By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

FORMER State Minister of National Security Keith Bell has denied that the Christie administration was preparing for potential anarchy in the country, claiming that the two armoured vehicles the former government recently received from the Chinese were only “gifts” to bolster the “arsenal for our law enforcement agents”.

Mr Bell, in an interview with The Tribune just hours before the Progressive Liberal Party was trounced from office, dismissed assertions that the armoured vehicles delivered in the capital last week were imported for the sole purpose of quelling potential riots during the election cycle, claiming that there would be “no need” to do such a thing as The Bahamas has been “one of the (most) politically stable countries in the world.”

He also said the two armoured vehicles, just two items on a ‘shortlist’ of gifts to the Bahamas from the People’s Republic of China, were only given to “assist” the efforts of law enforcement and only “adds to the resources that are desperately needed in New Providence.”

Mr Bell was responding to The Tribune’s questions about the arrival of two armoured vehicles at the Nassau Container Port at Arawak Cay last week.

At the time, The Tribune reported that the vehicles, with two 20ft containers, were offloaded by the China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company or COSCO Group and consigned to the Ministry of National Security from the government of China.

The name of the ship was Mu Dan Song, and the cargo was loaded at Dalian Port in China. In addition to the two containers – the contents of which are unknown– there were two armoured vehicles.

The cargo was delivered to the Royal Bahamas Defence Force base in Coral Harbour. The armoured vehicles were painted in camouflage, but had no visible guns.

When questioned on the matter, Mr Bell insisted that the two vehicles were as announced by the former PLP government in January 2016. He said the arrival of the armoured vehicles now provides law enforcement with “proper vehicles that we can actually traverse the terrain” of various parts of New Providence.

“In law enforcement, you would appreciate you could never have enough resources,” he added. “And so the two vehicles that came in, that was part of a cadre of gifts from the government of China. Those things were part of the arsenal for our law enforcement agents.

“When you look at our landscape, we have 100,000 square miles of land and water. And right now when you go into the Defence Force, if you look at areas on our outskirts in New Providence alone, it may seem like it’s just a dot on the map. But when you begin to look at the terrain from Marshall Road and going along the southern corridor... you need all terrain vehicles.

“And so those vehicles were given to us to assist us. They’re very expensive, and what is in my view, and it adds to the resources that is desperately needed in New Providence.”

When asked if the armoured vehicles were imported to possibly to quell public upheavals, Mr Bell said: “Absolutely not. The Bahamas is one of the (most) politically stable countries in the world. We’ve never had any major incidents in terms of where we have an insurrection, other than when the era that issued in civil rights movement, black majority rule, those kinds of things, and even then we talked about this being a quiet revolution.

“And so my party, the PLP, the (former) government, it has never entered our minds, plus there is no need for it. And so it is utter nonsense that those vehicles for some purpose that we suspect that we’re going to have some major incident in the country. The answer is absolutely not.”

Last year, the government announced that it had received a $1.2m gift from the People’s Republic of China. At the time, then National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage said the gift was the result of a 2015 meeting with the Chinese government that afforded the RBDF an opportunity to outline its needs.

At the time, Dr Nottage explained that the money would be used to purchase military equipment, including armoured vehicles, anti-riot grenade launchers, tear gas grenades and other items.

Dr Nottage said at the time: “We have got a shortlist here of 33 different types of items which include two armoured vehicles for the defence force, two 38-automatic anti-riot grenade launchers, anti-riot gear sets, and portable low-light level night vision goggles - 60 of those.”