by Rick Lowe
In recent weeks the Loyal Opposition in The Bahamas, the Progressive Liberal Party has been on a rapid decline.
First they lost the last Election Court case they had filed in relation to the Pleasant Bridgewater vs Zhivargo Laing.
Second, one of their former members come Independent Member of Parliament, defected to the ruling governing Free National Movement.
And third, Ms. Pleasant Bridgewater resigned her Senate post as a result of John Travolta's allegations of extortion surrounding the recent death of his son Jett in Freeport, Grand Bahama, where Ms. Bridgewater is a practicing lawyer.
To top it off, there are rumours of more possible defections from the PLP's ranks, not to mention the apparent in fighting among the party's so called leaders.
Mr. Perry Christie, former Prime Minister and leader of the PLP must feel as if he has walked into a hornets nest. He's already under attack from inside and outside the PLP for the election lost under his watch and now he's faced with what appears to be a political party about to go the way of the Dodo bird.
But before we get that warm and fuzzy feeling that the PLP deserve all this, we should consider our Constitution and the important role of the Opposition to our democracy.
What do you think?
It is truly a wonderfull day as far as I am concerned to see that an acting lawmaker is caught in such an act, it goes to prove what we all knew all along…corruption is a way of life in the government of the Bahamas. It is not the first time Bridgewater is in hot water with the courts, how she still works for the people of the Bahamas is beyond my understanding. Times are getting hard, and that is when corruption within the government will be at it’s height, everyone knows politicians dont help people who cant’t help them; so in most cases they help themselves to what is do for the people.
I read a lot of news and it surprises me to see third world countries, the people standing up and calling for an end to corruption, if you tally the numbers I can safely say that half a dozen ex-presidents are either in jail or about to be along with scores of government oficials. Yet we see corruption here on a daily basis and are unaware of it.
The most obvious one that I have seen I will call the “Traffic Light Symdrome”. Our government can’t seem to get the trafic lights to work, no matter how many millons of dollars they throw at them (lights dont have pockets, so who’s pockets is all this money going to? The lights down the street have been changed countless of times during the last 5 years and they still are infants, all they can do is blink)
All this rambling, the truth is the government needs to be more acountable and transparent, long have we been under a veil that needs to be lifted and people need to actually be held accountable for their actions as a public servant.
I’m starting to think that the decay and destruction is inevitable, and that reason cannot prevail because the majority have abandoned their own faculty for reasoned thought and action.
Just the same, any reasonable thinking citizen cannot give up in trying to reason their own way through this morass but, boy, when your rational conversations on a day to day occurance are out numbered 10 to 1 by irrational or nonsensical pointlesness, walking away has its charm.
PLP? FNM? acronyms for incompetence and uselessness and certainly no place to put any faith.
Do they mean well or ill? does it matter?
Fools or fiendishness?
A little of both.
Maybe so. This country is caught in a maelstrom and I really dont see a solution. Several factors I think. I will list them in order of “something can be done about it”. First, is the large influx of illegal immigrants, the inadequate way that the government deals with it is causing this country to lose it’s identity, wich in turn creates a feeling of every man for himself, wich in turn creates other problems. Second, the corruption in government, but we have already been there and it’s a subject that will be stagnant until we actually see some future government look into it (wich will probably never happen, the amount of corruption is so vast, they would have to put the guy who washes the car in court). Third, and probably the most disturbing factor, well not really actually, the police force, there seems to be an ongoing race as to who can tief more money between the coppers and the top politicians….POINT BLANK
It is probably to late in my opinion, I do believe that greed, and greed alone, will lead this country into a state of anarchy within the next years, sides will be made and sides will be taken and it will be the worst time this country will ever face.
I just hope my children make it through.