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The Bahamas and the Rule of Law. it's complicated

Christopher D. Lowe

Where are we headed Bahamas?

There are numerous theories of how or why The Bahamas is falling apart but I'd like to differentiate. "The Bahamas" is falling apart, from the lack of the "Rule of Law and Administration of same".

The decay is systemic, in that one has to confront the most confounding and idiosyncratic "lack" at every level of Government service. The General orders forgotten, relevant acts never read or understood, "policy" overriding any semblance of lawful approach, overlaid with the political nonsense that permeates every aspect of the general population.

That which should be simple has been convoluted beyond understanding, that which is more complex is simply ignored, usually due to the self preservation factor of the relevant Administrator/clerk.

Yes, many in the private sector have "made their deal with the devil" in oder to survive, succeed, or simply navigate the system. A precious few refuse, recognising that the Rule of Law is the only legitimate protection that a Citizen/resident has to rely upon. It makes for a life of confrontation however, not sought but dealt with blow by blow.

Too there are those in the Civil Service who know the wrong they are coerced into, shrugging the shoulders, rolling the eyes but offering little else but the sympathetic mumblings of one who would simply survive. We will fix nothing until there is a conscious effort to re-assert the rule of law, and repudiate those who for good end or bad charge ahead in ignorance or intentional folly.

I see no movement afoot however, no attempt at rational, informed dialog. Personality rules the day, flying in the face of sensibility.

Tis the silly season again, where mere mortals choose between flavors of vitriol, outlandish accusations real and unwarranted, between the village idiot or the town fool.

The outcome is predictable though, for those who would see the obvious, and is isn't a pretty sight, nor conducive to nation building.

Where have the lawful citizens gone in The Bahamas?

Christopher D. Lowe

It is an honest question, brought on by the glaring and often complete ignorance displayed by people whom I would otherwise consider to be intelligent people.

So what do I mean by lawful? I mean those who do not wander through life accidentally avoiding breaking any law, but who avoid breaking any law by design. I do not mean those who do break the law accidentally or intentionally and apparently get away with it either. Specifically, those who make the effort to be aware of the rule of law, and abide by it.

The Bahamas cannot grow or develop under this uncertainty

Christopher D. Lowe

In The Tribune of October 7th, 2010 a small notice was brought to my attention.

Namely a Government notice from the Ministry of Finance, Customs Dept with respect of a new requirement for any Licensee of the Grand Bahama Port Authority to produce a “letter of good standing”  from the N.I.B. in order to obtain the “over the counter bonded purchase letter” traditionally issued by Bahamas Customs.

It would strike me that this is another attempt by Bahamas Customs to hamper and deny legitimate Port Authority licensees rights as assigned by the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, via a suspect and highly questionable “Tie in” by a Government Authority.

Insofar as The Comptroller of Bahamas Customs was in agreement ( Tribune Bus. Sect. Sept 17 article) that Bahamas Customs did not have the Authority to “withdraw” the “concessions” granted as they were not the grantor this action begs the same question.

If a licensee is in arrears with the N.I.B., Can Bahamas Customs deny this unassociated right?

Same Bahamas Customs, different Gun!

Christopher D. Lowe

So, having gotten the point across that shipments cannot be arbitrarily held up/impeded by Customs for any reason real or imagined and that is not directly connected to paperwork files for the clearance thereof.

We now have Bahamas Customs rejecting a duty paid sales entry and report, along with the $50,504.00 that it represents and that should duly be accepted on behalf of the treasury!!

Why?

Some serious food for thought - When in doubt look to Ayn Rand for guidance

Christopher D. Lowe

"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force." Ayn Rand

Think of the micromanagement of our Government, Prime Minister and other ministers, senior civil servants, the permissions required citizens to do the most simple and necessary of human endeavors:

To Live.

For a Government to claim to be the defenders of a minority, be they poor, immigrant, or children, they must protect the rights of the smallest minority:

The individual is the smallest minority.

"Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone." Ayn Rand

We are all guilty of turning off our individual minds; we have instead embraced the irrational, in the name of the general welfare.

But, what when they will not leave the rational man alone?

It is the rational man they fear, the man who does not become the victim giving his silent consent, but the man who speaks and acts to principals, not allegiance to another man.

"Potentially, a government is the most dangerous threat to man's rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims." Ayn Rand

It is exactly this force that we as citizens of the Bahamas face, the enemy within, who would subjugate our lives to their use and purpose, and demand we apply our minds and productivity to their whim.

