The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune

The country was shocked to hear of the killing of a Royal Bahamas Defence Force officer at Government House over the weekend. A family has to bear and endure the tragic loss of a loved one. We are all heartbroken.

Let us pray for the victim, family of the victim and for all those involved. The family of the alleged killer must also be suffering. Let us pray for them and for the alleged perpetrator. Let us pray for our Defence Force officers.

That the killing happened at Government House also shocked the nation. We all want our Governor General, our Prime Minister and all government officials to be protected and to be safe.

No matter which political party we support, we want our leaders and their offices and residences to be fully protected.

A press conference was held on Sunday to brief the press. The Minister of National Security has promised a full investigation and a review of security at government institutions.

Instead of only expressing condolences to the family and the urgent need for a security review, Opposition Leader Philip Davis quickly issued what was mostly a partisan attack on the government.

Davis and the PLP tried to use this tragedy to spread their poison, to score political points and to attack the other party. This is disgusting. Many Bahamians have a feeling of revulsion. There seems no low to which the PLP will not sink.

This has all the markings of PLP Chairman Fred Mitchell, who seems politically amoral and without principle in using just about any incident or occasion to get back to power.

Sadly, Davis seems unaware of or incapable of stopping the harm Mitchell is doing to him, his party and the country by attacking others for the sake of attack. Most Bahamians can see through the PLP’s rabid, mindless attacks without purpose.

But in an incident like this tragedy, the PLP went way overboard, using the pain and suffering of others for their own political gain. They must be roundly condemned for this nasty, lowdown behaviour.

The editorial in one of the newspapers rightly stated: “A full security review at major state installations is necessary. Security at these sites in The Bahamas is too laid back. This includes the courts and Parliament. That being said, it is difficult to prevent insider attacks, as this incident appears to be.

“A tragedy has left a family mourning and much of the country shocked. Despite the violent crime problem we have had for a decade in New Providence, Bahamians do not expect the word ‘murder’ to ever be in the same sentence as ‘Government House’, the residence of Her Majesty’s representative.”

It is too easy to get into the chambers of the houses of parliament. In other countries reporters cannot just rush up and push a microphone in the prime minister’s face. We need better security protocols.

Let us use this tragedy to make our country safer, including for government officials. The political use of this tragedy by the PLP is sickening and disgusting. We are Bahamians first, not PLP or FNM.

DISGUSTED BAHAMIAN

Nassau

April 29, 2019