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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
 There was once a time in our country’s history when men, women and children alike, had an abiding respect for the individuals tasked with the great responsibility of tending to the country’s spiritual needs. A time when the contributions of our religious leaders were valued and respected and their lives held as a shining example of the power of God working through men.
The daring home invasion of one such individual is a sad reminder that we no longer live in that time. During the early morning hours of January 14th, five armed men forced their way into the home of the beloved retired pastor of the Grace Community Church Rex Major; subjecting him and his family to what I can only imagine was a nightmarish experience.
Through the power of prayer and God’s unending grace, the family suffered only minor injuries sparing their extended family, friends and the country from what would have been an immense loss.
Over the past many years we have heard one too many stories of men and women who met their demise at the hands of the criminally minded. While we pause to celebrate God’s mercy in this regard, we must all now collectively take stock of the situation in which we find ourselves and the immense implications of such a brazen attack on an elderly man, his wife and daughter.
The actions of these five individuals are but a glimpse into a level of violence, greed and callousness never before seen in this country; and with each act more shocking, more sinister and more violent than the one before it, one thing is most clear: WE ARE NOT SAFE! Not in our homes, nor in schools, or in our vehicles. Thus far, the government has failed to protect us. They have failed to hold criminals responsible for their actions and as a result law abiding men and women are forced to live in fear. Bahamians who have fallen victim to crime, or those of us who have lost a loved one to the criminal element, know all too well that that fear never goes away, it never leaves us. We carry it with us; to work, to the grocery store and the ATM, and yes even to church.
The Bahamas is not the first territory to experience a high crime rate and we will certainly not be the last. There are countless examples of government’s who took a hard and fast approach to addressing their crime problems. Among them, New York City. With a population of more than 8 million people, the city recorded 201 murders last year, a record attributed to a focused, deliberate and intensive crime strategy, this when compared to the 148 recorded in a nation of 350,000 people.
These are indeed drastic times we live in. We no longer live in a Bahamas where the Rule of Law is respected and so in the face of these drastic times, DRASTIC MEASURES MUST BE TAKEN! A successful crime plan must first begin with the restoration of the Rule of Law, specifically through enforcement. The DNA has long advocated for the enforcement of all the country’s laws including CAPITAL PUNISHMENT! With clear amendments to the constitution, the Bahamas will be free to finally assert its sovereignty and decide definitively what crimes warrant execution.
Secondly, political interference in the work of the police must come to an end once and for all and the chains of tenure that currently bind the hands of the Commissioner of Police must be broken. Making the Commissioner of Police an ELECTED post rather than an APPOINTED one allows him or her to pursue criminality even if it exists within government.
Targeting young people, particularly our young men BEFORE they turn to a life of crime is also a key element of the DNA’s plan to tackle crime. Via the introduction of a National Service initiative, young people will be given access to the academic, and skills development framework needed to make them educated, employable and productive members of their communities.
In the absence of a real plan to address the growing criminal element, the imperative now rests with us, the citizenry. Like Pastor Major we must stand together, bravely, as one people, united against those who would do us harm. Like Pastor Major and his family we must not become too proud to turn to God for help, and like Pastor Major we must demand that our government take STRONG ACTION, DECISIVE ACTION, and PUNITIVE ACTION against law breakers.
Branville McCartney
DNA Leader
© Copyright 2016 by thebahamasweekly.com
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