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.
Notwithstanding the fact that the form and function of this report is an unknown, and that they have not displayed even the most cursory of professional approaches and notwithstanding there is no legal basis for the requirement of such a report, we are to comply, or perish at the end of a bludgeon.
No goods imported, sales plummet, income diminishes, cash flow issues ensue, and layoffs become reality. The fate of 100 Bahamians employed hang in the balance.
What an unstable position and potentially ignoble end for what can only be described as an upright, longstanding and forward thinking company which remits almost a million dollars to the treasury each year, in spite of the economic downturn. A Company owing no taxes, NIB contributions, Import duties, a company in existence and good standing since 1965.
Of course, the silence by the Grand Bahama Port Authority is disappointing, but not unexpected as they have neglected their responsibility to their licensees very consistently over the years, with not a care for the erosion of the rights they bestow under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement. I also believe they have been involved in litigation against licensees more often than anyone else and have never come to the aid of their partners in Freeport. They do not even defend the very document/act that provides for their existence.
We could capitulate, but if our past experiences with Bahamas Customs are any indication, we would be committing suicide. It would be granting them the willing consent of the victim.
So we fight for the right to exist, to trade, to enjoy the benefits granted by the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, but not just for ourselves, but for all licensees, including those who have capitulated under the same threat and gun. We fight for our community and our place in it.
We cannot be forced to produce, to innovate, and to strive, at the point of a gun.
Nor should we be robbed at the point of a gun. Now more than ever, the country needs the best and brightest, the innovators, to help bring the economic prosperity we so desperately need.
Government is not the economy, and their meddling always has detrimental effect and yet they are the biggest benefactor of the proceeds from legitimate business activity.
Dead chickens don’t lay eggs; therefore they should mind how they walk through the coop.