Prime Minister Perry Christie
By AVA TURNQUEST
Tribune Staff Reporter
aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
PRIME Minister Perry Christie expressed concern over his own personal safety as he expanded on the government’s toughened stance against violent crime in the country, specifically in his own constituency.
The government will bring the “hammer and the healing” as it moves to crackdown on two historic and crime-riddled constituencies in the capital, Mr Christie said, highlighting that the constituencies of both National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage and himself played host to a large percentage of the country’s violent crime.
Mr Christie, MP for Centreville, said: “I am not going to allow this country to compromise on the fight to make this country a safe country because it won’t be safe for me it’s no use me talking about them over there, it will not be safe for me and you can’t ask Kurt McCartney that.
“I made the decision as Prime Minister,” he said, “and I told my colleague that I spent my life in the criminal courts. I also come from a constituency where I know young men who are charged with murder and two murders. People who you can go out in the streets and talk to on any given day, some of them are great young men who have made terrible mistakes, and you can have conversations with them.”
“They have put young men out on bail for serious crimes, when there should have been a charge of murder and they are not talking to them,” he said. “No one is talking to them, we have no system in our country. When someone shoots somebody it is logical to know that the friend or the family or some one will want to retaliate.
“There is something,” he said, “that is supposed to happen as a country automatically as a response, a team of people go in and talk. Those are the things happening now that I’m not going to apologize for it. I’m raising hell for it, and talking strongly about it, what must be in place. I want you to know this. I don’t care what the position is.”
Mr Christie addressed the business community at the opening of the 2014 Bahamas Business Outlook conference.
“It makes no sense to put all this effort in the economy, to have the minority of young persons destroy our country,” he said.
“We have positioned on a map every robbery of a tourist, every home invasion where it took place every shooting every murder every traffic accident and we have demonstrated that the preponderance of the shootings, and robberies are in two constituencies,” Mr Christie said. “One by the Minister of National Security and the other by the Prime Minister.
“We are going to have the hammer and the healing, but we are not going to compromise on crime and fighting crime and most certainly eliminating the fear of crime,” said Mr Christie.
The majority of recent murders have been shooting incidents, most notably the drive-by attack on Freedom Park in Fox Hill, where 11 persons were shot and four killed on December 28.
This came only 10 days after an attack on a Bain Town “Peace Party” in which eight people were shot, one of them fatally.
Another seven people have been shot and another four killed since the Fox Hill incident.
The first murder of 2014 took place at around 2am on New Year’s Day, January 1.
Unveiling the government’s anti-crime strategy last week, Mr Christie tasked the Royal Bahamas Police Force and Urban Renewal divisions to conduct profiles on each home in their constituencies, adding that he will continue to rededicate resources until anti-crime initiatives are completely mobilized.
Some of the anti-crime initiatives include, re-introducing the 12-hour shift for police, creating a gang unit and passing laws to bind the hands of judges to prevent them from allowing persons accused of serious crimes to be granted bail.
“This is not an easy process,” Mr Christie said.
He added: “Go to every house in every constituency, begin with mine and I’m not talking about no random survey. Every house, tell me who’s blind, who’s deaf, who’s dumb, who’s not working, who’s smartest in class. I am not going to allow the country to compromise on this.”
Comments
CommonSense 10 years, 3 months ago
Finally speaking and making sense eh? Let's see if you stick to your word this time.
carlh57 10 years, 3 months ago
yada yada yada....heard this same old same crap before.....talking out of both sides of his mouth again.....everyone talks a good game, but no one want's to put "skin in the game" and take responsibility....
watcher 10 years, 3 months ago
I was stopped in my car by the anti-terrorist police and army cordon this morning on Bay Street near downtown. When I explained that I did not have ID on me as it was 6.30 am and I was on my way home after my morning walk, the officer (in battle fatigues and carrying an automatic weapon) said that I should always carry ID.
I replied that when it becomes law, I will carry ID at all times, but not until then - all this violent crime and killings mean that I never carry anything of value whenever possible, especially picture ID. When the law is changed and we have to carry ID, then of course I will know that Mr Christie has lost the plot completely, and we are living in a Fascist Police state.
lucaya 10 years, 3 months ago
Shut up watcher you just dumb and trouble some,so what if the ask for ID if you do not have say so and go about your business, a trouble maker.
sheeprunner12 10 years, 3 months ago
Watcher
You were driving on a public road.
You are mandated by law to have your drivers license in your possession when driving.
Dont blame the policeman for doing his job and informing you of the same
B_I_D___ 10 years, 3 months ago
Actually Sheeprunner, you are not...you do not have to have your drivers license or insurance papers on you...not in the Bahamas anyways...elsewhere in the world yes. You have 24-48 hours to present your documents at the booking police station.
watcher 10 years, 3 months ago
Thank you. Like I said, if the law changes, then I will carry ID. But I think that Christie is too scared to do this, as the police will have no excuse for not immediately charging illegal immigrants, unlicensed drivers and others who grease his palm
sheeprunner12 10 years, 3 months ago
I agree B-I-D to some extent
You are free to interpret CH. 220 Section 60 of our laws as you please. The law gives the police some leverage to act in specific cases.
