The Tribune

By TYLER MCKENZIE

THE Bahamas is in the middle of an unholy scandal – and it is one that has international ramifications for our nation’s reputation as well as the mess here at home.

Our country’s history with the cocaine trade is so well known that we routinely refer to part of our past as “the drug years”.

It was in 1982 when that shameful period was writ large internationally with the country labelled “A Nation For Sale”.

TV journalist Brian Ross aired the report on NBC in the United States – and a report by Carl Hiaasen and Jim McGee in the Miami Herald branded the nation with that title.

The claims of smugglers using The Bahamas to transship Colombian cocaine into the US is exactly the same as the claim we are facing now. Back then, the report claimed then Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling was involved in taking bribes. Pindling denied the accusation – but public demand led to a Commission of Inquiry that led to the resignation or dismissal of five government ministers.

Fast forward to today – and over the weekend, the Miami Herald was again talking about drug shipments through The Bahamas.

Over the weekend, a story headlined “Indictment: ‘Corrupt’ Bahamas police, government helped smugglers pour cocaine into US” was published – and promptly was circulated widely both here at home and worldwide.

The Miami Herald is not alone in reporting this, of course.

USA Today was one of the first to report the allegations internationally, under a story headlined “Feds charge Bahamian cops for taking bribes, shipping cocaine into US”.

Elsewhere, Newsweek reported “Bahamas Police Chief Quits Amid US Cocaine Trafficking Indictments”. MSN reported similarly.

The Jamaica Gleaner reported “Bahamas PM accepts resignation of police commissioner, vows to arrest those involved in drug trade”, while over in the UK, the Guardian reported the allegations in its coverage of the chaos in the House last week when the mace was thrown from the window by FNM deputy leader Shanendon Cartwright.

The Associated Press also reported on the resignation of Clayton Fernander as Police Commissioner in the aftermath of the US indictment that saw two of his officers named in the US indictment alleging a massive conspiracy to smuggle tons of cocaine into the US. A defence force officer has also been named – and arrested – as part of that investigation, yet on Thursay of last week, the director of communications in the Office of the Prime Minister said the prime minister had not met with senior defence force officials on the matter yet.

It is worth noting that our nation’s response to this has been fragmented at best so far.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis rightly addressed the House of Assembly in the wake of the allegations – but the Opposition were not given the opportunity to speak, or ask any questions. The House was suspended amid seething frustration.

When the House resumed last week, we all saw the outcome. The FNM were told to wait again as the Speaker waved her order of business. Believe the FNM or not, think it was staged or not, but the outcome was the chaos with the mace being thrown from the window and the House suspended again. Still no opportunity to ask questions or interrogate the state about what we know and what we don’t know about the allegations.

That opportunity still has not come. The world is talking about cocaine and guns being smuggled through The Bahamas and the Opposition hasn’t had the opportunity to say anything on the public record. This is dismal.

When Mr Davis addressed the House, FNM leader Michael Pintard asked to respond as it was a matter of national importance, only to be met with some equivocation about what was or was not the definition of national importance.

Given that the whole process has so far cost the nation two officers arrested, one discharged from the police force and the officer in charge of the entire force’s resignation, it’s safe to say this is of national importance.

Then there is the commissioner himself. He gave a whole national statement – as far as I can remember an unprecedented thing for a commissioner to do. He laid out his plan to tackle corruption and then… gone. Days later, he hands in his resignation. What changed? Why was everyone so willing to go along with the commissioner to lay out a strategy for dealing with corruption on the force only to turn around and end up putting it all into the hands of a new commissioner, who may or may not have the same plans?

There is, meanwhile, silence on the question of who the purported government official in the indictment is, Riccardo Adolphus Davis, and whether or not he really does work for government and what his connections might be. Stories are doing the rounds on social media of course, and they do not look good for the administration if this is indeed the same person. One of the reasons for accepting the commissioner’s resignation was to give a fresh start – the longer the question of the government official lingers, the further we are from that fresh beginning.

Now you will notice we have gone through all of that without actually getting to the question of a criminal investigation here in The Bahamas.

Detailed in the indictment are a series of crimes not only in the US but in The Bahamas too. Where are the arrests here? We seem to be waiting for an extradition request from the US before we get on with cleaning our own house.

To sum up, we have a plan laid out by a commissioner who left right after revealing it, we have a prime minister who is slow off the mark on speaking to senior officers in the RBDF, we have an absence of communication on governmental connections, a failure to allow the Opposition to hold officials to account and no sign of a criminal investigation making haste to deal with these allegations.

And all the while, in the international realm, our reputation burns.

Is it any wonder that people are asking if this is A Nation For Sale all over again?