The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune,

While I will not directly address the matter of Prison Commissioner Charles Murphy (which is best left to be played out by the authorities and any legal proceedings that may follow), the public would be well advised to regard claims of PLP “victimisation” over the coming months with healthy scepticism. And the PLP would do well not to be distracted by such allegations as it gets to the bottom of the many questionable actions of its predecessor.

“Victimisation” is a word that the Bahamian media seems to miraculously recall whenever the PLP is in power, but it is a word without a political affiliation.

Following an administration that so blatantly and consistently abused its powers (on its very first day in office, a defeated PLP candidate was arrested and handcuffed for removing what turned out to be his own property from a government corporation) the Davis administration has not only a right, but an obligation to hold to account those public servants who were complicit in alleged FNM abuses.

What happened to Shane Gibson and Frank Smith was one of the clearest cases of victimisation in living Bahamian memory. It appalled the Chief Magistrate and it so shocked defending attorney KD Knight (a seasoned Jamaican elder statesman) that he no doubt went home with a diminished view of The Bahamas.

Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle clearly has to answer not to the PLP, but to the Bahamian people, for what took place under his watch. He is a public servant, charged with serving the interests of the public, not politicians – be they FNM or PLP.

If state power was indeed abused, it is simply not good enough to invoke the Nuremburg defence. Former Deputy Commissioner Keith Mason once reportedly told a senior PLP minister “No Minister, I will not do it”, creating a precedent that should be observed by all of his successors when faced with improper political orders.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, another public servant, apparently permitted prosecutorial tactics that the Chief Magistrate called “egregious.” Is he beyond accountability to the public for that?

The Bahamian public have for too long been treated as mere spectators to matters that involve both their money and their fundamental rights. This is unacceptable. Messrs. Murphy, Rolle and Gaskins owe whatever power they temporarily wield to the citizenry of The Bahamas, and not to either political party.

They should therefore conduct themselves in the knowledge that they are ultimately accountable to a permanent fixture called the Bahamian public, even as different parties and politicians come and go.

ANDREW ALLEN

Nassau,

October 3, 2021