By BRANVILLE McCARTNEY

Leader, Democratic

National Alliance

IT IS with a great sense of sadness for our nation that I sit here today to pen my personal thoughts of the state of our nation. The recent killings in Fox Hill and the number of murders for the year, not to mention the number of persons killed in the last five years, is heartbreaking to say the least.

Our nation has been for some time an undisciplined society and it is getting worse. To say it is better in the Bahamas would be an untruth.

Having recently spent the Christmas holiday out of the jurisdiction made me for feel for the first time in 46 years not wanting to come back to this crime ridden nation where the Rule of Law is non-existent and where there is not justice for all… a county where we live in paradise but we are paralysed by fear. A nation where we do not feel protected and crime reins.

Any reasonable thinking person must agree that in our once peaceful island nation the criminals now rule and it seems as if we, the law-abiding citizens, are helpless, and must accept out fate in that regard. It is indeed a sad state of affairs!

The present administration, leading up to the last election, told all of us in this country that they had the answers to crime. Their pronouncement came in light of the fact that the former administration seem to have also been lost as to how to deal with this vexing problem.

They, the former administration, did not face the crime problem head on and hence crime continued to manifest itself. A promise to fix our crime problem was the cry of this administration.

It was said that they had the solutions to the problem of crime. The “Promise Makers” as I now call them, went as far as to embarrass our country by posting billboards all around our islands outlining our crime statistics. In this regard they seem to have gone head on with the former administration’s billboards of Proven Leadership!

Well, if this administration is not aware, as I do not think they are, they are losing or should I say they have lost the fight against crime. They are beaten, tired and have not a clue as to what to do.

They look lost and in reality they need answers. They dare not repeat what they said during the election campaign about having the answers to crime… even PLP supports would not believe a new promise by them on eradicating crime.

It was just that – promises, promises, promises. Oh yea... after all they are the Promise Makers. And yes…in light of what has been said by the present administration, I now blame them for not dealing with this vexing issue of crime …after all… they said that they had the answers.

I might ad that it is the fundamental responsibility of any government to protect its citizens. We as citizens of this Commonwealth are not protected. Crime and the fear of crime are rampant in this island nation. The government has failed and yes they have failed miserably. They have no answers!

We as Bahamians should be enraged. We ought to demand more of our elected officials and demand a safe place to live. We must not let them sit back and think that because they are the elected ones that they do not have to answer to us. We must not be so passive and continue as a nation to accept less than competent representation.

We as a people deserve better. And we as a people have the power. Always remember that the power of the people is greater than the people in power. We are the people!

I am asking the government to do what is necessary to enforce capital punishment in this country. If the government wishes for capital punishment to be enforced, they as the government have the power to do so. Do not let them tell you otherwise. It is my belief that our leaders simply do not believe in capital punishment because if they did, provisions would have been in place by now for its enforcement.

For those who do not believe that capital punishment is a deterrent (I certainly believe it is) the fact of the matter is that it was not meant to be a deterrent. You can rest assured however, that that person who has capital punishment invoked on him or her will never commit murder again.

Capital punishment is what it is. It is a punishment. I remember quite vividly a few years ago a former Commissioner of Police told me that the only thing these criminals understand is a rope around their neck. I agreed with him when he said that to me and I agree with that statement wholeheartedly today.

I think I can speak for most of the law-abiding citizens of this country. I wish to tell this administration that we do not feel safe in our island nation.

There is a mammoth fear of crime among the people. The promises made to solve the issue of crime have not been fulfilled and if this administration continues to sit idly by, clueless as to what to do, I respectfully ask them to step aside and allow the Bahamian people to put an administration in charge who will get the job done.