by Edward Hutcheson

When the Nygard Election Victory video was released it set off a series of questions that will be answered – one way or another. The Prime Minister’s recent  response to one of those questions may have been the tipping point for the drama we see going on in Parliament. Perhaps something is being lost that allows or causes some of our populace and some of its politicians not  to see what is going on, or worse, there are some of us who may not care.

The question posed was about financial contributions to political party’s and the response was nothing like he gave after the last election when he promised that the issue would be addressed and he was in agreement with the opposition on the matter. Right now I can call the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas a “bold faced liar”, but I will not.  You can go to “You Tube” and type in “PM Raises Issue of Campaign Finance Reform” and judge for yourself. The most recent interview from last week should be easy to find also.

Knowing the leader of the opposition, it was out of character for him to do what he did to cause the house to be adjourned until next month, but when you have this kind of backpedalling by the leader of your country it is enough to make the average man hold his breath and walk away, but, the leader of the opposition does not have that option.

The senior members in the Progressive Liberal Party are making an appeal to what is decent and honourable but they are going to have to deal with the facts, and it may be the job of the Speaker of the house to gather the facts and present those facts; because if the issue is truth, the leader of the Opposition cannot be faulted. The Speaker is also batting 0-2 when it comes to dealing with the leaders of the opposition; being the Christian gentleman that he is, I had expected that his entry into politics would have signalled a change in the culture. We will have to wait and see.

For the leader of the Country to give the impression that this country is wide open to anyone who has money, borders on treason and every Bahamian should be appalled like the Senior members of the PLP are about this state of affairs. But history has a way of repeating itself and the same influences that caused the first Prime Minister of this country to turn his back on the local community regarding promises made about the gambling issue more than forty years ago, those influences are alive and well in this era. Before the last election the present  Prime Minister promised us that he would deal with the issue of election finance reform, but it looks like we are in for more of the same, this time it is piled deeper and higher.

If this is going to be the attitude of those elected to serve, we may need to spend another forty years in the wilderness. I am not happy with this and those of us who remember certain portions of Sir Lynden’s legacy should not be satisfied either;  despite his shortcomings he made a very conscious effort to make amends in the latter stage of his life, to the point where many of those who were his political enemies did not desert him in the time that he needed them most.  And, we cannot desert our country at this time. We must see our situation for what it is and put the politics aside. A couple of hundred years our brothers “cracked the bush” and we were ushered into slavery, but, in this period, brothers are “cracking the bush”, and foisting slavery upon us. The trinkets in the first instance that got their attention are not as substantial as the trinkets that are getting their attention now; but if you take the long view of the Prime Minister who wants his grandchildren to appreciate what is happening in Bimini, you have to call the stuff what it is, “trinkets”. We cannot allow anyone to come here and dispossess future generations of the privileges granted to them as Bahamians, or have the kind of influence in our nation’s business that causes strife at all levels; all in the name of political expediency. If it is allowed to continue, there are persons in this country who will not be held in any regard by their progeny who will have to live with their political missteps and national indiscretions.

The question is, “Do they really care?”.

July 23, 2013