Government does not produce anything, but feeds itself on those who do:

Alms they may bestow on some have first been taken from others.

What happens when there are none left to pillage?

What then will Government take?

That which is left, all that will be left, individual life itself.

To validate themselves and their purpose, they must destroy all that is good, to leave no trace of a better way.

Bahamas Customs and the point of a gun

Christopher D. Lowe

There is only one entity/service that we as citizens are forced to use: Government services.

The only legal way for governments to bring that gun to bear on a citizen or lawful entity is in the enforcement of, or as a consequence of, breaking the law.

But the company that I work for is now experiencing that enforcement in a completely different and unlawful way: The refusal of Bahamas Customs to clear any goods for the company, unless a report, a new and previously unknown report is submitted not henceforth, but retroactive to January 2010.

Bahamas Customs and arbitrary restrictions

Christopher D. Lowe

“As a very open economy it has long been the policy of the Government to protect the right of legal entities to import and export authorised goods without arbitrary restrictions”. Bahamas Minister of State for Finance, addressing the WTO.

Are you kidding?

On what planet do these people live?

Certainly not the planet upon which the Country of the Bahamas sits, within which persecutory actions by Government ministries fly as frequently as pigeons around my house, doing much the same to my house as these government ministers and senior civil servants do to all that fall under their prevue.

Case in point:

The demise of the Bahamas Constitution, and the Citizens safety and Security it and it alone provides

Christopher D. Lowe

It is interesting, with the election of Barak Obama as the President of the United States, the collective voice of public opposition that has arisen namely in opposition to his person and policy. Of course there is also considerable support for him and his policies, although this seems to be waning.

What it has illustrated for me however is that in our country, The Bahamas, we have no “body public” saying much of anything. A few individuals here and there, and for sure, both political parties make the expected noise, but this is not public dissent or even involvement.

We do not know for ourselves where we sit on any issue, nor are we willing to speak up save the occasional indignant and short lived outcry.

Saw something else wrong in Freeport, Grand Bahama, Bahamas

Christopher Lowe

I went to renew my driver’s license today, for the 3 year term, but the surly disinterested staffer was no surprise, nor the subject of this piece.

Another Gent, possibly a winter resident, was also renewing his Bahamian Drivers License, which apparently had expired a couple years before.

Perhaps he had been out of the Bahamas for a few years, perhaps he had no car for awhile, and maybe he had been driving without!

What got me was the clerk saying that he had to pay for all the years that had lapsed!!

I have seen this at the Port Department also, lapsed boat registrations, even levied on new owners when the old owner had not renewed.

This has got to be unjust, for any number of obvious reasons.

Musing on compliance for The Bahamas

Christopher D. Lowe

I’ve been thinking about all these trade agreements, U.N. protocols, compliance requirements and thought a silly thing:

Why don’t we, the Bahamas, comply but without signing anything? Ostensibly, this is the aim right? To have all the nations of the world agree to do things in a fairly standard way that will not cause any conflict between nations and promote world peace, combat global starvation etc. Go ahead and implement all of the requirements that will keep us off of blacklists, sanctions, international fraud and crime watch lists, trafficking of all types deemed inappropriate or must we lose our potential for self determination in the process?

From what I see, there are serious questions with all of these mechanizations, these bureaucratic Idiosyncrasies  in that they effectively place various nations constitutions under the authority of entities without territories. Think U.N. OECD, WTO, CARICOM etc. The same could be said of the EU if not running definitely affecting the affairs and policies of sovereign Nations which have willingly signed up for extra-national jurisprudence, just as we seemingly salivate at the prospect of “joining the club.” Well, I don’t, but obviously some in positions of authority do.

Which brings me to another thought quite startling:

Could it be that, as much as our own authorities’ micro manage and thwart our best efforts to lead peaceful, productive lives, they actually wish to be administered by some higher authority themselves? Told what to do, how to do it, the reasons they should have for doing it voluntarily? Notwithstanding that they have placed us in a terrible position as a Nation not only fiscally but ethically, and perhaps worst of all functionally, and notwithstanding they are in no position with our debtors to argue with any instructions given by our unseen phantom rulers, and notwithstanding that even though they sign up they do not administer or fully perform the required procedures, could it be that simple?

Are we that bereft of initiative or self worth?

Are we destined to forever be a colony of someone else?