MITCHELL QUESTION: WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT US TO DO?

From the Nassau Guardian by Taneka Thompson

Thursday October 3, 2024

Foreign Secretary Fred Mitchell yesterday asked the Free National Movement (FNM) what else the opposition party expects from the government in the fight against crime, as he pushed back on claims that the Davis government is not serious about tackling the problem.

Mitchell’s comments in the House of Representatives came the day after a 27-year-old man was shot dead outside his New Providence home while holding his eight-month-old daughter. A six-year-old girl was in the car during the incident.

“I want to assure you on behalf of this side that the seriousness with which this crime issue is being approached is no laughing matter for us,” he said.

Mitchell was responding to criticism from St Barnabas MP Shanendon Cartwright, shadow national security minister, who raised the murder and the country’s crime problem during a debate in parliament.

“Just as you are serious about the points you make about crime, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) can say tenfold that it is serious because we are the government at the moment,” Mitchell said.

“The evidence is there of all the social programs that have been put in place since 2021.”

He said the PLP’s social programs are meant to work in the long term and criticized the Minnis government for “demolishing” urban renewal. Mitchell said the social outreach program needed to be reintroduced after the PLP won the 2021 general election.

He said some people have suggested that the Bahamas resort to draconian measures like those taken in Jamaica and El Salvador in response to the crime. In August, Jamaica imposed a state of emergency in Clarendon parish after shootings left eight people dead and nine others injured. Mitchell said this tactic “hasn’t worked.”

El Salvador has reported a dramatic drop in homicides since the crackdown on gangs. However, human rights groups have said El Salvador’s measures have been heavy-handed and there have been alleged abuses such as torture and arbitrary detentions.

“The question is whether or not you want to go so far as to suspend civil liberties,” Mitchell said. “As long as you have a liberal democracy, and I assume we’re on the same page, there’s a certain way you have to approach this issue.”

He said the PLP is “no less serious” than the FNM on crime.

“I don’t want the public to get the impression that we think this is a joke,” Mitchell said. “Every day we are as concerned as you are about this crime situation. I asked you personally: what else do you expect from us?

From his seat, opposition leader Michael Pintard said they want results.

Mitchell continued, “The issue today is the point he makes about us not taking crime issues seriously, and that’s just not true.

“How can we in this small society, how can we not take crime issues seriously when it concerns all of us, all our families, our friends who are dying, these young children who should live until they are 70 years old? , kill each other, for what reason? We don’t know.

“How can we intervene and stop people from doing this? We think the answer is a long-term solution, starting with the right investments in social programs and education. That’s what we are doing. We try to improve the housing (situation). That’s what we’re doing.”

Earlier in the debate, Cartwright lamented the country’s high homicide rate. Ninety-one people have been murdered so far this year; most of these murders have occurred in New Providence.

“We should all be ashamed, Madam Speaker, that we have not meaningfully and adequately addressed the issue of crime in a fundamental way; and this government, Madam Speaker, as much as it tries to avoid and evade it, has a responsibility, Madam Speaker,” Cartwright said.

He said that while the government should not be held responsible for the actions of people who want to commit murder, the Davis administration should be held accountable for not doing enough to put at-risk youth on the right path. before they turn to a life of violence. crime.

“What is the government doing about those 10-year-olds, wherever they may be, who, due to family dysfunction or weakening of the social structure in their lives, lack of education, are on the path to a life of crime?” Cartwright asked.

He compared the country’s homicide statistics to Miami, Florida, a city that has a population of about 450,000 but recorded only 31 homicides in 2023. The Bahamas recorded 110 murders last year.

He said many Bahamians believe the government could focus more on crime.

“We owe it to the people of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas that the government provides leadership,” Cartwright said.