TalRussell 10 years, 3 months ago
What a mixed Beacon of Hope signal for Bahamalanders? The PM sure sounds like he got's all he Centreville crime feathers all puff-up like a Pigeon who is trying make itself look bigger. Sounds like he more scare'der than in control of the situation. Can't wait for the Tribune's story on whose puffed-up more. The PM for Centreville or his minster of national security for Bain and Grants Town? PM did you overlook all them illegal Numbers Houses "openly" operating in yours and your minister's full view in both these constituencies?
banker 10 years, 3 months ago
This is not even a coherent sentence. Christie has lost it. The mouth still works, but the brain has a short circuit.
realfreethinker 10 years, 3 months ago
BANKER I agree with you 100%,it is obvious the man has lost it.I await the day he stop speaking in parables and say something we understand
ThisIsOurs 10 years, 3 months ago
Ahah!! I was just going to paste and comment on the same then started scanning the other comments! I do not understand Perry Christie, I literally don't, he's always spouting nonsense and he never makes any sense. He uses lots of big words that never fit together, then he puffs his chest as if he's very proud of himself to have remembered a big word. I don't get it. Bernadette is so intelligent. But alas love is blind, as it should be
lucaya 10 years, 3 months ago
@Thisisours At least I agree to that,though I voted for him,he still has my support,how about that!
ThisIsOurs 10 years, 3 months ago
It's a free country, and love is blind. Perry Christie's one strength is his ability to connect on a personal level. And that is one powerful attribute, but he clearly isn't a good leader. I would say he's horrible at it.
B_I_D___ 10 years, 3 months ago
It's not so much...support any more...it's a sympathy/pity thing...he's clearly never going to run or get elected again so let's just give him our support for the next 3 years while he runs the country into the ground.
TalRussell 10 years, 3 months ago
With all the talk about strengthening our bail release conditions I have yet to read one single word asking, why is it Bahamaland's courts are still in the business of requiring cash bonds. This inflicts unfair justice upon the poor. Why are we imprisoning citizens for no other reason that the accused or family members lacks the financial resources to post cash bails, often in the thousands of dollars for petty theft or other crimes? Comrades let's not rush to think imprisonment before you've had your day in court is the solution to our crime matters. It ain't pretty be sitt'in in a crowded cell up at Her Majesty's Prison, if you are innocent of the charges the police decided to bring against you., all cause ya and your family is too damn broke to post a cash bail.
TalRussell 10 years, 3 months ago
The Execution of Lena Baker
"What I done, I did in self-defense, or I would have been killed myself. Where I was I could not overcome it." -Lena Baker’s final statement
The state of Georgia has only ever electrocuted a single woman: African-American maid Lena Baker, put to death on this date in 1945 for murdering her abusive employer.
Baker was a sharecropper and a former sex worker hired to care for white mill owner Ernest Knight as he recuperated from a broken leg. This, as Baker’s biographer Lela Bond Phillips puts it, “developed into a sexual relationship.”
A twisted, sometimes-violent relationship.
Both Knight and Baker were alcoholics, and the Knight liked to keep his domestic in the gristmill for days on end.*
As an interracial liason, it was also entirely taboo; Knight’s son tried everything to separate his dad from this scandalous arrangement, including moving the family and beating up Baker.
Knight pere was even more committed to keeping her.
On the night of April 29-30, 1944, the elder Knight locked Baker up in the mill, after she’d attempted to flee him. Baker testified that after Knight got back from church — it was Sunday, after all — Baker tried to leave over Knight’s threats. The two fought over Knight’s pistol, and the fight ended when the pistol discharged through Knight’s head. As to how it went off or who pulled the trigger, Baker said she didn’t know.
Although the irascible, hard-drinking Knight wouldn’t have won any popularity contests among his white neighbors, this breach of the color line was prosecuted both vigorously and speedily: a one-day trial that August (the all-white, all-male jury goes without saying, right?) sufficed to send the maid to her death.**
The Execution of Lena Baker
...// http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHH0xy...">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHH0xy...
GQ 10 years, 3 months ago
Tal Russell, what are you trying to get across with the above statement? I dont see where it is relevant to what The Prime Minister had to say nor does it relate to the crime problems in Nassau. Have you been down wind of someone smoking some wacky-tabacky or were you doing it yourself?
ThisIsOurs 10 years, 3 months ago
Funny. A very interesting story but exactly right, how does it fit? UNLESS. Tal is saying that the PM's statements are generally so confusing, rambling and nonsensical, he might as well as rounded the speech off with this tale...
hj 10 years, 3 months ago
As long as the "number houses" operate openly and without prosecution nobody will take PC seriously in his outbursts about crime. Either legalize them or shut them down. Take your pick. Really it has nothing to do with gambling anymore. You just can't have the law enforced in selective cases. So really PC can make all the speeches he wishes,but what's the point.
ohdrap4 10 years, 3 months ago
I am deaf, and fat. But i am not stupid. i allow the census people to my home because they are bound by confidentiality.
