The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune

IT took Sir Lynden O Pindling a quarter of a century to be dubbed the worst leader in modern Bahamian history - surpassing the infamous United Bahamian Party government under Sir Roland Symonette and Sir Stafford Sands, the so-called white oligarchy.

With Pindling, the Bahamas’ once stellar reputation wallowed in muck and mire before the watching eyes of the international community. Pindling is often credited for creating the black middle-class, but he did this by building on the economic foundation of the two main industries introduced to the country under the auspices of the white oligarchy: finance and tourism.

For all the chatter of Pindling being the father of the modern Bahamas, one is hard-pressed to name one single sustainable industry he created. The Bahamian economy was essentially propped up by drug money during the 1970s and 1980s. Without the proceeds of the drug trade, probably half the Bahamian population would’ve starved to death.

Accordingly, it is no mere coincidence that the precipitous decline of the drug trade has coincided with the decline of the Bahamian economy. Christie has been Prime Minister for nearly 10 years - 15 years fewer than his late political predecessor and mentor. He has succeeded during that short span to surpass Pindling as the worst PM in history. He is arguably the worst PM/leader in the Caribbean.

With Pindling, you knew who were his political foes. You knew the FNMs and disgruntled PLPs and other opposition rivals who were being systematically harassed and persecuted. Everybody knew who were being punished and victimised. Pindling did not mince words when railing at his opponents. He called names, as per his condescending ridicule of his former Cabinet members, Carlton Francis and FNM founder Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield in public. Under Pindling, democracy was more theory than practice.

Whereas Pindling was conspicuous in chastising his rivals, Christie is more inconspicuous and unassuming. The Christie spin doctors have done a yeoman’s job at spinning the narrative that Christie is a benign, tolerant leader, who persistently turns the other cheek in the face of harsh criticisms. If the current PLP dispensation has taught us anything, it has taught us that Christie is subtle in dealing with his foes. This one aspect of his leadership makes him much more dangerous than Pindling. While PLP lackeys and sycophants continue to hail Christie as a tolerant PM, he has either directly or indirectly unleashed his political dogs at his rivals.

Before our very eyes, democracy is being stunted and the Constitution, a document that is hailed as this nation’s supreme law, is being trampled on by Christie and Co, as per the late boundaries report.

While staunch supporter Canadian Peter Nygard enjoys preferential treatment by the PLP,  outspoken critics and rank-and-file FNMs are being routinely and systematically threatened and victimised as if they are illegal immigrants. Apparently, Nygard has far more rights than these Bahamians under this PLP government that sold this country a bill of goods about believing in Bahamians. The February 28 edition of The Tribune is alleging that a Supreme Court judge was harassed by well-known PLP operatives. The newspaper further alleges that the judge has recused herself from a high profile case involving prominent PLP operatives, due to the alleged harassment. Christie has either wittingly or unwittingly created an atmosphere where this type of Gestapo behaviour is not only tolerated, but downright encouraged.

Members of the press have not been exempted. In late 2015 PLP operatives launched a barrage of cyber attacks against Nassau Guardian Managing Editor Candia Dames.

The libelous attacks were obviously in response to Dames’ hard-hitting articles in National Review that takes the PLP to task over its blatant mismanagement of the economy, its embarrassing failure to effectively address the murder crisis and the plethora of scandals that seems to surface every other month. Who can forget the private email correspondence of Save the Bays members being read in Parliament by an MP who values his soft paying job more than his constituents?

Who can forget Nygard going into the heart of the Over-the-Hill community to personally challenge the Rev. CB Moss? Who can forget a popular FNM Face booker that received an unexpected visit by police officers at her home? Her crime? she publicly criticises the PLP. Or who can forget a popular FNM activist who was taken into custody over a degrading rap song, even though the Constitution allows for freedom of expression and speech?

Nygard was seen on a video railing at the PM and nothing happens. A Bahamian writes a rap song, albeit vulgar and demeaning, and an FNM activist, who solemnly swears he had absolutely nothing to do with the infamous recording, is taken into custody like a common criminal. This while some 600 Bahamians are being murdered on our streets. Anyone who believes that these people believe in Bahamians has got to have their heads examined.

There is simply no easy way to criticize this government with impunity. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. If this government is this bad now, what will it be like if given another term?

The thought of Christie receiving another term as PM is downright scary. Christie is obviously becoming desperate, as he can sense the pervasive anti-PLP mood in the country. When he raised his middle finger at a PLP meeting in Fox Hill, it was an obscene gesture to his opponents. Deaf people interpret it as the F-bomb.

It was another example of his blatant disregard for the Bahamian electorate.

The Bahamian people had better wake up and smell the coffee before it’s too late.

THE WHISTLEBLOWER

Nassau,

February 28, 2017