The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Prime Minister Perry Christie blew a gasket when he responded to questions posed to him by The Tribune concerning accusations made by Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis (Killarney). Minnis suggested that the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) is working in the interests of the numbers bosses.

The Christie government has also been accused of receiving campaign funds from certain prominent numbers bosses in the May election and in the North Abaco by-election. Both allegations have been vehemently denied by the PLP government. I will give Christie the benefit of the doubt.

Even though Christie continues to insist that his government has no horse in this race, two prominent PLPs in his administration have gone on record as saying that they will vote yes on Referendum Day. Did the two PLPs speak as private citizens or as representatives of the PLP? It is difficult to tell.

Suffice to say, they should have kept their views to themselves. It is incidents like these that have given many the impression that the PLP is fully behind the Vote Yes camp. In responding to the FNM leader’s controversial comments, Christie said that ‘‘for anyone, including the leader of the Opposition, to try to exploit (comments the prime minister made on the referendum) by saying I’m condoning illegality has to be mistaken and really reaching jackass proportions.’’

The prime minister seems to have trouble bridling his tongue. Several weeks before the May 7 general election, Christie used the same obscene word while debating Democratic National Leader Branville McCartney on a Nassau based radio talk show.

The Apostle James said that every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea is tamed and have been tamed by the human race, but no one can tame the tongue. The word jackass is defined as either a male ass or donkey; it also means a foolish or stupid person, or a blockhead. It is likely that the word blockhead originally came from Plato’s Symposium.

In the Symposium, Agathon tells Socrates that a man of any judgment cares more for a handful of brains than an army of blockheads. A blockhead is an unintelligent person.

It is evident to anyone who reads the words of Christie that he was not referring to a male donkey when he used the word jackass. Judging from the context of the word in his comments, he was clearly using it as a curse word.  

 To his credit, the prime minister was very careful in not calling his political opponents jackasses. But him using that offensive word is unbecoming of the leader of this country, nonetheless. This country is inundated with disrespectful Bahamians with foul mouths. I for one am tired of hearing grown men using the F-word and the A-word. The prime minister needs to set a better example for this nation he is leading. He needs to be more circumspect when rebutting his opponents.

Christie’s latest outburst betrays a severe lack of patience. King Solomon once said that he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules his spirit is greater than he that takes a city (Proverbs 16:32). Maybe the pressure and stress of running the nation is taking a toll on him.

With a bankrupt treasury and 40,000 Bahamians out of work and a crime situation that refuses to improve, clearly the pressure is on Christie to deliver on the many promises he had made on the campaign trail. If this is so, then the prime minister should take a month’s vacation in order to take a deep breath and relax.

Moving forward, Christie needs to bridle his tongue and not use foul language. Christie has proven that he is good at conquering his political rivals in elections.

He can brag that he has conquered 30 of the 38 seats in Parliament.

But he seems unable to conquer the small fleshly organ in his mouth called the tongue. 

By human standards, Christie is considered to be a great Bahamian and a national hero, but it is my honest belief that God views him as just another fallen creature in dire need of His redemptive grace. His recent outburst has only reinforced this belief of mine.  

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama,

January 18, 2013.