We have not been under The United Kingdom since our independence in July 1973. The U.K. never had any legal power here afterwards or in Barbados after their 1966 independence. We are an independent constitutional monarchy like Canada, Australia and New Zealand. We maintain the Westminster system which involves The Crown as protector of our freedom and represented by a Bahamian Governor-General, a free Parliament and an impartial Court system all of which we inherited from the U.K. This emotional nonsense that somehow we are not free until we get rid of our foundations is wrong. Barbados changed this system with little consultation and no referendum so it was hardly a democratic exercise. Look at history. . The track record of republics is very poor.

I totally agree with this writer's comments. How regional leaders could attend the ceremony with the way the republic was established is embarrassing. Not allowing the population to become involved in deciding their future and refusing a referendum is disgraceful and anti-democratic. As China becomes more involved in the Caribbean and issues demands in return for giving them money we shall likely see more of these types of measures. We gained our independence without any problems from The United Kingdom . Let us hope we do not surrender it to Communist China.

We are happy to hear all the rosy predictions from the Tourism Ministry and associates. However the reality is always different. When visitors can go nearly everywhere else without cumbersome and expensive Health Visas why should they come to our country anyway? On top of all those requirements there are these added health tests, quarantines etc. No one knows what the next rules will be as the virus spread is uncertain. By making our country one of the hardest to enter we have lost a lot of business. Yet even the hotel workers' union and affected businesses said little or nothing about the Visa deterrent. Most travelers will just decide to stay home as travelling overseas now is very uncertain.

There is no need for our country to become a republic. The stability of the Constitutional Monarchy system which we inherited from the U.K. has served us well. It is a finely balanced system with The Governor-General, Parliament and our Courts all involved.It ensures we have true democracy. We are independent and our Governor-General representing our independent Crown is a Bahamian. For international investors The Monarchy here is an assurance that their investments are safe. Surely we have so many economic problems at the moment this issue should never be on the forefront. Surely Fred. Mitchell and the "young" PLP M.P. which he mentions have enough work to be done without working against our Head of State. As to Barbados there has been opposition to this move but P.M. Mia Mottley refused to give the people a vote so that is hardly democratic. What does Fred Mitchell and the "young" PLP M.P. say to that undemocratic manouevre? The public were not even allowed to attend the private ceremony to initiate a republic. Look at the world- the track records of republics are very poor.

Let us maintain our historic and longtime traditions. We need to maintain this form of government for stability and investment confidence.

We would be better to have responsible development of the Out Islands for tourism rather than a proliferation of cruises. They do not give us the same revenue as land stays. All the potential damage to our crucial environment will increase with more and more cruise ships. The average Bahamian does not benefit from cruise ships.

I continue to wonder why this biased reporter still has a column in The Tribune. Every week it is full of criticism of the Republicans. It is never impartial. Why do we need such a column anyway? We are not Americans. There should be a column about Caribbean news or news stories from the U.K. or other Commonwealth countries of which we have been a part for over 300 years.

Unfortunately tourism will not rebound,despite the rosy predictions, until our vaccination rate is much higher, the cumbersome Health Visa which deters visitors is abolished and the travel advisory warnings against travelling to our country are lifted by the USA,Canada and the U.K.

Despite all the rosy predictions we will not get more visitors until our vaccination rate is high and the Health Visa is abolished. There are too many travel advisory warnings out on The Bahamas by the USA, Canada and the U.K.

We either need a more impartial writer about American politics or drop the column altogether. Every week is criticism of the Republicans while Democrats are lauded. Why do we need this column? We should be having more stories about our Caribbean neighbours and/or the U.K. and our Commonwealth allies.