The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune

I thank the Lord Jesus Christ that He, obviously, protected Sir Arthur Foulkes, our beloved senior statesman and former Governor General, and his wife, Lady Joan, from bodily harm or worse during a recent invasion at their home. One shudders at the very thought of what could have happened to them both.

As a former Governor General and senior cabinet minister military/police security should be immediately provided to him and his wife. This is a serious indictment on the Minister of National Security; the Commissioner of Police and the acting Commodore of The Royal Bahamas Defence Force. A head or two, politically, must roll.

I do not wish to get into semantics in this contribution at this time but it is clear that this event occurred under the regime of Commissioner Anthony Ferguson. This would never have happened under the watch of the incoming Commissioner, my fellow Androsian, Paul Rolle. The morale on the entire police force is almost zero according to my information following the purging of the higher circles within the force. It did not help when the current commissioner, a very good and decent officer, blamed the escalation of homicides, et al, on home training and the deployment of a huge number of police officers over to Abaco and Grand Bahama without any know empirical data.

Sir Arthur is a living political and social icon. He is in short a national treasure. As such we owe him and his household, inclusive of Lady Foulkes, full protection around the clock seven days per week, no ands and buts about this. The Most Honourable must be aware that ordinary Bahamians are fearful of crime and the consequences. In recent times at least two females have been sexually assaulted during alleged home invasions. I wonder how many more such events are not even reported to the police due to the sensitive nature and the fear of societal judgment, which can be harsh.

I am old enough to recall the horrific and brutal murder of my brother Chuck Virgill decades ago. He was a politician/community organiser par excellence. It is believed that robbery may have been the sole motive but who knows? I look forward to Paul Rolle’s much anticipated arrival at Police Headquarters to commence the real war on crime and the criminal scum bags. To God then, in all things, especially protecting Sir Arthur and his lovely wife, in all things, be the glory.

ORTLAND H BODIE, Jr

Nassau

February 10, 2020