FORMER Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis. (File photo)
By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune News Editor
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
FORMER Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis accused his successor of putting the United States at the centre of this country’s crime problems rather than focusing on local sources of violence and dysfunction.
Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis has made urging the US to help reduce gun trafficking in the region a core part of his crime-reduction message.
During a CARICOM meeting in Trinidad and Tobago, Mr Davis shared statistics showing how many recovered weapons in some Caribbean countries can be traced to the United States.
Last month, the country also joined a $10bn lawsuit to hold US gun manufacturers accountable for the regional spread of firearms.
Dr Minnis, during a debate in the House of Assembly, criticised Mr Davis’ approach.
“After promising on the campaign trail to address the crime problem, the Prime Minister now knows he has no clue as to what to do,” he said.
“His new strategy is to shift everyone’s focus to the role of people in the United States in the trafficking of guns to The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean.
“Guns trafficking plays a part in our crime problem, but there are much bigger problems the prime minister is not tackling.
“He has been talking about this issue on Bahamian soil. Now he is abroad doing the same.
“The United States is our closest friend. It is our major trading partner. The United States does an extraordinary amount to help us with law enforcement already. It makes major donations to our police force. It helps us with training our law enforcement officers. It is a key partner in our efforts to stop drug and human smuggling. It helps us with gun trafficking and other forms of crime.
Dr Minnis said the country’s crime problem has many roots, including a failure to develop people and chronically high unemployment.
“More needs to be done to provide Bahamians with affordable and quality health care and housing,” he said. “Too many Bahamians have poor conflict resolution skills, leading simple arguments to turn into violent confrontations.
“These are the major issues we the Bahamian people must address to improve our country. They are all contributing factors to our crime problem. We must own this and work on fixing what is wrong within our communities. We should continue to partner with the U.S. and other friendly nations in law-enforcement matters.
“No leader of The Bahamas should suggest that some other country is at the heart of our problems. Guns are obviously an issue. But the greater problems are our culture of violence and the dysfunction of our criminal justice systems. What are the prime minister’s plans to address this culture and the problems in the justice system?”
Comments
birdiestrachan 1 year, 7 months ago
The gorilla speaks, Mr Davis took his job , and he can not stand it
quavaduff 1 year, 7 months ago
Sorry Doc but a good Prime Minister needs to be capable of focusing on both.
What the Bahamas really needs is a female Prime Minister. Woman are far superior at mulit-tasking. Bahamian men are easily distracted which results in confusion.
SP 1 year, 7 months ago
Lol.....What the Bahamas really needs is a male or female leader without UBP, PLP, and FNM baggage!
NOTHING short of that is remotely capable of moving the country forward.
mandela 1 year, 7 months ago
Yes, and I vote for Mrs. Lanisha Rolle as the candidate for the PM job.
avidreader 1 year, 7 months ago
This is what politicians do best, talk and talk after more talk. No one has the solution to a problem that is essentially out of control.
sheeprunner12 1 year, 7 months ago
USA makes the guns ............ who is trafficking them from the USA to The Bahamas????
Brave needs to tell us that ............ Are the traffickers mostly American or Bahamian or otherwise?
Suing US gun manufacturers won't solve our national gun violence problem ........ it will just put more cash in the kitty for the corrupt politicians to misuse.
AnObserver 1 year, 7 months ago
This is like a Dunder-Mifflin shenanigan where a customer of theirs sues them for getting a paper cut.
John 1 year, 7 months ago
ARE THESE THE PEOPLES DAVIS IS LOOKING TOWARDS FOR HELP? . . ATF set to destroy guns associated with Obama-era Fast and Furious scandal December 6, 2022 In The News HARIS ALIC The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is set to destroy firearms associated with the Obama-era Operation Fast and Furious scandal, sparking a rebuke from the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.
The ATF informed the House and Senate Judiciary Committees of its decision to dispose of the weapons this week. Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said the move was improper given the scandal was still a matter of public concern.
“Although the ATF apparently intends to forget its dangerous misconduct in Operation Fast and Furious, the scandal is still a matter of public concern,” Jordan wrote in a letter to the ATF on Tuesday. “Given the potential for ongoing criminal and possible civil actions, it is not in the interest of justice for the ATF to destroy potential evidence associated with Operation Fast and Furious.”
The ATF’s decision was made after the Department of Justice’s inspector general conducted an audit of an ATF storage site in West Virginia where “thousands of firearms, firearm parts, and ammunition had been stolen.”
John 1 year, 7 months ago
Don’t let The BaHAMAS get as bad as the US. Despite their obvious problems with gun violence, especially mass shootings, that country, or parts of it, are still about liberalizating gun laws: . .
‘There have been 163 mass shootings so far this year. There have been 131 mass shootings with four or more people wounded or killed so far in 2023 compared to 113 this time last year.4 days ago https://abcnews.go.com › US › story There have been more mass shootings than days in 2023 ..’.
SP 1 year, 7 months ago
PM Davis and Dr. Minnis combined aren't Bahamian enough to address the very huge problem of guns transiting Haiti from South America to the Bahamas along with drugs and human smuggling!
John 1 year, 7 months ago
That is an old, stale and stupid slave master lie. Isn’t it dumb to even think of sending guns all the way south then bringing them back north or northwest to The BaHAMAS. Incredibly stupid. And a lot of the drugs on the streets of the BaHAMAS is not natural marijuana. That’s why it is setting the young people off. May it has been weaponized. Something called ‘predator drugs’
John 1 year, 7 months ago
The fact is, as far as murders in this country are concerned, the horse has been trying to catch up with the cart for the past four decades. Annual triple-digits- murder have been the order of the day and with at least EIGHT GENERAL ELECTIONS over that fourty plus year period, ALL political parties and all independent candidates made crime and especially murder a plank in their campaign platform. And thus far NO party elected has been able to make any significant dent in crime MURDERS especially. There has been fluctuations, yes but crime still remains rampant and murders pandemic. And most Bahamians agree on two things: the penalty for murder is too soft and that persons charged with murder should not receive bail. And politicians, despite the constant rhetoric and barking, appear too soft to address any of these issues. What exactly is the penalty for murder when it appears that cold blooded killers go to prison, where most of their friends are and live for a while at the expense of the Bahamian taxpayers. Some, after a predetermined period, get bail and few ever make it to court for trial. In a period of one year, thirty seven people out on bail for murder was charged with, at least another murder and thirty five persons out on bail for murder were they, themselves, murdered. The numbers speak for themselves. More than FIFTY PERCENT of murders involve someone on bail for murder. Now it’s time for the politicians dem to do something. Declare some type of state of emergency or something. But sitting on your hands and doing nothing? El Salvador is rounding up every person suspected of being in a gang. Some inn are caught up in the dragnet. But the end result is less crime, les murders and a safer country.
John 1 year, 7 months ago
FOUR people shot in a matter of days in the US when they mistakenly rang the doorbell at the wrong house, drove up in the wrong driveway by mistake, three girls coming from cheer leading practice approached the wrong vehicle and two were shot. Another vehicle was fired on in a separate incident and a a female occupants died from gunshot wounds. Here in the Bahamas was also a bloody and tragic period following Easter where five or six persons lost their lives in a matter of days. Post Covid Syndrome? Or Long Covid? Experts warned it will happen. Increase in violence, depression, increasing mental and medical problems and anti-social behavior
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