The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune

In the 1970s and 1980s I watched our Bahamas change. Drugs came here in large amounts. Young men were dealing it and making plenty, plenty money. Young men just barely out of their teenage years were driving luxury cars and living in mansions. The fast life came to The Bahamas.

They had the prettiest girls. They threw the biggest parties. They were the big-timers in the country.

There was a dark side to these times too. Many of these people who dealt drugs and the people who hung around them started using the stuff.

Addicts were everywhere. Some used until they died. Some used and used until they were zombie streetwalkers. We lost so many people. These were not just the children of the poor and uneducated. The drug era spared no one. Rich and poor, black and white, doctors and construction workers, were all using the stuff.

I, like many other Bahamians, lost relatives to the drug era. We tried to help but some were too far gone. As an older man, reflecting on these times still brings great sadness. These drugs came to the Bahamas because of PLP greed. High-ranking members of the governing PLP were all mixed up with international drug traffickers.

The PLP all but gave Norman’s Cay away to the Columbian drug runners. Bahamians couldn’t even go there, though some high level politicians went there. Armed men ruled the island. The country’s reputation was dragged through the mud during these years. NBC News did an exposé. The Miami Herald did its exceptional “A Nation for Sale” reporting.

The Commission of Inquiry that reported in 1984 revealed the vast links between the Pindling Government and drug traffickers. Pindling’s PLP nearly turned the Bahamas into a complete drug state.

Brave journalists were key to saving the Bahamas. I mentioned the reporting of the American media. Here in our country the fearlessness of Eileen Carron, Athena Damianos and The Tribune were key to fighting against the evils of the Pindling Government.

Despite threats and intimidation, Mrs Carron and The Tribune did not flinch. They challenged Sir Lynden Pindling and his corrupt party and held them to account. The Tribune’s brave reporting was key to bringing to an end an evil that was destroying Bahamian families through the ruinous drug trade. I remember reading those stories, knowing The Tribune would hide nothing.

Today, again, The Tribune is leading the way on reporting on a bombshell story. Fashion designer Peter Nygard has been accused in a New York civil lawsuit of sexually abusing underage girls and women at his home in Lyford Cay. The allegations are disgusting. What is shocking it that certain PLPs are accused of being involved in the sex trafficking ring and of giving Mr Nygard protection while the party was in power.

Mr Nygard denies the allegation through his lawyers. I think the PLP denies it too but their statements have been so convoluted that I have trouble understanding what they are saying. The fledgling Eyewitness News is also reporting on the alleged Nygard-PLP sex scandal. They are to be congratulated for giving exposure to these explosive allegations.

What shocks me is that The Nassau Guardian – the country’s oldest newspaper – is not reporting on the allegations against the PLP and Mr Nygard. This is international news. Here are just a few of the reputable international news organisations that have reported on this scandal: CNN, The National Post, CBC, The Guardian in the UK, The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail.

That The Nassau Guardian is ignoring this story is very, very strange. How is it that the people at CNN think this is news and the oldest newspaper in the Bahamas doesn’t? My fear is that what has happened at The Nassau Guardian is no accident. The newspaper has become openly pro-PLP.

The editors each week write commentaries attacking Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and his government. The editors who go on the radio use the airwaves to do the same thing all the time.

What appears to be going on at The Nassau Guardian is suppression of serious allegations against the PLP to protect the party the editors prefer. If true, this is a low moment in the newspaper’s long history.

Fair newspapers are supposed to report the news and let their readers decide. They should report all the significant news to the community and, in their best editorial judgment, give appropriate prominence to the story. In my opinion, The Nassau Guardian is failing to live up to this basic objective of a fair newspaper. Its credibility is diminishing by the decision of its editors to suppress the PLP-Nygard scandal.

I wonder what the newspaper’s owners think of this. Do The Nassau Guardian’s owners think it is acceptable for CNN and The Guardian in the UK to think the PLP-Nygard sex trafficking allegations are a story and their newspaper right here in The Bahamas does not think it is a story?

If it is that The Nassau Guardian is suppressing a major global story to protect the PLP then it should put a disclaimer atop its front page and say its purpose is to get the PLP in power and not to deliver the news in a fair manner. That way we would all know that you should only buy the newspaper if you want PLP news.

I thank Mrs Carron for her newspaper’s brave work yet again in taking on alleged wickedness in our country. No one should be able to use their wealth or political power to abuse girls.

Thank God we still have The Tribune – a newspaper for the people that is unafraid.

ECM

Nassau,

February 20, 2020