The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

DNA leader Branville McCartney has blasted the Christie administration for accusing Bahamians of launching displays of extreme patriotism towards Baha Mar’s Chinese investors, charging that the displays are actually a “reflection of how Bahamians feel towards this government”.

Mr McCartney told The Tribune that while he doesn’t believe “in making fun or sport of anybody”, the underlying issue is that Bahamians are expressing their dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs.

He said the displays are therefore not necessarily aimed at the Chinese, “because the Chinese can’t do anything in this country without the government approving it.” 

Mr McCartney also said that the concerns Bahamians have are further exacerbated “when the government is very quiet, not open, when they’re not transparent as to what’s going on,” particularly with Chinese investors, and said the government’s silence further “leads us to suspect what else has been promised to the Chinese in particular.”

Mr McCartney was responding to remarks made by Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell last week, in which the Fox Hill MP lambasted Bahamians for spreading “racism” and extreme patriotism against Baha Mar’s Chinese investors. At the time, Mr Mitchell stressed that the country should not be engaging in “this kind of dog whistling and borderline race baiting for the fun of it.”

Mr Mitchell also said the country’s “image abroad as a place for investment and in tourism cannot develop the reputation of being racists or jingoists,” and as such called on the public’s “better nature on this score where the country’s international reputation and vital interests are at stake.”

At the time, Mr Mitchell was speaking out against a firestorm of assertions that the Bahamas is becoming a Chinese “colony” following reports that Chinese investors had requested, amongst other thing, the granting of 500 citizenships to Chinese nationals attached to the Baha Mar project in various capacities in exchange for getting the beleaguered resort opened. 

“I don’t believe in making fun or sport of anybody, but I think what the Bahamian people are trying to express is their dissatisfaction in what’s going on in the country, in particular with regards to foreigners coming and doing things that Bahamians can do,” Mr McCartney said on Wednesday. 

“We see at the Pointe where there are hundreds of Chinese painting, doing masonry work, doing things that Bahamians can do. And I think when Bahamians see this and they see that the Chinese – well, they own Baha Mar, they own the Pointe amongst other things – they get a bit concerned, especially when the government is very quiet, not open, when they’re not transparent as to what’s going on, what’s the position with the Chinese in particular.”

He added: “We as Bahamians only find out after the fact. It shouldn’t be like that. It should be where the Bahamian people, we are informed, we ought to know, it’s our country. Government really works for us, from the prime minister straight down. But that comes with good governance, and we’ve seen that the PLP lacks good governance from its head to its toe.”

Mr McCartney said the government’s response was less about its disdain for “jingoism” and extreme patriotism, but rather about defending itself.

“This government, the PLP government, felt and responded so quickly because they were in defence mode, and by being in defence mode you would see their response,” Mr McCartney said.

“But who does more than that than their members? There’s some members of the PLP that’s all they do when the shoe is on the other foot. 

“So at the end of the day the response by this government was only to defend themselves, because what the Bahamian people are doing shows a reflection of how they feel towards this government, not necessarily the Chinese, because the Chinese can’t do anything in this country without the government approving it. And so the PLP government really knows that it’s a reflection of them what’s going on; that’s why they would want to defend it.”