The Bahamas is facing its worst drug-related scandal since the drug years of the 1970s and 1980s. Today, the international reputation of the country is being severely harmed by an indictment from the United States, alleging serious corruption in the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF), the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) and the wider government bureaucracy.
Bahamian police and defence force officers and government officials have been accused of helping to smuggle tons of cocaine into the U.S., along with being involved in weapons smuggling.
This scandal has shocked the country. It has spread around the world, making headlines everywhere via the international media.
The Davis administration has struggled to respond to the widespread scandal. The opposition has called for a commission of inquiry. However, Prime Minister Philip Davis is absolutely refusing to ask the governor general to appoint a commission.
His latest excuse is that a commission would be too expensive. That is nonsense, of course.
A commission of inquiry is a Bahamian legal tool. There is an act that governs commissions. It allows for the creation of a truly independent investigatory body.
Commissions exist in our law for moments such as this – that is, for cases where allegations of corruption or abuse are pervasive and go up the chain of command in a state entity or other body.
A commission would have hearings in the open, where the public may attend. This is important to help the Bahamian people have confidence in the independence and openness of the investigation and its findings.
A commission could include eminently qualified people from The Bahamas, the region, the broader Commonwealth, or beyond.
A commission would help find those co-conspirators who were not indicted, but who were part of this drug- and weapons-smuggling network.
The commission could also offer recommendations on how to reform our security forces.
PM is not making sense
Davis has been the most wasteful prime minister in Bahamian history. He has spent many millions of dollars travelling around the world to conferences and on sightseeing trips.
The opposition has decried this wasteful extravagance. Yet, Davis persists. The prime minister has been to nearly every continent with his crew of travelling companions.
It is disgraceful that after wasting so much of the people’s money in a time of high inflation and financial struggles that Davis would give the excuse that a commission of inquiry costs too much.
By giving this answer to the media on December 11, Davis has proven that he is not interested in getting to the bottom of this explosive corruption scandal. He has also proven that he is uninterested in fully restoring the international reputation of The Bahamas in the wake of these damning allegations.
As it stands, no known Bahamian public investigation has been launched into these allegations since they were leveled. That is unacceptable. What is the Davis administration afraid of?
What has been done is insufficient
Davis met with the U.S. Embassy’s charge d’affaires, retired the commissioner of police and brought forward for public consultation a bill to provide for independent oversight of our law enforcement agencies.
These moves are a first step toward a response. But they are only just that: a first step.
Bahamians want to know who else was involved in the drug and weapons smuggling. They also want those people removed from the security forces and wider government apparatus.
If there is no investigation to find these people, they will continue doing what they were doing. That means more tons of cocaine will be shipped through Bahamian airports and ports. That means there will be more giving of confidential information to foreign and local drug traffickers from our U.S. partners
When I last wrote on this subject of a commission of inquiry it was in July. Then we were dealing with explosive allegations regarding bribery, corruption, and possible complicity in murders in the voice note scandal.
Outgoing Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander launched an investigation into that matter. The investigation is yet to be concluded, though Fernander pledged a result by the end of the year.
I argued in that op-ed in July that while the commissioner was making some effort to respond, the investigation he announced was insufficient. It fell significantly short of what is needed.
The police cannot investigate themselves when the allegations are being made about them at their senior ranks. There is the need for an even more independent, thorough, and transparent investigation.
The voice note scandal suggested that that case did not appear to be the matter of a few bad police officers or “a few bad apples”. There seemed to be systemic and broader issues in the force, including the relationship with senior police and noted criminals and gang members.
This drug scandal and the voice note scandal have diminished confidence in the police and defence forces, and the wider government. Bahamians are frightened and do not want anything covered up.
Bahamians want a national inquiry to restore trust, one that gets to the bottom of the drug scandal and the voice note scandal.
Davis is making a mistake by going against the will of the people. The people want transparency and accountability. Davis wants the status quo to remain and for all of us to move on and forget these scandals.
The people cannot just move on. The people’s trust has been betrayed and Bahamians want justice to be done.
A commission of inquiry is not too expensive. A commission inquiry does not take too long. A commission is what is required at times like this to bring to account those in high places who violated their sacred oaths to the people.
Davis is running from his responsibility as prime minister to call a commission of inquiry. Sir Lynden Pindling tried too to avoid calling one in the early 1980s. So much pressure mounted on Sir Lynden that he had no choice but to do so.
The subsequent commission revealed that the corruption was more widespread than first assumed. It also named names. Consequences followed for many in positions of authority.
We in the opposition will continue to apply pressure on this prime minister to do what is right. He should call for a commission of inquiry now to find those guilty of wrongdoing, and to help restore the international reputation of our commonwealth.
Written by:
Dr. Hubert Minnis, Former Prime Minister of The Bahamas
