The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

While I see nothing wrong with the government using financial incentives to encourage people to get vaccinated, I object strongly to them using the exploitative proceeds from numbers gambling to do so.

Numbers gambling is a blight on Bahamian society, and, in our nation’s history, in my view, its legalisation has been the single largest means of ongoing impoverisation of the already poor. Therefore, no amount of crumbs from the tables of heartless numbers house operators, who engorge themselves from the financial flesh of the needy and greedy who gamble, can legitimise and sanitise the practice. When the crumbs have been consumed, our communities, devastated from numbers gambling, will remain devastated and will continue to be devastated by the practice.

Sadly, the entire egregious enterprise is supervised by the government in contradiction to its duty to protect its people, especially the weak and vulnerable.

While some are concerned that people who otherwise would not take a vaccine might be financially seduced into doing so, I think the greater concern is the ongoing effort to try to legitimise and sanitise numbers gambling in the eyes of the public.

In 2013, Bahamian voters voted resoundingly against the legalisation of numbers gambling, but the Christie-led PLP government still went ahead and imposed it on us, reneging on their word. In my view, opposition to numbers gambling has increased even more, so these efforts to try to legitimise and sanitise it are futile. A leopard cannot change its spots.

May the Lord grant that we as a people, starting with our political leaders, recommit ourselves to living out the aspirations in our constitution’s preamble, so that we might be visibly marked by the values of self-discipline, industry, loyalty, unity, and an abiding respect for Christian values and the rule of law. Such values do not have a hint of exploiting the weak and vulnerable, or trying to legitimise those who do so.

PASTOR CEDRIC MOSS

Nassau,

December 11, 2021.