Rick Lowe
This letter to The Editor of The Tribune on February 3, 2012, reminded me of a couple things I've wanted to blog about regarding Mr. Branville McCartney's motivation for some time.
First, "when he donned his camouflage" while 'rounding up haitians' for the press, was little more than grandstanding. It reminded me of when the price control people would take their picture for the press while confiscating (read stealing) items from the food stores because they were supposedly priced incorrectly. As if it's a useful practice. Releasing statistics seems more beneficial.
Second. He resigned from Cabinet because he was called down for having to release haitians he had rounded up right after the tragic earthquake in Port 'au Prince, the capital city of Haiti.
Being "forced" to release the "prisoners" because there was no where to send them to – after Port 'au Prince was flattened , a humantarian effort of sorts, he was so incensed that he chose to resign his post from Cabinet and then the FNM party.
These two events give me pause about Mr. McCartney and his ability to lead a government.
In the first instance, grandstanding that way when rounding up illegal immigrants remains a vital part of the Immigration Departments work is a bit over the top. And, in the second instance, I wonder why the thought never occurred to him to slow down on these exercises until there was a clear indication of what was happening on the ground in Haiti?
It's all a bit peculiar to me. What's your take?
I do agree to a certain point Rick, however, everything the FNM & the PLP do is grandstanding to me.I wish we had a business person running for PM, one who knows that they have to stop taxing us to death.Now there’s talk of property tax going up again ! He is no more grandstanding than the rest of them period.I have had it with them all.We can NOT take anymore taxes.What they gain by increasing our taxes, they will loose ten times that in duty taxes because it will not be worth it to be in business, we might as well all work for the government.They do not know what they are doing.Let him grandstand,there is that 1% chance that he might be at least a little bit better than the rest.I will put on my camouflage to round up the illegals to if need be.
Yes, they all grandstand, I agree.
But there are times for that sort of behaviour and times when it’s ill conceived.
I think it was the wrong approach in this instance.
My concern is if he cannot show more composure and sensitivity in that situation with the earthquake in Haiti, can he really handle governing?
He will mature and maybe one day be a good leader.
I don’t think he’s ready yet.
Ok, that’s fine but, don’t just turn them loose ! My God, surely we could hold them somewhere until we know whats happening in Haiti ? Seems to me like none of the others have the sensitivity either, most certainly NO sensitivity towards murder victims or their family’s because if they did, they would do something about it !This is the most Insensitive group you could find about that.
Rick, I think he is just as ready as Pindling ever was.
You make my point. Was Sir Lynden ready?
The wider problem that is never addressed s how we as a people, yes us, mess all the ministries up.
Don;t misunderstand me, there are many great civil servants, but over all, I think we would agree that the bad out do the good.
And because of this, I do not think he can “change” anything.
Well Pindling had 30years to screw us up, maybe he learned from that.After five years if we are not happy, we can kick him out to.I can tell you, ministers in the government now have lied to my face,that is just a big no no to me, I don’t know about you.If they even pretended like it mattered, I might think differently.
Rick:
One of the DNA candidates recently admitted to several persons “Branville is full of himself and the party is disintergrating from within.” What more can one say about Mr. McCartney than this statement.
I beleve when he was in cabinet (which I am sure Mr. Ingraham regrets)he was full of himself there and then. How inhumane could one be to send people back to the conditions which existed in Haiti then and even now. Dennis said about keeping them in custody, does he realize how much it was costing the Bahamian tax payer to do this? What about the perception we would have had around the world if we had done what Mr. McCartney wanted to do?
Thanks Dennis.
So he can resolve the personal situation you’re involved in?
How?
Politicians have to lie, if they want everyone to like them.
No, I do not believe he can by himself, I do however believe he is in charge of the police & can direct certain things to happen,which I asked him to do & he did not even do that.In fact, he told me we were “Laymen trying to do the police work”. Well I got news for you, we found out more about the case in fifteen minutes that the police did in one month.Now you tell me, does he not have the power to change that ?
Yes, it is a difficult position Dennis.
However, the same people will be there if McCartney is in charge won’t they?
My point is, don’t believe for a second that case will be resolved on the election of McCartney.
That’s like believing Clay Sweeting can stop the crawfish poachers.
Anyone who knows how to enter coordinates in a GPS can stop the poachers. We know where they come from we know where they are going, and we give them the coordinates when they get there, the Defense Force Aircraft fly over them with our coordinates so yes I believe Clay Sweeting can stop them!
I understand that is done.
It boils down to logistics in my view Jerry.
How many working defence Force boats do we have at any given time? Where are the working boats when a call about poachers is received?
Can we deputise some of the fishing boats? Are they, the fishermen, prepared to be trained and take that risk?
Does the government of the DR cooperate with Bahamian officials to help arrest them at the other end.
The problem is way more complex than we imagine in a heated political debate or just simply keying in GPS readings.
As a good friend always loves to reminds me in Bahamian as well as U.S. politics “there are no such things as lies, only the truth changes”.. That about sums it up in a nutshell..
