The Clifton Review
The Clifton Review is a bi-weekly column that examines the question of the Clifton project along with the evolution of the war between two billionaires, the links to unsavory characters, the use of the courts for personal agendas, the involvement of a political party, and the attacks on the Government of The Bahamas.
We covered the start of this war with articles describing the battle over easement rights, the mysterious burning of a home, the blocks to rebuilding, and countless questionable court filings. This series of articles asks the needed questions and presents the arguments in full.
By P.J. Malone
Retired Archbishop of the Provence of the West Indies, The Most Reverend Bishop Drexel W. Gomez, implored Bahamians and all political leaders to “Be careful!”
In a recent sermon he beseeched, “Be careful with your approach to your politics. If you take the wrong direction, if you listen to the wrong voice, you will destroy this wonderful country that God has given to us.”
As previously noted, Bishop Gomez was responding to the recent events taking place in The Bahamas that have many people concerned that a “political witch hunt” may be taking place, carried out by the new Government through the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
We recently referred to the story Bishop Gomez told about his experience in a Rwandan museum and how the Rwanda genocide began with political domination. The Most Reverend Bishop exhorted Bahamians to listen to the right voice; he explained how we could be headed down the road to a Rwandan experience, as his words below illustrate:
“To whom are we listening in our political life in this country? For years in this pulpit at St. Agnes, and in other Anglican pulpits, I have warned that we were in danger of allowing party politics to threaten our identity as Bahamians.
“Politics essentially is about the management of our national patrimony, the management of our national affairs. Persons or parties may have different approaches to this management, but such differences should not lead us to perceive or treat our opponents as enemies.
“Our opponents are simply fellow Bahamians who have different ideas about how we should manage our National affairs. That is the simple message of politics; that is what politics is supposed to be about.
“First and foremost we are Bahamians, and I hope secondly, we are Christians next; and our political allegiance or association should not come higher than these two. It should never be higher than a third in the hierarchy of values.
“But unfortunately, we are faced with the sad reality that our political or perceived political association is becoming the primary element in our national identity. When partisan political affiliation is allowed to become the controlling factor in our national life, we open the door to political domination along partisan divisions, which does not serve the common good.
“It never has and it never will. Rather, it threatens equality as a basic human right to be enjoyed by all Bahamians, irrespective of political affiliation. It further leads to the politicization of our society. In such a society that has become politicized, the police force, for example, becomes a divided entity with divided loyalties; and eventually the entire legal and judicial services are adversely impacted all along party political lines.
“This surely is not what we want for our beautiful Bahamaland. However, if we are not careful at this juncture in our national life, we will open the door to the domination of our society by party politics. We will become a politicized society and we will be the worse for it. For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, history is replete with examples of societies destroyed by political domination in which those who are dominated experience exclusion, deprivation, marginalisation and oppression.
In his sermon, Bishop Gomez gave the Rwanda example of where this all leads. (Please see Tuesday’s Clifton Review for Bishop Gomez’s cautionary tale and experience while visiting the Rwanda museum that displays the horror of the Rwanda genocide.)
Bishop Gomez ended his sermon with this plea:
“So as a National, as someone who loves his country, I plead with the leaders, the political leaders of our country, all the political leaders, to reflect honestly, to answer the question, ‘to whom are you listening? To whom are you listening?’ With our Christian background, the answer should be, ‘We are listening to Jesus.’
“But what is going on in our country today does not indicate that we are really listening to Jesus. So I wish to make this plea, make this appeal to the leaders, the political leaders of our country, to listen to Jesus, and to make our country a country that functions according to Christian values, Christian teaching, which all come from Jesus.
“Listen to him. This is what God wants from us. I implore, not only the political leaders, but all Bahamians. Be careful! Be careful with your approach to your politics. If you take the wrong direction, if you listen to the wrong voice, you will destroy this wonderful country that God has given to us. So I plead with you, listen. ‘This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to Him.’ In God’s name, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
Amen!
