Bahama Pundit

Bahamas Commemoration of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

by Larry Smith

"May the time come...when the sable people shall gratefully commemorate the auspicious era of extensive freedom." -- Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano was born in what is now Nigeria and kidnapped into slavery at the age of 11. He was shipped to Barbados and then to Virginia, where he was able to buy his freedom in 1766.

In later life, he played an active role in the British movement to abolish the slave trade. And his autobiography was an international bestseller, presenting an eyewitness account of slavery from a true insider's perspective.

Winston Saunders was a Bahamian teacher and writer, as well as a lawyer and judge. His untimely death in Jamaica on Saturday at the age of 65 is a profound loss to the cultural community in the Bahamas.

At the time, Mr Saunders was meeting with Jamaican officials to discuss the bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade in his role as co-chairman of the Bahamas Cultural Development Commission.

The actual 200th anniversary of the British law that ended the slave trade occurs on March 25, 2007. It marks a tremendous achievement that represented the beginning of the end of human slavery - a condition that has existed in various forms since ancient times.

Next year's commemoration will feature special events throughout Britain and in other countries that were involved in the transatlantic slave trade.

Threats to Bahamian Marine Resources

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

Two weeks ago Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Leslie Miller alerted the nation to what he described as the rape of our waters by fishing boats from the Dominican Republic. Mr. Miller said reports from Bahamian fishermen suggest the Dominicans are exploiting all our fishing grounds and becoming more brazen and bold in the process.

This is indeed a threat of the highest order to our national security. The vast marine resources of The Bahamas are a national treasure of inestimable value, and in terms of money are worth billions of dollars to Bahamians of today and succeeding generations.

It is hard to exaggerate the value of what we have in the waters that together with our islands and cays constitute the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. This wealth must be measured first in terms of national food security and then in terms of export potential, and its value is increasing every day as over-fishing and environmental abuse threaten the fish stocks of the planet.

Like Rip Van Winkle, many Bahamians tend to sleep through the battle for our heritage – our historical, cultural, artistic and natural heritage. Enough of us woke up just in time to save some of our disintegrating architectural heritage, the restoration of Villa Doyle being perhaps the best example of this.

On Travel

by Nicolette Bethel

You ever notice how, when certain people travel, they go wherever they please without a second thought? From Ethiopia to Tibet, from Vienna to Baton Rouge, from Moscow to Santiago, they step off the plane or train or whatever got them there, they look around, and they feel well, not exactly at home, but entitled to be treated with a measure of dignity? These are the people who rise up in indignation when they’re challenged at borders, when they run into snags or problems, when their dignity is not recognized.

On the other hand, you ever notice how, when certain other people travel, they pick where they want to go? They avoid certain places, they pick certain routes, they travel by specific forms of transport where security is the norm and not the exception, and when they step off the aeroplane, they prepare to be treated like immigrants or criminals or worse? These people may rise up in indignation when they’re challenged as well, but it’s not because they are shocked into that state. It’s because they’re all to familiar with their dignity not being recognized, and they’ve just become tired of it all.

Bahamas Moves to Implement National Health Plan

by Larry Smith

You should be careful what you wish for.

For the first time in memory the Christie government has acted decisively by proceeding to ram its national health programme through parliament over the objections of almost every interest group in the country. And the prime minister says this will be his key election plank.

The NHI Bill seeks to establish a healthcare "financing and purchasing mechanism" that will be administered by a 10-member commission under the authority of a cabinet minister. A special fund will collect a mandatory payroll tax to pay for medical services and administrative costs, and it will all be handled by the famously inefficient National Insurance Board.

This new bureaucracy will be the ultimate expression of public sector hubris - something that Bahamians have been gradually edging away from over the past few decades.

A Bahamian Reflection on the US Mid-term Elections

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

The mid-term elections in the United States did not go unnoticed in The Bahamas despite the frenetic activity on the local political stage. Some Bahamian political aficionados stayed up late into the night to get the results and from all accounts there were more than a few election night parties.

As it turned out, the polls produced dramatic results with the Democratic Party taking control of the Senate and the House of Representatives and thus changing the direction of American politics at a critical point.

The Republican administration of President George W. Bush suffered a serious setback and Democrats are already salivating at the prospect of taking the White House in 2008. One of the leading contenders to carry the Democratic Party’s standard in that contest is African-American Senator Barak Obama of Illinois who has roots in Kenya.

Other black Americans like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have in the past thrown their hats into the presidential ring but nobody thought they had a chance of winning a nomination, much less the presidency.