Rick,the same people will be there yes, they will.Look at it like this,If say the police are holding evidence in a murder case & the evidence disappears,should those in power not hold the person responsible for keeping the evidence responsible ? Should the buck not stop with them ? Why is there NO accountability ? Why do we put up with this crap from anyone.In the case with the fishermen, more should be done.Why do they spend millions of our hard earned money on junk like ZNS etc. year after year with NO thought whatsoever but they can’t invest in a system to catch these poachers ? I say its because they do not want to, maybe they think the fishermen don’t need the help for some very strange reason.The RBDF is sure in the harbor pulling me over with my family all the time for nothing but the jet skies go whizzing by & they do absolutely nothing ! Why ? Because there is NO accountability.I’m starting to feel like its a racial thing to tell you the truth.
Have you considered a Civil Lawsuit against the Police in that case?
Lawsuit ? ? ? In this country ??? They can’t even do the simple things in court here Rick.
Maybe Instead of turning the poachers loose, we should water-board them first.(And yes, I do think we should)
So you agree the problems are more endemic and Mr. McCartney is no silver bullet then?
Rick, when the Prime Minister came to Spanish Wells in late July 2011, he and the Commodore of the Defense Force where PLEADED with to use our boats as bases for smaller Defense Force boats, the Commodore said that Cuba would sink our boats like they did the Flamingo so he had to decline our offer.
I know the problems are very large & the present government has to take some of the responsibility for letting it get this far, period.Why is it, pray tell me that they seem to find funding for everything “They” want, but the things that really count, don’t count ?PLP,FNM,DNA all need to try & get some priorities going here.How in the hell do you as a government, let the courts get in this condition ? That to me is very,very,very poor & shows a serious lack of concern on all of them.
So you make my point Jerry.
If the country of the offenders will not assist do we go to war?
What solutions do you have other than sending a GPS reading if all the facts are known and as described?
The important thing to remember is the court is a separate body under our Constitution, so the political class should rightly step lightly there.
Should the Courts and the Administrative side of government work more closely? You bet, but every government has to work with the same people. Hence, I believe until there is a commitment to privatising education so it works better, we will see no change any time soon. If education is improved it will still take generations.
The other issue is no politician will say these things in the public because they know they won’t win if they are honest.
Rick I fail to see where I make your point, my point is the Governments unwillingness to help the fisherman. The solution is simple every fisherman and all in the relevant Government agencys KNOWS exactly where to find the Dominican poachers, get out there arrest them bring the boats to Nassau and confiscate them, if they are seaworthy sell them and there gear,sell all the legal size products on board and donate the undersized catch to charity.If the boats are not seaworthy make artificial reefs out of them, fine and deport the crew, it`s as easy as that.
I believe that the biggest problems in the courts are the lawyers, they get away with untold amounts of slackness, delay, delay, delay, late,late,very late.I have witnessed that first hand.We had a judge here that had started to clean up the mess these lawyers we making.He started to fine them for being late, holding them responsible for their actions & what happens,the PM in his infinite wisdom for some strange reason sent him packing.My understanding is that so many lawyers complained about him that they made sure he was gone.I have always supported the present PM & I know he has a tough job but my God,please lets get some priorities going here.We have to at least try & clean this up if its not already far to late.We have to have a foreign police force in my opinion & foreign judges to & all they need to do is ENFORCE our laws.We are at the point where far to may people know to many people & justice is out of the window.The reality is our police can not handle this mess.What we need is a gunslinger, someone to come in & clean this town up because it is crystal clear to me that we can not.If it is true that a very small percentage of “Bad people” are doing this then it should be even easier to clean them up.Why do we let them “Run this town” ? One of the things I like about the PM is that at least he does make the decisions but in this area, which is so important he seems to ignore,it baffles my mind. Common sense is dead & buried for sure.
Jerry, you indicated that the PM was concerned about another Flamingo incident.
How are the negotiations going between The Bahamas Cuba and the DR on this matter?
Can we handle a “war” with these folks?
Are the Bahamian fishermen suffering as a result of this poaching? If so, can it be quantified?
Maybe you can donate a defence force boat just for the area where you fish?
Can we afford more taxes to get better policing of the waters?
Where do we prioritise this in the scheme of all the other problems in the country?
How much psychological manipulation is being done by some in the political class to make you believe it’s as simple as you outline?
These are the questions that come to my mind if I were a PM for example.
Rick, I said the Commodore gave that idiotic response not the Prime Minister, the problem goes a lot further than us “Rich Fisherman” losing a few pounds of lobster. The Dominicans have no regard for size they get anything that comes in front of them, they spear our grouper off season while they are spawning, they get any size conch and leave the empty shells on the conch bed turning them into graveyards. They export more conch than the Bahamas and they have none left. But maybe an even greater concern is the Bahamas can never be MSC certified unless the poaching is stopped leaving us with only one market to sell to China.
As for donating a boat that is utter rubbish the US tried that and some if not all of them are now artificial reefs.
Sorry about the misunderstanding Jerry on who said what.
Yes, I understand the issues with the conch and catching undersized crawfish, but can you quantify the loss?
Also, if you were the government, what would you not do to deal with this matter with all that is going on here and still keep everyone happy?
Thanks,
In reply to GQ about the costs in keeping Illegal immigrants locked up until we can repatriate.GQ,don’t you think that it costs us a lot more to turn them loose & reek even more havoc on our already over burdened immigration problem ? I think it does.
I think he was referring to the 109 at the time, not on an ongoing basis Dennis.