The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

CB Moss’ allegation that the scores of black Bahamians who participated in a march in downtown Nassau on July 14 against him and the environmental lobby group Save The Bays were paid by Peter Nygard is troubling, but not surprising, in light of the well known fact that many Bahamians have a habit of selling their votes for jobs, T-shirts, money and a chicken snack.

The march is just another chapter in an ongoing battle between Nygard and Moss over the former’s planned development of Nygard Cay and its potential to cause permanent and devastating harm to the surrounding environment and Clifton Bay.

I am not a fan of either Nygard or his wealthy Lyford Cay neighbours who have filed lawsuits against his proposed development. I am a poor black Bahamian male who would be promptly stopped in his tracks at the gates of Lyford Cay by the security personnel who are tasked with guarding that upscale community’s wealthy residents.

I have no dog in this fight, other than to say that no one should be given carte blanche to destroy the environment, as The Bahamas is the only country the overwhelming majority of Bahamians call home.

If The Bahamas fails, we have no other place to go. On the other hand, Nygard can pack up his georgie bundle and head straight for home, which is Canada. If Moss’ allegation is accurate, then the protesters should be ashamed of themselves, for allowing themselves to be used.

It is being rumoured on Facebook that the marchers were paid a paltry sum of $50. Some have said that they were actually given $25.

Whatever the sum, if true, the protesters have a condescending view of their own country, in that they would sell their birthright for a bowl of monetary porridge.

Even more troubling is the fact that they would openly attack their very own for no plausible reason, other than the fact that their wealthy benefactor was willing to shell out a few dollars for their services. Based on my limited observations of newspaper photos, the protesters seem to be of the lower economic tier, and in all likelihood are residents of Bain and Grants Town and the surrounding shoddy and economically depressed communities.

Most of them have probably never even been inside Lyford Cay and many of them wouldn’t be allowed in anyway, other than to work.

Yet they are willing to make complete fools of themselves for a Lyford Cay billionaire who doesn’t even know their names. And people wonder why a certain popular parliamentarian opined that Bahamians are a stupid set of people.

Incidents like the protest only validates his condescending opinion of Bahamians. Most of the protestors won’t march for capital punishment, sustainable job creation, a freedom of information act, the clean-up of their dirty communities, the end of gang warfare gripping their neighbourhoods, stiffer penalties for paedophiles and rapists, but they are willing to march in the scorching heat for a rich man’s right to potentially destroy an entire beach.

As I write this, I’m shaking my head in utter disbelief and embarrassment of how low some Bahamians would stoop for a couple dollars.

At the end of the day of the march, the people who took part in the protest returned to their humble dwellings, while Nygard continues to live in the lap of luxury behind the gated and secluded community of Lyford Cay.

While some have questioned Moss’ sincerity, no one can deny that he has tried throughout the years to uplift the community of Bain and Grants Town.

No amount of propaganda can change this fact.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, Grand Bahama,

July 16, 2014.