The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Greetings and thank you for the space in your publication to unveil the following events of concern to The Bahamian people, I appreciate it.

I have been a disciple of The Bahamas’ Parliament in Session and I must say, that when I watched and hear the contributions, and members delineating what were their impressions of what they thought the rules were saying, leaves me challenged, perplexed... no wonder, I am left to muse that the country was in the state that it is, this grappling for straws, not knowing what governs them, is a national disgrace, if truth be told. If you didn’t know what clause meant for the matter-at-hand, then you do not belong in the Parliament of the Bahamas, please spare yourself, family and country the harassment and do the honourable thing and resign, or will you?

Editor, there is an established salary scale for politicians, and those amounts were not contrary to the rules, no leasing of those amounts, no embarrassments of those amounts and so, why should these people, politicians be allowed to draw, receive, be paid those sums from the coffers of the Bahamian people’s public treasury of The Bahamas?

I have also been taken aback about the deadline for Members of the Parliament of The Bahamas having to declare their net worth by a particular date and time, but have they? The law is also that a failure to do so after the deadline is punishable by imprisonment, but many have missed the deadline and are still there in Parliament as if nothing’s wrong - why?

And what is so egregious, Mr Lincoln Bain and supporters of the Coalition Independent Party, have been arrested numerous times for their beliefs, freedom of speech, and right to association by the police, for demonstrating, when it was the police that denied them the permits, why?

If the Constitution of The Bahamas, being the Supreme Law, and it consents that citizens of these islands, rocks and cays have the inalienable (cannot be changed ever) rights outlined, and since it is the Constitution that propels all other laws (including the police act), and it also expressed succinctly that Parliament shall make no law, contradicting the laws laid out in the Constitution of The Bahamas... so why do the people need to ask the Commissioner Of Police for what is already deemed theirs by the Constitution?

These things are a blatant breach of the civil liberties of Mr Bain and his political supporters. And why does the government remain silent on those arrests?

Another matter of concern, since we were said to be a Constitutional Democracy, must and should mean that the Hon. Prime Minister Davis and his government were obliged to answer questions that the Bahamian people have?

That they were further obligated to seek a majority of the people’s wishes, wants for whatever were the subjects for a determination (point in fact the Royal Caribbean International’s $110m beach club project on Paradise Island), which would be an overkill, already we have the Atlantis Resort, which employs over five thousand Bahamians (5,000-plus), and to bring this similar investment in the area, could be legally problematic?

PM Davis has been told this by Bahamians, yet he has approved it, even given a day when the first shovels will be in the ground, why?

And, Editor, every time investors come, they need to hire a law firm, I wonder which law firms are getting all of these projects, and being allowed whether the people want them or not, why? But what have we gotten? Silence and later down learned that the projects went ahead without the consultation of the majority of the people, why?

Many Bahamians have said that the Davis- Cooper administration is operating on their own terms, not consulting, if true, why?

But Bahamians shouldn’t be too surprised, because this is the same Progressive Liberal Party (except for a few different individuals), that took a ‘No’ vote in a gambling referendum and changed it to a ‘Yes’ vote?

How many Bahamians are addicted to gambling, money that would have been spent in the homes, are left in gambling halls, etc?

In conclusion, the Bahamian people telling PM Davis that they have a problem with this, and that, but apparently he is still not checking, going full steam ahead, is not Democracy, but Davisism, his household that he is managing, not the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, it appears?

Then we wonder how certain countries were able to reach gutter bottoms?

Is it because of maladjusted governments refusing to abide by the checks and balances prescribed by the Founders of the laws of the land (the Constitution of The Bahamas, etc)?

Editor, since the Bahamian people cannot stop the Government from entering into these agreements with foreign investors (against the wishes of the Bahamian people), I think that where it is known that that investor(s) were American citizens, or company’s main headquarters in the US, I believe that there is something that US regulators can do to stop it?

Tribune, please explore, otherwise we are in trouble as a people, the PLP appears to be selling everything and they are in full speed ahead, but why?

FRANK GILBERT

Nassau,

March 14, 2023.