Yesterday’s referendum became a pawn to politics

NEW YORK Times’ op-ed columnist Frank Bruni, writing an appreciation of Cassandra Butts, President Barack Obama’s appointee as US Ambassador to the Bahamas, noted that she had been waiting for more than 820 days for confirmation in her post and was still waiting when she unexpectedly died on May 25.

“The delay,” wrote Bruni, “had nothing to do with her qualifications, which were impeccable. It had everything to do with Washington. She was a pawn in its power games and partisanship.”

As we listened to the returns from yesterday’s referendum – a referendum, the object of which was to better protect the family unit, giving Bahamian men and women the same nationality rights in marriage, and securing Bahamian nationality for their children, wherever born – we questioned democracy. The defeat of an attempt to protect the family as one Bahamian unit was crushing. It soon became obvious that the voters’ intention was not to destroy the family, but, like the Butts’ case, the family was lost in the mounting anger and mistrust of the Christie government.

Shortly before entering an empty St Anne’ polling division 2 as 1pm approached yesterday, we were told by a young lady that until she read The Tribune’s supplement – “Time to right the wrongs” — she was in a state of complete confusion as to what all the fuss was about. After reading the supplement and understanding the suffering of Bahamian families, which had no law to protect them, she grasped the problem. She was now determined to vote — even for the much debated question No. 4, which had been wrongly interpreted as opening the door to same sex marriage.

Many going to the polls yesterday, marked their X in a cloud of confusion. Many, not understanding — and others, just acting out of political anger — voted “no” to vent their frustration with the Christie government.

Everyone has the right to their own opinion, and the right to vote however they think best. However, for those who had little or no comprehension, and just voted to spite an untrustworthy government, we questioned the true worth of democracy.

We were not distracted for any length of time with these thoughts as we recalled Sir Winston Churchill’s wise assessment. Said Sir Winston: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”

As we were writing this our son received a call from an acquaintance. The caller was in a noisy bar room. The men’s voices were raucous as they celebrated an untrustworthy government’s defeat.

Apologising for what he acknowledged was an emphatic “no across the board” vote, and admitting that he should have voted “yes”, the caller quickly added: “I feel a little guilty, but damn, it feels good to spite dem no good politicians today.

“Dey lie to us ‘bout erryting. No jobs! Unemployment sky high; crime outta control and, sold the country to the Chinese. What a joke! They call it putting Bahamians first! I know I should have voted Yes, but damn, it felt good to tell them to get lost. We don’t trust the government to get it right! Full Stop…” and so he continued as he got louder and his language more raw. His chums in the background supported him as they celebrated the defeat of a government they could no longer support.

We were surprised at Prime Minister Christie’s statement Tuesday morning that he is “disappointed” that the Official Opposition, who “once stood shoulder to shoulder” with him on the constitutional referendum, had decided to “back away” publicly from supporting the vote.

Why should he be surprised. Has he so quickly forgotten the referendum of 2002 when he withdrew his promised support of then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham on the same issue?

Wasn’t it Mr Christie who, after he and his colleagues had voted in the House to support the 2002 referendum on the same nationality question, announced that he had changed his mind? After having taken so long to agree not to disagree, having voted “yes” on all the issues in the House, he announced that if the referendum were not cancelled he would be forced to vote “no”.

Again to accommodate him, the sixth referendum question of which he had complained was eliminated.

“If I knew then what I know now, I almost certainly would have taken a different position on the bills,” Mr Christie told those attending his first town meeting. It was predicted that if that referendum were lost, so would the election which followed shortly after. The PLP, headed by Mr Christie, won the 2002 election. The same has been predicted for the 2017 election, which can only happen if the FNM takes advantage of its early convention to get its house in order and elect a more forceful leader.

But it is the gambling referendum that really destroyed the Christie government. Bahamians, supported by the churches, returned a resounding “No” to the legalisation of gambling. Despite the vote to close the web shops, the Christie government ignored the voice of the people — called it an opinion poll and not a referendum, and legalised gambling. With that betrayal the Christie government lost its supporters.

This was the referendum issue that confused Bahamians. The constitutional referendum, which was defeated yesterday, was one of several “entrenched” articles in the Constitution that once it got a two-thirds majority vote in both Houses of parliament and the vote of the people in a referendum could not be changed by the government. It was quite unlike the gambling “referendum” turned “opinion poll”. This poll was not necessary. It could have been settled in parliament at no cost. It was just that government wanted to duck the ire of the Baptist Church that parliamentarians thought it would be clever to let the people vote “yes” in a “referendum” to take the pastors’ heat off them. However, they were dropped in the scalding cauldron when the people voted “no” to gambling. It is assumed that deals had already been made before the vote, and so caught between the proverbial “rock and a hard place”, a “referendum” quickly became an “opinion poll” and a “No” vote was turned into a “Yes” by the Christie government. This betrayal is what destroyed yesterday’s referendum. A lack of trust. If they can betray us once, they can betray us again, so why waste our time was the grumble.

