The Tribune

The Interception of Communications Bill threatens the democracy of the Bahamas, says Malcom J Strachan . . .

On the eve of a general election, the government headed by Perry Gladstone Christie is advancing the introduction of the Interception of Communications Bill 2017.

This Bill, which was put forward in Parliament last week without any prior notice or consultation with the public, is a threat to the democracy of this country.

In the Bill, communication is defined as speech, music, sounds, visual images, any form of data, any apparatus or signal used to transmit the same and anything transmitted by postal service.

The Bill allows for the interception of all communications on both private and public systems. Therefore, by this Bill, any and all communications can be obtained with a warrant by a judge for the purposes of the Commissioner of Police or someone else who he designates. If that is not reason enough to stand up and fight, this Bill also allows the minister responsible the power to obtain all your communications without a warrant!

This Bill will essentially absolve the political directorate of the Bahamas from any punishment before the courts from spying on its citizenry as they have coached their reasoning for the Bill under the intentionally vague and limitless scope of “national security”.

This reasoning is utter hogwash, and every citizen, every Bahamian who loves this country, should fight this Bill. Members of the media should fight this to the death. This Bill would destroy all attempts by the Fourth Estate to hold any administration to account as sources would be open to exposure at the whim of a minister of the government.

It would be open season on political opponents of the government, who would have their lives laid bare by a minister, who with a nod could gain access to every electronic device that they own, accessing every email, and listen to every phone call they make.

Whistleblowers, seeking to expose corruption or abuse in our government, would be at risk. The ramifications are endless. Democracy itself would be at risk.

But we do not have to look too far down the road to see what this Bill will do. We should be concerned that this Bill would also be seeking to make legal what this government has already done.

It is a well-known secret that the government of the Bahamas has set up a clandestine spy agency known as the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). This agency does not have any legal grounds upon which to operate. Its budget is unknown and its purpose unclear. We can venture a guess ... this agency is already doing what this Bill is seeking to now make legal. ‘Now’ being the operative word.

We have no doubt that our government is already spying on its people.

We have no doubt that many phone lines are already being hacked/monitored by the government.

We have no doubt that while some of these efforts may be along the lines of crime fighting, the vast majority take on a more sinister, political end. After all, if their objective was crime fighting then they are doing a piss-poor job at that as crime is still skyrocketing, so they must be listening to someone, right? Exactly.

It’s us they’re listening to.

It’s the organisers of We March they are listening to. It’s the organisers and promoters of Save The Bays they are eavesdropping on. After all, who can forget the infamous tabling of their emails in Parliament by the “Garbage Can” Minister of Education, Jerome Fitzgerald. Such actions by a minister in Parliament would become commonplace if this Bill were allowed to succeed.

Political opponents would have their emails, phone calls, text messages, WhatsApps all read back to them from the House of Assembly as the government twists and weaves itself back into office election after election. This is the “Big Brother state” that Orwell warned us about in ‘1984’.

The constant monitoring of a population to detect “betrayers” - betrayers of the Progressive Liberal Party and its philosophy. Betrayers of their ideology of the “all for me baby” syndicate and their cohorts. Betrayers of the 10 per cent crew and the Sunshine Boys of new. Betrayers of the “it’s my time” politicians, who are seeking to use their office and power to amass great wealth on the backs of the poor and downtrodden of society. This is where we have come!

Not only has our government lied to us at every turn and abused us along the way. They now want to listen in to you as you sit with your loved ones around your dining room tables. They want to listen in while you talk to your spouse or co-workers about your problems of the day. They want to peer over your shoulder as you write your letter to the Editor or pen an anonymous email to the newspapers about the theft of abuse being perpetrated by a minister or official in a government department. They want to monitor you, my fellow Bahamians, so that they can silence you.

They want to monitor us so they can shut us up. They want to know what we think, when we think it, who we speak to and what is being said. These are the actions of a government that is totally out of control, and it is up to us, the people, to stop them. If there ever was a time for Bahamians to stand united against one common threat, it is this Bill.

The time is now, to stand, and let our voices be heard, that we will not allow this administration to take our freedoms and liberties away from us.

We must stand.

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