Urban renewal? You got to be kidding me. Next thing you know, they be back here to break into my home when i am at work. I have some security measures in my home which makes it difficult for neighbours and passersby to figure out if anyone is home, including systematic call forwarding, so they do not know i answer from my cellphone.
Watch it folks. Urban renewal is like Castro's CDR (Committe for the defense of the revolution), they will turn into thugs.
concernedcitizen 10 years, 3 months ago
I get so tired of saying it ,the data about males raised by single mothers and crime are staggering .. I am not even advocating marriage ,but two responsible parents in the home ..The churches will say nothing b/c their pews are filled w/ women mostly ,the politicians will say nothing b/c god forbid they upset a large voting block .As long as single mother of four for two or more dead beat dads is the accepted norm ,crime and poverty will increase ,all the talk about ,urban renewel ,hangings , 12 hour shifts is just a colossal waste of time and hot air ,,
ThisIsOurs 10 years, 3 months ago
He added: “Go to every house in every constituency, begin with mine and I’m not talking about no random survey. Every house, tell me who’s blind, who’s deaf, who’s dumb, who’s not working, who’s smartest in class. I am not going to allow the country to compromise on this.”
With this strict mandate, do you think between the police and UR, they will be able to find at least one incriminating spinning wheel on the wall of a webshop?
Btw, is he asking for another census? Don't those people have to be trained and not your gossipy UR workers just getting up in neighborhood business?
And further why are we being asked to give up our most private details when the government won't even release the details of public information that we've paid for? Where's the 2nd NIB audit report? How much did it cost? How much did the trip to the Pope cost? Who was in the delegation? How much did the trip to Mandela's funeral cost, who was in the delegation? What is Fred Mitchell's traveling budget, how much does he spend per trip, how does he travel, how much does he expect to spend the rest of the year? And so much more...
Emac 10 years, 3 months ago
It is easier to yank the tusk of an elephant than it is to get that kind of information from this government.
TalRussell 10 years, 3 months ago
Comrades my true confession. I really focused on what the PM said in this story and yes. I was with open-mind but still I am at a complete loss when it comes to what the PM is attempting to say? Oh yes, I supported and continue to support PM Christie but if I were the PM's PR Coach this is not the way he would be acting. He'd either stop talk'in polices, or I'd force the PM to take da fifth, rather than lay out his thoughts to Bahamalanders. PM, if you dead serious about going house to house to survey the deaf and dumb, please for the sake of Jesus, don't you be hiring that interpreter who was standing next to president Obama at Mandala's Memorial Service. Your security would be compromised.
nationbuilder 10 years, 3 months ago
christie keeps making the "us vs them" statement when discussing the country and its social problems. seems he doesn't realize how he keeps revealing his truly elitist mentality every time he does this
banker 10 years, 3 months ago
You are right man. Every sentence is non-coherent and strung together with non sequitors. Nothing makes sense. It is almost as if this man has had a stroke. Wait a minute. He has! He is leading this country with diminished capacity and no one says anything. No one is willing to admit that the emperor has no clothes.
We need the Potcake guy to make a cardboard sign for his shopping cart.
bonnieval 10 years, 3 months ago
I concur. I thought it was only me, but I re-read the article and I still didn't quite understand what the PM was trying to say. It's such a sad situation when our leaders can't see the correlation of the high crime rate in our country to the lawless mind-set of our people. If we want to change what is happening in our country, we must be willing to change the minds and hearts of the people. We do that, when we admit that the, the "Emperor," that us, does not have on any clothes. Each one of us must be willing to take responsibility for our part in the demise of the moral fabric of our Nation. It includes the leaders in the church, leaders in government, the education system, and on, and on. What is happening did not occur over night, and will not be fixed over night, with any number of programs. As a people we need to reflect and admit to ourselves what brought us here.Then decide what we will do about it. Then, go on and "ACT!" An acronym for "Acting now for Changing Times." I'm only trying to add my two cents to the debate! .
killemwitdakno 10 years, 3 months ago
Police State keeps getting worse..Trying to think of places or times that knocking on every door conducting profiles ever happened. Not coming up with democratic examples. Census doesn't work that way.
However now that we finally have some stats, mainly two constituencies and retaliation warfare, maybe we can recognize poverty as a factor. Giving young men something to do, programs to get involved in, will provide more insight and accomplish more than 12hr shifts , military additions to the streets, and bogus police intervention. Globally, these tactics in poor communities give at risks a dimmer outlook for their future and cause less respect for the law enforcers which they become used to. Have cops go play ball, start working with them young.
We've spent $15million dollars on Super Bowl commercials that BahaMar could do themselves, whilst all types of accounts about tourists getting robbed is on travel sites which is why people won't get off the boat.
+1 for the gang unit. Dealing with groups at a time, instead incident by incident is the only way to combat this type of crime.
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