Cyril Stevenson and the Political History of The Bahamas

by Larry Smith

"Cyril St John Stevenson was probably the most intelligent and determined of the (PLP's) founding troika, and probably for that reason was regarded by Bay Street as the most dangerous." -- Michael Craton

Cyril Stevenson's lifetime spanned the entire modern political history of the Bahamas - and he was intimately involved in a lot of that history. Born in another era, at the time of the First World War, he died last week at the age of 92.

Tough Call was not one of Stevenson's contemporaries, nor do we claim any special insight into his life. But we do recall some engaging moments spent with him in the 1970s when we were both part of the government's communications infrastructure - I was a junior hack at the Bahamas News Bureau, and he was a semi-retired flack at Bahamas Information Services.

A big, friendly man, Stevenson was a self-taught journalist, and closely related to the Farrington family - a well-known clan of printers. He wrote for the Nassau Guardian when it was run by the arch-conservative Mary Moseley, but found his metier as editor of the anti-establishment Nassau Herald.

Judge Scolds Bahamas Government Over Separation of Powers

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

A Justice of the Supreme Court has just given the executive branch of our government a well-deserved public scolding for playing fast and loose with the Judicature and for becoming confused over the difference between the two and the separate roles of each of these constitutional institutions.

In delivering his dramatic ruling of 6 November 2006, Justice John Lyons did a great service to the nation by speaking out courageously about what he perceived to be an attack on the independence of The Bahamas Judiciary.

There may be controversial aspects of the judge’s stunning pronouncement but there is much in it that citizens of this country should take to heart. It should be posted on the internet for all to read.

Mr. Lyons takes issue with a press release emanating from the Attorney General’s Office and which presumes to review the performance of high court judges in the context of the Attorney’s General’s so-called “swift justice” initiative.

Anna Nicole Smith & Bahamian Politics Make Classic Comedy

by Larry Smith

Cabinet minister to permanent secretary: "Do you see it as part of your job to help ministers make fools of themselves?"

Permanent secretary to cabinet minister: "Well, I never met one that needed any help."
—from the British television series, Yes Minister.

Permanent secretary Leila Greene to Housing Minister Neville Wisdom: "How you gonna call somebody and tell them you come to investigate them?"

Housing Minister Neville Wisdom to permanent secretary Leila Greene: "That's something, eh?...I won't tolerate that...I shouldn't be talking to him."
—from the Tribune's voicemail.

After being caught on the Tribune's voicemail dismissing the right to know, Housing Minister Neville Wisdom went before Parliament to say that the press and the people do have a right to know about matters regarding public expenditure.

"I am obligated to provide information, but not files" said Mr Wisdom, who has withheld said information for the past several months despite frequent press inquiries.

He went on to table said information in Parliament, although there was lots of missing information described only as "blank".

Bahamas Cabinet Responsible for Anna Nicole Smith Affair

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

It seems we simply cannot escape Anna Nicole Smith now that she has sashayed onto our national stage with her bizarre behaviour and the swirl of controversy which seems to follow her wherever she goes.

There are a lot of issues facing us at the moment and ordinarily Ms. Smith would have been exempt from serious commentary. But she has thrust herself onto our agenda, enthusiastically facilitated by a Minister and a Government who seem to think that she is a positive addition to the Bahamian scene.

It looks as if her outlandish antics will continue to grab newspaper headlines and that her dealings will be the subject of litigation in our courts.

But however these should develop, the immediate concern of Bahamians is the conduct of their Government and the Government has made three fundamental errors in this affair.

Seeking the Voices of Moderate Islam

by Larry Smith

A recent article (read it here) on the dangers of religious fundamentalism - and particularly radical Islam - drew responses from three Bahamians.

One called the article a balanced analysis:

"The enemy is fundamentalism across the board, as you rightly conclude. It would be a great thing if all the 'liberals' and 'secularists' could voice themselves more strongly, without resorting to the passionate screaming that these others always resort to, and really make their voice heard in the world again.

"To allow the increasing influence of the 'church' in politics here would be disastrous. Lawyers make bad enough politicians as it is. Priests and pastors? Truly frightening."

Another urged readers to watch the documentary 'Obsession - Radical Islam's War Against The West' (http://www.obsessionthemovie.com):

"Everyone on the planet must watch this. If I had ultimate power over the country I'd implement mandatory public education days. For one random hour on one random day of every week, all tv, cable, satellite, radio, even internet will be forced to show the same thing. The first thing I'd show would be this movie. I'd probably show it two weeks in a row."

The third declared that Islam was a religion of peace, and took issue with a "mistranslated" verse from the Koran as quoted in the article: