EDITORIAL: A young man of principle leads a movement

Thursday, January 12, 2017

IT WAS refreshing to hear a young Bahamian tell his followers that they could not expect “an administration to be accountable and follow the law, if we ourselves are not going to follow the law.”

Bahamians, fed up with the injustices they have had to endure for too many years, were participating on Tuesday in the second “WeMarch Bahamas” demonstration under the leadership of lawyer Ranard Henfield.

The first “Black Friday” march – organised in November to show government that Bahamians had had enough of being kept in the dark about the affairs of their country – was such a resounding success that the organisers were encouraged to plan a second march for Tuesday – Independence Day.

The marchers, embracing every segment of Bahamian society, are no longer prepared to accept the word of politicians, blindly following them without knowing the direction in which they are being led.

As one enthusiastic Eastern Road housewife commented yesterday after the march: “The camaraderie was tremendous, the speakers were terrific, especially Dame Joan Sawyer a (former Chief Justice).” And others would add that so was the music and the presence of calypsonian Ronnie Butler.

“WeMarch Bahamas is a movement inspired by the shared desire of a people to be free of petty politics, political mischief and bad governance amongst other things,” said Mr Henfield in describing the purpose of his movement.

The tremendous success of the first march demonstrated the power of a people who had at last found their voices, and had suddenly discovered that their voices had more power than those of the politicians.

“Over the month of December the planning efforts for the WeMarch January 2017 demonstration have been subject to much redirection, frustration and general political hocus pocus,” said Mr Henfield. “These petty attempts to subvert the democratic expression of the people have bordered on desperation; from announcing a competing ‘political march’ to rival the people’s march, to arbitrarily switching a holiday observance date from January 9th to January 10th, to now denying the people’s four week old request to assemble in Rawson and Parliament Squares.

“Despite these distractions,” he said. “WeMarch Bahamas will not be deterred. Our right to peacefully assemble is a sacred one that has been guaranteed by our constitution and we will not allow any government to refuse to hear the Bahamian people’s voice or to take our rights away.”

The plan was that the marchers, dressed in black, were to peacefully proceed to Rawson Square on Independence Day where the people’s “demands for progress were to be enunciated.” Mr Henfield had earlier forecast that the march would signal “the inevitable tsunami of change that is coming to sweep over this Bahamaland.”

However, the group was denied a permit to march to Rawson Square. Instead they were given permission to occupy Pompey Square — an area too small for the followers attracted to the march. However, Pompey Square, named after the slave who, in 1830, had led a revolt in Exuma, had more historical significance. Seeing that the area was too small, a segment of the marchers insisted on continuing on to Rawson Square without police permission.

Pastor CB Moss insisted that although the permit was for Pompey Square, the size of which was inadequate, and Rawson Square was “free and available”, the marchers should proceed to Rawson Square. FNM leader Dr Hubert Minnis was also among those who headed for Rawson Square. “They march for a future, and they want to be heard,” he reasoned.

It was at that moment that lawyer Ranard Henfield stood out from the crowd.

“When we arrived at Pompey Square, someone suggested that we continue on to Rawson,” Mr Henfield explained. “I said no we have to do things in decency and order, so I went to the (police) inspector and I said we have permission to come to Pompey Square could we walk down to Rawson and make the block and come back, but he said no we can’t.

“So I told them no we can’t,” Mr Henfield said, “we can’t expect an administration to be accountable, to follow the law, if we are not going to follow the law. John (Bostwick II) and I agreed, we can’t be breaking the law, you can’t be asking for the government to be law-abiding and accountable, just because the crowd is angry.”

With such solid principles — which we have not heard enunciated in a long time — Ranard Henfield is indeed a leader to watch as his united movement points to the future.

Comments

Publius says...

> “So I told them no we can’t,” Mr Henfield said, “we can’t expect an administration to be accountable, to follow the law, if we are not going to follow the law. John (Bostwick II) and I agreed, we can’t be breaking the law, you can’t be asking for the government to be law-abiding and accountable, just because the crowd is angry.”

What law?

Posted 12 January 2017, 3:20 p.m. Suggest removal

sheeprunner12 says...

If persons like Renard Henfield are not on the ballot ........ what is the purpose of WeMarch???? .......... Are the WeMarchers marching for change and then turn around and vote for stale bread politicians??????? ............ Will the WeMarch leaders come out and ENDORSE a slate of candidates (regardless of party colour) that will be judged to be of high moral character, integrity and genuine national service????????? .......... We await

Why don't you ask them? Why don't you meet with them and put your questions to them instead of feigning interest and concern on pages like these? Do you really expect your questions to get answered here when you can simply go to the source? Unless of course you don't truly want answers and instead are simply being passive aggressively negative with no genuine concern.

Posted 12 January 2017, 3:56 p.m. Suggest removal

Further to my original question, it is disappointing though not surprising that the heads of the Tribune, which includes lawyers, have not used this matter to raise what ought to be raised; which is that having to ask for permission to assemble is unconstitutional to begin with. Your Constitutional right is to assemble. If in your assembly you begin to hurt people or break laws, law enforcement should act, but there is no one who is supposed to be able to tell you "yes" you can or "no" you cannot assemble. The Constitution already answers that question. The answer is always yes, so long as you don't violate the rights of others while doing so. Advising the authorities of a plan to assemble, depending on where you want it to be is one thing - at which point you have the right to be accommodated. Asking for permission to do so in public spaces ought not be. A police officer or government official does not have the Constitutional right to tell you as a Bahamian "no, you cannot assemble in this public place because I say so." And any law written in that vein should be challenged as unconstitutional.

This is what the powers that be in this country do not make the people to understand about their rights; and it is very obvious why. We talk about the Constitution in this country, but it is only in the vein of what the United Nations wants us to change about it. Other than that, the Constitution is not a document taken seriously in this country.

Posted 12 January 2017, 3:58 p.m. Suggest removal

ThisIsOurs says...

He better shake off that John Bostwick. He has shopping around everywhere for a way into the House of Parliament. Just the other day he was at the head of the People's Movement. His inability to accept that he was guilty of an offense is another bad sign.

Posted 12 January 2017, 4:07 p.m. Suggest removal

Agree 100%. A convicted criminal with an extreme sense of entitlement believing that despite his crime, he ought to have what no other Bahamian man with the same record can have. Almost all murders in this country are committed with illegal firearms and ammunition. He is an ammunition convict who ran the streets for years and is parading around here as an upstanding individual. What is saddest is that due to the almost non-existent compass of many Bahamians, this reality does not matter simply because of who the criminal is. Once we like a person, we will swear that he or she is good and that their actions are right, no matter what the truth and facts are.

Posted 12 January 2017, 4:10 p.m. Suggest removal

Sooooooo, yall bought the PLP koolaid too??? ............ The PLP criminals set up all of JB2, Pintard, Renny Wells, DocRollins etc ............ The PLP elite and the criminal gangs are in cahoots in this country .......... What about BJs illegal local CIA????????

Posted 12 January 2017, 6:29 p.m. Suggest removal

None of those guys were caught with bullets in their bags, traveling through an airport, other than John Bostwick. And I'm sure they travel. If this were modus operandi, we'd have people being caught with guns, cocaine, marijuana, cigars and maybe even some Brazilian women stuffed in their suitcases. But no...only John Bostwick.

Posted 12 January 2017, 9:55 p.m. Suggest removal

EasternGate says...

Agree. Bostwick ought to sit small

Posted 14 January 2017, 3:39 p.m. Suggest removal

Jonahbay says...

Just an observation... when did Majority Rule day become interchangeable with Independence day???

Also Blind Blake can see that John Bostwick II was set up by PLP underlings who wanted to eliminate him from running against Bernard Nottage. A convicted person is precluded from standing for election. The status quo politicians are scared. Mr Hendfield may well be our modern day Moses, he is the best we have that has come forward to take a stand and put his safety on the line. I hope he is vigilant about checking his bags before he goes through any airports as THEY will be after him as well.
Oh Hubert Minnis!! I had to laugh at his seemingly idiotic self, why are you marching with WeMarch again? They are marching against you!! He just seems to want to be anywhere piggybacking on a crowd that did not come to support him. He is a joke, the worst one. At least Perry had the sense to stay home...

Posted 16 January 2017, 4:41 p.m. Suggest removal