The Nassau Guardian
DPM: Country ‘under siege’
Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis said yesterday crime has the country “under siege”.
However, Davis lashed out at the media for “flaming this fire of discontent”.
While in opposition, he was adamant that reports about high levels of crime should not be silenced.
Speaking at police headquarters yesterday, Davis said, “Anyone visiting New Providence cannot help but come away with the impression that there is an insipient sense of anger, rage, intolerance and impatience in our midst.
“It is evident everywhere. We see it as we drive on our streets. We see it in our relations with one another.
We see it in our homes, and sadly there is an overspill of these tendencies in our community.
“We are an angry society and we need to calm our most vicious tendencies to lash out at everything and everyone.
“This type of behavior has not been made easier by the fact that we have a media and other forms of social communication which seem to take delight in flaming this fire of discontent.”
Davis highlighted the crime problem at a launch of the Urban Renewal Programme’s Peace Ambassador initiative.
As he spoke, reporters were called to the scene of another homicide on Cowpen Road.
“Crime and criminality and other anti-social behaviors affect our traditions and culture,” Davis said. “Our morals and values are being diluted.
“Our social fabric is coming apart at the seams. Our economy is under siege, our very livelihood at stake, yes, even our proud heritage as announced in our constitution is under vicious attack.”
Davis has sent mixed signals on the level of criminality in The Bahamas.
In January, nearly a month after being robbed at gunpoint in his home, he said The Bahamas is not “as dangerous as it is made out to be”.
“We do have pockets of young men who have lost their way and wreaking havoc, but I think it is all confined within what I call groupings,” he said at the time.
However, last June, following the shooting of his police aide, Davis told reporters the incident highlighted the country’s high level of criminal activity.
He said the attack sent the message that no one in The Bahamas is safe.
While Davis is now accusing the media of fanning the flames, prior to the Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) return to office in 2012, the PLP erected billboards highlighting the number of murders in the country.
Some of these were placed in areas frequented by tourists, including Montagu and the Saunders Beach roundabout.
The signs read ‘Under the FNM government 490 plus murders’.
After the then government tore down some of the signs, Davis accused the Ingraham administration of using “strong arm tactics” to conceal the facts.
Then Minister of Tourism Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace said tourists complained about the signs.
“We cannot hide the truth,” said Davis on April 26, 2012 when asked about backlash over the murder billboards.
“Are we about hiding the truth? Are we going to be concerned about the impression that the truth gives? The only way we can get rid of these things is to address the issue. The fact is that there were more than 490 murders in this country (since 2007). We cannot run away from that.”
Davis’ most recent comments on crime came amid a spate of violence and killings in New Providence and Grand Bahama.
No comments:
Post a Comment