EDITOR, The Tribune

It boggles my mind to no end the direction this country is headed.

We have a politician that chose not to alert his constituents of possible toxic dangers. We have political leaders with the most monies in their bank accounts with no paper trail as to how and where it was derived. We have Members of Parliament with not only the dirtiest constituency, but the constituents seem to have been left behind to fend for themselves while leaders concentrate on solidifying their legacy.

Added, we have a Bahamian government that spent a reported, but not accounted for, $13 million plus on a foreign festival, with Bahamian taxpayers footing the bill. Yet they choose to distract and try to drag down a reputable environmental organisation like Save The Bays. But I guess deflection, deception and deceit is to be the order of the day with this administration. They can find out other people’s business, but can’t locate or give account as to where the taxpayers’ money has vanished to. The punk action of hiding behind Parliamentary privilege while trying to ruin another’s good name is cowardly and shameful. But I am here to set you all straight because it seems that only y’all family, friends and lovers are supposed to have something in this country? I guess the rest of us should cower and not be seen nor heard, but that’s not the way Kirkland H Bodie lives his life.

I have always made an honest living for myself and my family. I’ve never had a government job, never compromised my ethics for anyone and will never cloak wrongdoing. I have always been forthright and if you can prove otherwise then put me before the courts, or shut up with your lies.

I am proud of the life I live, coming up from humble beginnings in Jones Town, Eight Mile Rock. What I have accomplished and continue to achieve has been an inspiration for many Bahamians that thought we would never make it out of the “Rocks”. I refuse to let anyone who goes around digging in garbage cans define who I am to the world, or to my beloved Bahamian people. I am honoured to work along with some of the brightest minds and dedicated environmentalists in the world. I am also proud to be a director with Save The Bays, heading their music division.

It has allowed me to transition my career from a Bahamian recording artist and entertainer that cares about his culture, into an artist who sings and writes about preserving and respecting our beautiful archipelago. Every song I have written for the Save The Bays organisation has been about just that, from “Let’s Save The Bays”, to “Sweet Bimini”; from the “Freedom Of Information Act” song to “Das Nasty”, I have watched myself grow even further as a composer, writer, producer and performer. If asking the government to assist in protecting its nation’s natural resources, or insisting on the passage of a Freedom of Information Act for transparency and accountability in our public service; if insisting that you would facilitate these things is compared to toppling the government, then I understand why our education statistics are so abysmal, when the bottom is actually mirroring the leadership at the top.

This same administration paid a Trinidadian artist $100,000 to perform for an hour and a half and they now have their bloomers in a bunch because a Bahamian artist can earn that amount in a year? Is this another example of them believing in Bahamians? Only a foreign mother can spawn a child to make that kind of money, ay? It seems that these politicians think that Bahamians don’t deserve this, but I deserve it and more. I am talented, I am dedicated, and I’ve paid my dues through hard work and sacrifice. Where were you all when I spent hours upon hours writing and composing music; my time flying up and down the country, throughout the Caribbean, around the world; all those long nights spent in the studio, leaving at four or five in the morning; on the road for months, away from my family.

You have no clue of the body of work I have written and produced in my lifetime and continue to do, but I also understand that I have y’all waters running, so that explains your desperation to blemish my character.

No! I was not paid by any political party to write songs, I wrote them on my own, nothing to do with Save The Bays, because I saw this government as incompetent.

You were easy to write about, you wrote your own demise; you all are truly “Jokey”. Just look at your track record so far, rudderless, like “Captain Kangaroo”, think about it? “Hold Dey Feet To Da Fire”, when last have any of you declared your assets to the public? Just like my song “We Bein’ Sitted On”, it’s all true, art imitating life. Did your political party pay me when I wrote the song “Dey Sellin’ Our Country” under the last FNM administration? Once again, Mr Fitzgerald you and your kind are hypocrisy at its finest, you all loved it, called me a genius!

Lastly, to go after a beautiful, saintly individual, with a big heart, a man for all seasons, like Joseph Darville was unconscionable. Not one of you who knows this champion and his contributions to our national development and the thousands of students he has mentored these many years have bothered to vouch for this good man or stood up to defend him, it’s a crying shame. Your skin must be made of leather and you have a heart of stone. You have gotten a temporary reprieve, you deceived your followers and the Bahamian people, but time is longer than rope. I need not say anymore more on that, you understand?

All the rigmarole and spin doctoring you all have thrown at us must mean that Save The Bays is doing an effective job in holding this administration accountable that you would have to sink so low with your disgusting House of Assembly antics. Real men would never do such a thing.

KIRKLAND H BODIE

Nassau

March 30, 2016