The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

PLEASE permit me to share my observations on the recent installation of the new Commissioner of Police and the manner in which the government dealt with the appointment.

The Bahamas is by any measure a small country, however we are not only small in size but also small in our approach to governance. This has been demonstrated repeatedly in how we have made appointments and de-appointments to various Public Offices and Statutory Boards.

The recent installation ceremony which brought into office a new Commissioner of Police and an unceremonious end to Commissioner Greenslade’s tenure as Commissioner was a flagrant reminder and confirmation of how small politics have permeated and destroyed the relevance and significance of practically every institution and office in this country. This is so notwithstanding the legislators’ attempt to provide constitutional protection to some of these offices and institutions.

We may have a change a governing party, but we have not changed the nature of governance in this country. It appears to be equally as vindictive and spiteful as practised by the government just booted out of office. Our politicians, despite all the talk, seem incapable of elevating the level of governance in this country.

I am also unimpressed with the office holders of these positions, who allow them to be traded for appointments of all sorts and/or an accelerated pension and gratuity payments.

If office holders of these constitutional protected positions are inclined to be seduced out of office in this fashion by politicians, we might as well remove the constitutional protection and leave them to be removed at the whim and fancy of politicians. The cost associated with such reckless decisions are borne by taxpayers, of which many politicians are not willing participants.

The constitutional protection given to these offices should not be leverage or bartered away for personal gain by the office holders and nor should politicians seek to seduce the office holders whom they may not find favour with to vacate so they can have someone chosen by them or one of their own appointed.

Should the current bill on the appointment of an Independent Public Prosecutor before the legislature succeed, it will be interesting to see how this supposedly independent Director of Public Prosecution will be treated when he or she will have fallen out of favour with the government of the day. I wonder what they will have to be offered to vacate the office when the politicians would like to meddle.

CLAUDE B HANNA

Nassau,

November 1, 2017.