It is just a shame that more people did not understand the importance of a “yes” vote yesterday and saved their anger for the 2017 election when they would have felt even better with a worthwhile victory.

Comments

Well_mudda_take_sic says...

Five million plus dollars ($5,000,000+) of our hard earned taxpayer dollars flushed down the toilet by the corrupt Christie-led PLP government on their misguided and rightfully failed attempt to buy votes in exchange for Bahamian citizenship and/or pandering to the agenda of the global LGBT movement! The horridly dilapidated public school I voted at sure could have used that money for desperately needed renovations and repair work. My wife actually had tears come to her eyes when she realized that all of the school's water fountains and water coolers were non-functioning and that the restrooms were in a dreadful state, not fit for human use by any standard. Yet the corrupt Christie-led PLP government would have us believe that they care about the rights of men and women (and those somewhere between men and women) being equal. Well, what about the rights of our young children who have to attend these deplorable public schools that are not fit for most animals, let alone humans?! Small wonder our children are receiving a D minus education....it is almost impossible for even the brightest amongst our young to learn anything under such horrid conditions. And no doubt the teachers at these unkept schools are from the bottom of the barrel....who else would subject themselves to working under such squalid conditions. But elitist Christie and his privileged political friends and business cronies (like Sharon Wilson, her husband Sir Snake, Maynard-Gibson, Sean McWeeney et al.) certainly don't give two hoots about the welfare of our young children and the quality of their education .....they only care about themselves....and bills 1 thru 4 were only ever about themselves in terms of their hidden agenda. Thank heavens the vast majority of Bahamians were not fooled and overwhelmingly voted "No" to all four of the bills. Christie and his merry band of bandits are corrupt, power hungry, financially greedy and completely lacking in heart or soul. I truly feel for the very young in our country today, especially the 500+ recent COB graduates.

Posted 8 June 2016, 2:40 p.m. Suggest removal

GrassRoot says...

people always say "no" as a default. so next time ask the questions the other way round. With a D- education population, make comics not texts, so they have a chance to understand what they are supposed to decide about.

Posted 8 June 2016, 4:40 p.m. Suggest removal

sheeprunner12 says...

The Tribune Editor is still in denial .................. the PLP reaped what they sowed from 2002 ....... The FNM is the only political party that has the moral authority to reform the Constitution at this time ............ the PLP played a dangerous political game that ended with the SHIT all over their faces

Posted 9 June 2016, 12:42 p.m. Suggest removal

Economist says...

Ultimately, the only ones to end up with shit all over their faces are the Bahamian people.

Posted 9 June 2016, 2:57 p.m. Suggest removal

ThisIsOurs says...

"*It soon became obvious that the voters’ intention was not to destroy the family, but, like the Butts’ case, the family was lost in the mounting anger and mistrust of the Christie government.*"

How do you know that? And why are people ignoring the biggest voice in the room, Dame
Joan who said the questions were unnecessary? Nothing to do with Christie, the PLP or Minnis, the questions were simply unnecessary and they were flawed? Is it in the realm of possibility that the question wording was the cause of failure or is that too difficult to admit?

"*it is just a shame that more people did not understand the importance of a “yes” vote yesterday*"

It's a shame that more yes voters didn't take time to question the questions before presenting them to the people who would have been more than willing to vote yes for a clear cut case of equal rights for women

Posted 9 June 2016, 3:41 p.m. Suggest removal

Economist says...

Dame Joan Sawyer also said that nothing had changed with respect to Human Rights since 1963, yes 63.

She lied. Look up Human Rights on the UN site and Women's Rights.

Posted 12 June 2016, 8:37 p.m. Suggest removal

baclarke says...

ad hominem fail, you assume she was lying, when she could have simply been in error. The matter at hand is whether some/all of the changes could have been made without constitutional changes.

Posted 14 June 2016, 11:05 a.m. Suggest removal

quietone says...

Here are a couple of things I think our leaders really need to do as soon as possible:

1) Make changes to our constitution by getting about two thirds of the parliament to agree with the change, and forget about the referendum procedure period. I understand this is the method Barbados and at least another Caribbean country use to make changes to their constitution.

2) Use lethal injection rather than hanging to execute murderers. Even the word Hanging sounds too cruel and barbarous.

3) Some strict type of rehabilitation training should be given to young persons who seem to have serious antisocial behaviour.

Recall some yeas ago when the honourable Hubert Ingraham was Prime Minister when he did not seem too concerned about the killings... he said that it was only a small number of criminals killing one another, and he implied that it would soon stop when they all are gone. Well over the years, the murder rate has gotten worse..

Posted 26 July 2016, 8:06 p.m. Suggest removal

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