. “If you have a Lodge sticker on your windshield, the police flag you through without even a second look. But when I come through, they search my car and turn me upside down! Now you know that ain’t fair, but that’s the difference between me and a Lodge sticker!”

He went from one example to another, even touching on the recent V Alfred Gray case in Mayaguana where it was claimed that acting on the plea of one of his constituents, Mr Gray, a member of the executive branch of government, had interfered in a judicial process that involved the constituent’s teenaged son.

The PLP has blamed the FNM for the rising crime, even going so far in 2012 to post large placards in strategic locations on which were highlighted the crime figures. Rising crime was the PLP’s major propaganda tool in the 2012 election. Pointing to those figures, they promised that if elected they had the sure cure to reduce, if not eliminate crime. Instead crime - especially murders – has escalated at an alarming pace. Now, forced by events to admit that they misjudged the situation — and as many Bahamians now agree did not know what they were talking about— the PLP are desperately trying to identify a scapegoat. Over the years, many Bahamians have blamed the PLP government for going “soft on crime.”

It all started in the narco-dollar years under the late Sir Lynden Pindling. The morals of a people started to change with politicians making them believe that every one could get rich — but no one bothered to tell them how without losing their moral compass. A PLP politician from a public platform one night defiantly declared that no one need ask him where his money came from, whether he “worked for it or tiefed it!” The people’s morals had been corrupted. It so happened that the night that the politician made his remark an NBC news team was in the crowd. They had heard that drug smugglers had captured our islands and Joe Lehder was king at Norman’s Cay. We all know what followed when the news broke in the US. A Commission of Inquiry soon followed.

In December, 1984, the Commission indicted the PLP government, finding it guilty of not taking preventative measures “much earlier” to protect the country from drugs that were “permeating the fabric of the Bahamian society.”

“There is no doubt,” said the Commission, “that the (PLP) was aware of the extent of the problem from 1978 onwards. Although we are aware of the difficulties in coping with the situation, it does appear that the government was not doing enough at this time.”

The Commission concluded “that there must have been corruption within the Police Force and that corruption must have reached to a senior level of government.”

Many a political reputation was smeared during that period, and escalating crime was well established and climbing.

This is what the Ingraham government inherited on winning the government in 1992.

What followed was the open whisper among the Bahamian cartel that the PLP were their friends and the FNM their enemies. The FNM government, which lasted for two terms, had to be defeated.

Our reporter covering the 2002 election got a rude awakening when sent to Eleuthera to investigate rumours reaching Nassau about drug dealers’ plans of getting back into business should the PLP win the 2002 election. A man, reputed in the community to be a “drug lord”, was loudly boasting for all around to hear how much he had contributed to the PLP’s rally that particular night, and how he had offered a million dollars to assist the party.

We are satisfied that Mr Christie, who was contesting that election with what he described as a “new” PLP — to distinguished it from the Pindling administration — sincerely wanted to rid these islands of drugs. However, the wrong message was getting through. Mr Christie had made it clear that if the PLP won the government, the laws would not be rewritten to accommodate drug dealers. He said that they would be vigorously hunted down, and , if found guilty, would spend an uncomfortable time in jail, either here or in the US.

Despite these statements, our reporter discovered in Gregory Town that someone had promised Gregory Town drug dealers “that they will not have to worry about the police after the PLP is the government… they were told that they would be able to bring their drug boats directly into Gregory Town”. At the time, we received similar rumours from Acklins and Abaco. This was the 2002 election.

In the 2012 election, Mr Christie had announced that he had put crime at the top of his agenda. Despite this, after winning the election, the criminal element must have still seen the PLP as sympathetic to them. It was only seven days after being elected to government – nine murders having already been committed – that National Security Minister Bernard Nottage was entertaining the complaints of the criminal community that the Ingraham government’s laws were too severe. And Mr Nottage, instead of showing them the door, promised to consider their appeal.

And now Dr Nottage, admitting, that his government does not have the answer to crime is looking for a scapegoat to blame. He first pointed his finger at the police, who should be the last to be made to carry the political can. And then it was the judiciary.

Yesterday, Commissioner Ellison Greenslade warned government that the police will continue to “pick dead bodies up off the streets” if those in authority do nothing to “keep criminals behind bars”.

It’s now up to government to enforce the laws, and get it across to offenders that the PLP government is not their protector when they break the law. The judiciary will also have to show a sterner face.