By P.J. Malone
In discussing on a Love 97 radio show whether or not a Non-Bahamian national, who is said to be funding three candidates from the Free National Movement (FNM) political party, has the objective of purchasing a government, Minister Fred Mitchell said “if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck!” He began with this statement:
“Someone who has a second home, so to speak, who does not have a home here, who is pouring these tens of millions of dollars—by our reckoning—through our systems, and then you have people who appear to be connected to them, you ask yourself, ‘what is actually the aim and objective? Is this to purchase a government, so to speak?’
Mr. Wendall Jones, host of the Love 97 show “Election Watch” then asked Minister Mitchell: “So what do you think it is? Do you think it is to purchase the Government of The Bahamas?”
Minister Mitchell’s full response was this:
“Well, I don’t second guess myself. I believe that that is what it is. And I believe that we ought to drive that home to the Bahamian public. Fine. This is what it looks like. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. I’m not going to second guess myself on it.”
In making a comparison between a campaign of deception with hidden objectives and the Chinese Government, Minister Mitchell made the following points during his interview on the radio show “Election Watch”:
“The fact is there are no hegemonic designs by the Chinese Government on The Bahamas in so far as we can tell, they have conducted themselves within the rules of investment in this country and within the laws. So we do not see any threat in that way. We think the country is strong enough to absorb the capital; it certainly needs the jobs.
“What we don’t need however, is a campaign of subterfuge oversees.
“Take this organization the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association (GBHRA), which is indistinguishable from Save The Bays, which is indistinguishable from Fred Smith, which is indistinguishable from We The People—all the same body; all the same style. You look at the wrap around in the newspaper, you see the style of the ads, just an enormous amount of money being poured into the Bahamas into what are essentially political campaigns.
“These folk go to an international body and by default, The Bahamas Government is said to have to provide measures of protection for these individuals, who walk around this country freely, interact with one another—one is a favorite customer of the web shop every morning in Freeport. So there doesn’t appear to be any threat whatsoever.
“Yet, they are maintaining that this is a society in which they have to have some special protections. It makes a mockery of the international justice system; it makes a mockery of the petition they did; and it makes a mockery of our country.”
The latter points were with respect to the petition filed by GBHRA with international human rights organizations claiming that individuals associated with Save The Bays are in “fear for their lives”; they got the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to mandate that the Government of The Bahamas provide the resources to protect these Save The Bays individuals.
Now, because of the actions of Save The Bays’ attorney and Director Fred Smith, the Commonwealth of The Bahamas is listed as a country with human rights abuses on international human rights’ lists along with rogue nations who kidnap, torture, and kill its citizens.
Minister Mitchell believes that the actions of Save The Bays have certainly damaged our reputation:
“I think that it has caused, not irreparable harm, but harm to the reputation of the country. I think that it is difficult for a Government with an annual turnover of about 2 billion. The Bahamas Government is fighting someone whose net worth is 24 billion.”
Minister Mitchell went on to explain the following:
“It’s demonstrated that the individual who is driving this is known for defamatory statements against the country, exaggerated statements. The other day I saw where he is walking down on a march with a swastika on a card saying something adverse about the country. This is offensive to Jewish people—swastikas are—but he sees nothing wrong with that. He made an allegation that we are conducting Auschwitz at the Detention Center. Auschwitz is a gas chamber where people were murdered by Nazis. Yet he said this about our own Detention Center. There’s nothing that demonstrates that anything of that kind is going on.”
With respect to Save The Bays and the other organizations Minister Mitchell mentioned, he stressed this point:
“They appear to be allied with non-nationals against the interest of The Bahamas. And I’m saying that that’s wrong. And I think throughout the campaign it’s a matter that needs to be discussed and discussed and aired thoroughly.“
Bahamians cannot and should not close their eyes to what is going on in front of our faces in The Bahamas. First, they seek to abuse our court systems; then they seek to destroy our reputation abroad, and now, based on what Minister Mitchell is saying, they are seeking to influence our elections?
We as Bahamians cannot stand for this. How long will we allow them to take advantage of our systems? We have to stand up and speak out!
