Bahamas Blog

Do you remember the controversy over the extradition of Samuel "Ninety" Knowles? Well, the furror surrounding the recent arrest of four Bahamian baggage handlers on drug trafficking charges in the United States is even more interesting.

And a wholesale condemnation of our society.

Events such as these give an unvarnished glimpse of Bahamian society and some of the comments published in the press are reflective of a society that is deeply rooted in crime and corruption.

One could call that society "criminally-minded".

It would would be like Iraqis demanding the release of insurgents after their arrest.

Like the US Ambassador, John Rood said in response to the overwhelming disapproval of the arrests by the Bahamian public: "do we believe in the rule of law in The Bahamas or not?"

The answer: Apparently, we do not.

Every aspect of our society says morality and the rule of law are dead. Bahamians who refute that premise are playing themselves as fools.

I mean, why shouldn't the wives of these baggage handlers expect better treatment? After all, Marguerite Pindling, widow of former Prime Minister Lynden Pindling is allowed to keep the spoils of her dead, disgraced husband's crimes. Mrs Pindling, who (inexplicably) was appointed as an Assistant Governor General of The Bahamas, also (inexplicably) received special honours from the Queen, despite the fact that she lives in a mansion allegedly paid for with narco-money.

How can any Bahamian reconcile this obvious contradiction in values?

Not all alleged drug dealer's wives are treated as nicely as Mrs Pindling, whose husband was never convicted of his crimes because the man responsible for prosecuting him was his good buddy, Paul Adderley, attorney general at the time and currently (also inexplicably) an Assistant Governor General of The Bahamas.

Who among us can justify the fact that Keva Major is in jail awaiting extradition to the US on drug trafficking charges, while 14 others - accused of the same crimes - are allowed out on bail. And all while Mrs Pindling is living on the spoils of the exact same crime.

Talk about selective justice. Talk about corruption!

If you can explain how this can be justified, I'd love to hear your comments.

But I warn you, I've already heard some pretty warped opinions.

I found this gem on Fred Mitchell's old website, BahamasUncensored...

"The question is now asked whether there was sufficient Bahamian political control of this operation, and if so did The Bahamas collude in the arrest of its citizens abroad? One correspondent to this site asked the question if the Bahamian police can act like rogue cops, today it is five lowly employees at Flight Services, the next it's the leaders of the country."

The Mitchell-mouths are implying that what happened to the drug smuggling baggage handlers could also happen to the leaders of our country. This sounds like an admission (from a source very close to the government) that at least some of our leaders might indeed be breaking the law and perhaps need to be arrested. Why else would the author imply that any Bahamian should ever worry about travelling to the United States, unless there was some reason they might be arrested once they hit US soil?

The statement also refers to the policemen who were involved in the "sting" operation as "rogue cops", when they are anything but. These police had the courage to enforce the laws of the Bahamas, despite public ridicule and scorn. That makes them heroes, not villians. But the criminally-minded in our society think inside the box, and a very dark box at that.

This is proven in the comments from the website mentioned above, the tone of which are not unusual to that site, and show the socially destructive mentality of the website's audience. Talk about a truly dangerous website to foster such deviant thinking amongst the Bahamian public.

U.S. Ambassador John Rood said he was sickened by the response of the Bahamian people to the arrest of the baggage handlers. Mr Rood said it is vital that security at our airports be tightened up. He stressed that instead of drugs, corrupt workers could be paid by terrorists to put bombs or weapons on planes!

The editor of the Punch had this to say on the matter: "Our culture of corruption has resulted in many Bahamians not knowing the difference between right and wrong. We have degenerated into a nation of people who are unprincipled, unscrupulous, unethical, immoral and greedy."

Driving his point home, the Punch editor added, "We have sunk into a cesspit of moral decay, double-standards, hypocrisy, dishonesty, stealing, lying and corruption."

So, explain this to me. If the editor of the Punch is wrong, then why did the average Bahamian decline to praise the arrest of the five bag-men drug suspects as "good police work"?

Is it truly, as the wise editor suggests, because too many Bahamians are morally bankrupt and steeped in corrupt ways?

You tell me.

As I was entering a store in Nassau I noticed a vehicle, with a heavily tinted windshield, just pulling into a handicapped parking space located directly in front of the store's entrance.

I watched with disgust as a slim, nicely dressed black Bahamian woman got out of the car and walked into the store in front of me.

She was not handicapped in the least bit.

I informed her that she was parked in a handicapped space. She ignored me.

As I walked to the back of the store I ran into a uniformed police officer who, coincidentally, was also shopping in the store. I asked him if he wrote traffic tickets. He said he did.

I told him there was a car, belonging to a non-handicapped person, parked in the handicapped spot in front of the store.

He told me it was "private property" and he couldn't do anything about it.

I know it is a little thing, compared to all the serious crime in Nassau, but zero tolerance means zero tolerance.

With lazy, useless guys like this in charge of our law enforcement, it is no wonder Nassau is a lawless jungle.

Yeah, ZNS is definitely being used by the PLP as an election campaign tool.

The other day, they had a show featuring Frank "snake" Wilson, one of the biggest pieces of potcake dung in the country. The slimeball snake was running his mouth about his crooked pals, like the Pindlings, and the part they played in "developing" the Bahamas. In fact, Frankie, Pindling and their crooked cronies are responsible for destroying the social development of The Bahamas.

The garbage spewed from the snake's mouth is the same crap that historical revisionists are trying to ram down the throats of school children in the Bahamas. It is not history, nor is it factual. It is PLP propaganda - the glorification of the greedy and criminal-minded.

In my opinion, whatever good Lynden Pindling did was completely overshadowed by his many, many bad deeds.

And Frank the snake has never done anything good to begin with.

Frankly, (no pun intended) I can't think of anything more destructive to Bahamian society than for the PLP to base their election strategy on glorifying the criminals of the disgraceful Pindling era, many of whom are on board the gravy train once again.

Below, is a link to a news article about how Mexico's newly elected president Felipe Calderon will gain credibility at home and with the U.S. for turning over drug-trade leaders.

Mexico's Extraditions Make a Point

Yes, that's right, the Mexican people appreciate what Mr. Calderon has done.

They appreciate it because they understand the damage that drug trafficking does to their country and their society.

What a difference from the Bahamas, where the criminally-minded majority criticise and berate the government for daring to extradite their beloved drug dealers to the US.

What a difference from the Bahamas, where Members of Parliament, civic leaders and members of the legal fraternity whine and cry, even threaten to sue because their drug-dealing cronies must face justice.

What a difference from the Bahamas, where criminal organisations, such as the PLP government and the FNM party, pander to the criminally-minded majority by pretending they didn't know about, or were against anything to do with, the arrest or extradition of drug traffickers.

When the United States issues a Traveler's Advisory against the Bahamas, and millions of Americans go to Cancun, instead of Nassau, well, we'll know why, won't we?