The Tribune

By ADRIAN GIBSON

ajbahama@hotmail.com

He who comes into equity must come with clean hands. He who seeks equity must do equity.

Equitable Maxims

THE outcome of the higgledy-piggledy, directionless Constitutional Referendum on Tuesday demonstrably shows that the public believes that the governing Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) has unclean, “dutty” hands and, given its shunning and circumvention of the electorate’s repudiation of the gambling referendum, there was much distrust, suspicion and disinformation.

Conspiracy theories abound and there were many who believe that this untrustworthy government had carefully and craftily hidden a number of agendas – in masterful command of the English language and syntax – in four questions.

It appears that some voters believed that not only did the questions say what they said, but that they also allegedly said what they didn’t say they said.

Tuesday’s results were a resounding rebuke of the governing party. If one sniffs the air, the scent of defeat still assaults the nostrils. This is yet another teachable moment, except that the pupils have demonstrated an inability to be taught!

The entire experience was contrived and contorted, not only for the people that voted yes, but also for those that voted no, for onlookers and all interested parties.

Although I had misgivings about Bills two and four, I voted yes across the board because I believe in equality. I gave my reasons in my column on Monday. That said, even as I voted in favour of the Bills, I knew that they would be overwhelmingly rejected!

Regardless of how one looks at it, this was a vote against the government. For the PLP, this was a political massacre. The chickens have come home to roost and the voting public are giving the governing party its just desserts. There are those in the public who have told me that they feel disrespected by the government and, many of those who brought the sweet talks and dreams sold during the 2012 general election, now view it all as a grand scam, a nightmare of epic proportions. There has been a lack of transparency and accountability.

The impending divorce between the PLP and the Bahamian electorate has been foreshadowed. Bahamians have sent an unmistakable message and rendered a vote of no confidence. I can hardly believe that this vote was merely an out-and-out dismissal of the Bills. There were other factors at play.

It is unfortunate that the Bills failed. However, I truly understand the issues people had with these Bills.

What’s more, some Bahamians were patronised and treated with disdain, cursed at and berated for believing what they did, and much of this was done by the people responsible for the educational campaign. People usually “block you out” when they feel attacked or threatened or disrespected, they no longer hear you. Condescension is simply unwelcome … anywhere.

Political interference was obvious. Who gave the governing party permission to donate taxpayers’ monies only to the Yes campaign but nothing to the No campaign? Are they suggesting that people who supported the No campaign don’t pay taxes? That unfairness was also observed by the electorate and soundly rejected.

The suspicion around referendum processes was first created by Perry Christie, the PLP and pastors in 2002. Life has come full circle as the same suspicions the Prime Minister once created have now come back to hamper a referendum seeking to fulfil nearly the exact purpose of the referendum that he voted for and then against in 2002. This is the most unfortunate kind of karma, one that affects so many thousands of Bahamians who perhaps voted against themselves out of distrust for the Christie administration.

As a nation, we must take a cue from the Americans and introduce and implement constitutional studies in the primary and high school social studies/civics curriculum and also offer constitutional studies as mandatory course at the College/University of the Bahamas. This is of utmost importance. Bahamians do not know or understand their fundamental rights; many Bahamians don’t understand their Constitution. At this point, that has been reserved for lawyers and judges only.

Disappointingly, it feels like the electorate turned down greater freedoms and fundamental rights. The public did not consent for the government to erase inequalities in the Constitution.

In addition to distrust for the government, any number of other factors were at play, ranging from a parochial outlook, political chicanery, misinformation, fundamentalist Biblical application and interpretation, xenophobia, homophobia, fear, an allergic disposition to change, misogyny, revenge for 2002 and the sheer determination of the No campaign to overcome the odds that were clearly stacked against them by the government. The results are a picture of an absolute rout. There was resentment from 2002 and clearly some people decided to sacrifice, rightly or wrongly, a noble right to equality in pursuit of the same.

Quite honestly, the minute the LGBT community begun to take leading positions on the Bills and the transgender personalities took to the television, the airwaves and the media, the Bahamian electorate became overcome by their fears. Progressivism became consumed by fear and mistrust. If anyone visited a barbershop or eatery or popular hangout, one could easily gauge the political temperature and determine that the Bills would fail. Bahamians decided to “play it safe” and vote no four times.

The government failed to heed the Constitutional Commission’s recommendation to include a restriction to guard against same-sex marriage, one that reads “paragraph 1 of this Article shall not apply to any law so far as that law makes provisions - (f) for prohibiting same-sex marriage or rendering the same void or unlawful.” If the government had heeded this request, Bill four might have passed and they may have encountered little, if any, political and religious pushback. What a gross miscalculation!

Now that the fat lady has sung, I would like a breakdown of the funds spent on this referendum. I want it immediately and I don’t want anyone to think I will forget that in the coming days and weeks. Whilst at it, I want an audited breakdown of the monies spent on the carnival.

I am afraid that given the rejection of the referendum, there are some in government who may engage in a run on the Treasury, trying to grab their last handful of loot and contracts before being kicked into the political abyss. I hope that Auditor General Terrance Bastian keeps his eyes on everyone … sleep with one eye open, sir!

I took a short cut through Bain Town a few days ago. I noticed groupings in the garb of the Yes campaign walking about and campaigning. As I was in a bit of traffic, I rolled my window down to listen to what was being said as I doubt those young men and women could convince my young son to put his shoes in the closet. As I listened, I was unimpressed and begun to wonder if they could even spell yes. They clearly were out of their depth with respect to explaining these constitutional changes and assuaging fears. It appears that they were likely hired because their MP, Dr Bernard Nottage, is the minister in charge of referendums and likely threw them a pre-election bone.

The referendum should never have been steered by the government. The government should have taken a neutral role, facilitated an educational process and organised the vote. Nothing more! Instead, the government became puppeteers of the Yes campaign and sought to starve the No campaign of funds.

There is no denying the impact of Rodney Moncur upon the campaign. Mr Moncur launched a vote no campaign branded as ‘Save Da Woman Dem’ and was able to raise funds, open an office and galvanise support via his highly-rated evening talk show and rallies. Mr Moncur became a thorn in the government’s side and he is a key figure that successfully campaigned for the defeat of the Bills, demonstrating his influence in the process.

How did Bradley Roberts know the results of the referendum before the Bahamian public? How is it that the PLP Chairman was conceding defeat?

Why didn’t the minister responsible for the referendum, Dr Nottage, or Prime Minister Christie concede? How could a chairman of a political party, and one who holds no national office, be allowed to concede as if this was a run-off between the PLP and the Free National Movement (FNM)?

Who advised the chairman to throw in the towel? How do you concede a referendum anyhow?

There is something fundamentally wrong and disrespectful about this!

The fact that the referendum was not retroactive also affected the outcome, with many persons voting thinking and knowing that a positive outcome would not apply to their family member if such a person was over a certain age. Clearly, these guys did not think this through.

The referendum was a disorganised, unmitigated disaster. The Parliamentary Registration Department’s incompetence and archaic methods were on full display on Tuesday night with their slow, drip-drip of results. I guess they will blame BEC; however, given the fact that it is daylight saving time and the polls close at 6pm, agents at the polls had ample time to begin the count. Whenever the Parliamentary Registration Department behaves like this, it creates suspicion and doubts and raises concerns that there are attempts to “tief” the election.

I read many comments where people expressed fears that, during the outage, ballots would be slipped into the ballot box under the cloak of darkness. FNM leader Dr Hubert Minnis was right to call for international observers at the next general election. What’s more, our control needs to move towards electronic voting. Our outdated, third world system must be left in the 20th century.

I wish to lodge publicly a complaint against ZNS. Why wasn’t Darold Miller pleaded with and begged not to go on vacation during the referendum? We missed him. Please make sure Mr Miller delivers the general election results. Darold, I speak for so many when I say that you were sorely missed on Tuesday.

Yet again, we have missed an opportunity to improve our democracy.

Everything wrong with the referendum ought to be laid at Perry Christie’s feet. There was no statesmanship. So, when history weighs Mr Christie in the balance as it relates to his referendum experiences, his record will be 0 for 3 (2002, 2013, 2016). History will say that Perry Christie singlehandedly set back constitutional reform in the Bahamas more than any other person. The word referendum has almost become a sinful word in the Bahamas. And, for that, he should be ashamed.

Unfortunately, we have a government that is short on accomplishment. They find themselves with all of their signature programmes as failures. They have demonstrated that they think the electorate is unworthy of anything but contempt.

ajbahama@hotmail.com