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Last Updated: Feb 6, 2017 - 2:32:04 PM |
 Dear Editor,
I’ve just read Zhivargo Laing’s vitriolic response
to my repeated criticism of his performance as Minister of State for
Finance and his poor representation of the residents of the Marco City
constituency of Grand Bahama in the House of Assembly. One of the things
that his response proved is that in addition to being a totally inept
Minister of State for Finance, he also has difficulty with telling the
truth.
At no time did I ever ask Laing to assist me in being
appointed to an ambassadorial position abroad. This is an outright lie. I
had easy access to the Prime Minister, personally and as a journalist,
so why would I ask Mr. Laing to approach the Prime Minister on my
behalf? I’ve concluded that he must have been referring something he was
told by his boss, Hubert “THE DICTATOR” Ingraham.
Shortly after
the FNM won the 2007, I did approach Mr. Ingraham about the possibility
of being The Bahamas’ ambassador to the United States. Given my
background and experience, I considered this to be a reasonable request.
I lived in Washington, D.C., for 20 years. During the first five years
of my stay there, I was publications editor at the Institute for
Services to Education (ISE), a think tank established by the late
President Lynden Johnson to help upgrade the standard of education in
historically Black colleges and universities. When Ronald Reagan was
elected President in 1980, he drastically reduced funding for ISE and
the publications division was disbanded. I subsequently was employed as
news editor of The Washington Informer, where I remained for 12 years.
As a working journalist in D.C., I covered some events on Capitol Hill
and gained a good understanding of congressional proceedings, which in
my way of thinking would have been very helpful to me if I had been
appointed ambassador.
One of the main reasons, however, why I
decided to pursue the ambassador’s job in D.C. was because I have two
marvelous grandchildren who live in the Washington, D.C., area and I
thought it would be nice to spend a couple years with them nearby.
Anyone with grandchildren can attest to the fact that they are a
blessing to have around you, especially during your “senior” years.
When
I approached Ingraham about the ambassador’s position, he told me that
he would consider it. I asked him whether I should mention my interest
in it to Foreign Minister Brent Symonette, but he told me that this
would not be necessary because he would be the one who would eventually
make the decision.
Some time went by, during which it was well
known in Freeport that I was seeking the position and so was C.A. Smith.
One day Mr. Smith called me at The Freeport News and informed me that
he had been appointed ambassador to the United States. He even suggested
that when I ran the story, I use the headline, “Mr. Smith Goes To
Washington,” which I did.
I placed several calls to Mr. Ingraham
to confirm what I had been told, but my calls were not returned. I
subsequently called Kay Forbes Smith, who was then head of the Prime
Minister’s Office in Freeport, and requested that she arrange for me to
meet with Mr. Ingraham on his next visit to Freeport. She did and during
my meeting with Mr. Ingraham, he told me that he could not have
appointed me as ambassador to the United States because I was an
American citizen.
It crossed my mind that this may not have been
a valid reason, given the fact that Sidney Poitier was Bahamian
ambassador to Japan for many years, and although he is recognized as
being a Bahamian, he was actually born in Miami and is an American
citizen. I became a naturalized American citizen in 1982, and I still
consider this to be one of the best decisions that I made in my life. I
love the United States, but this in no way has diminished my love for
The Bahamas.
Nonetheless, I accepted Mr. Ingraham’s explanation
as to why I was not appointed ambassador to the United States, given the
perception that if there was ever a conflict between the United States
and The Bahamas, my loyalty to The Bahamas might be questioned, although
if such a conflict were to develop, the decision on how it is handled
would not be made by the ambassador but by the Foreign Affairs Minister.
Be that as it may, in my meeting with Mr. Ingraham, I told him
that I would then be interested in the consul general’s position in
Atlanta, a position that does not involve dealing with “sensitive”
diplomatic matters. He told me that he could not fill all of the foreign
jobs with political appointments. Yet, when he did appoint a consul
general for Atlanta, he appointed Kay Forbes Smith, who had to resign as
an FNM senator to accept the appointment. I suppose if I wore a skirt I
would have been more qualified for that position. It was at this point
that I lost all respect for Ingraham; obviously his word means nothing
and his often repeated declaration that he “means what he says and says
what he means” is simply hogwash.
With regard to Mr. Laing’s
suggestion that my mind is “jaundiced” because I believe that he and the
Prime Minister were responsible for me being fired from The Freeport
News, the chain of events that led to me being “forced” to retire
without a day’s notice strongly suggest that they were. When Archdeacon
Cornell Moss, rector of the Anglican Church of the Ascension, was
installed as Bishop of Guyana in November of 2009, I wrote an editorial
in The Freeport News criticizing the government for not sending someone
to officially represent The Bahamas at that event.
When you
consider that many of the parishioners of the Church of the Ascension
are from constituencies represented by four FNM members of Parliament
(Laing in Marco City, Neko Grant in Lucaya, Kwasi Thompson in Pineridge
and Kenneth Russell in High Rock) I still think it is a disgrace that
not one of these FNM MPs had the good sense to suggest to Mr. Ingraham
that The Bahamas should have been officially represented at this
historic event. In that editorial, I particularly mentioned that if Mr.
Laing was not too busy globe hopping at the public’s expense to
financial conferences, some of which it was not necessary for him to
attend, he would have found the time to inform Mr. Ingraham that The
Bahamas should be represented at the installation of Bishop Moss in
Guyana.
Several days later Mr. Laing called me and took issue with my
criticism and asked whether I had something personal against him. I
told him that I did not, but I did disagree with Prime Minister
Ingraham’s strong-arm tactics in trying to force Sir Jack Hayward to
sell the Grand Bahama Port Authority to the Chinese. No doubt Laing
could not wait to go and report this to Mr. Ingraham.
Several
weeks later I wrote in my column, OSWALD BROWN WRITES, that the pending
by-election in the Elizabeth constituency would be a referendum on
Ingraham’s leadership. My column generally appeared in both The Freeport
News and The Nassau Guardian on Fridays, but The Guardian refused to
publish it. That Friday afternoon, I received a call from Wanda Gomez,
human resources director for The Guardian, which owns The Freeport News,
that she and Sandra Knowles would be down on Monday morning to meet
with me. I was not aware of the fact that Ms. Knowles had been appointed
general manager of The Guardian several weeks earlier, but I knew that
like Laing, she was a strong supporter of Ingraham’s. In fact, someone
once said that she would jump out of an airplane travelling at 40,000
feet without a parachute to please Ingraham and everyone who knows them
both know why.
After some small talk, Sandra told me that the
decision was made that it was time for me to retire, effective
immediately. What really bothered me was not so much the unprofessional
manner in which I was “forced” into retirement without a day’s notice,
but I had some existing medical problems and my medical insurance was
stopped immediately. Freeport News and Guardian employees are insured by
Colina Insurance, which is a member of the AF Holdings group of
companies (the AF representing the last names of Manny Alexiou and
Anthony Ferguson).
Since I know both of these gentlemen very
well, I refuse to believe that they were actively involved in the
conspiracy to force me to retire, but I strongly believe that Laing and
Ms. Knowles along with several other devotees of Ingraham’s, including a
very close relative of mine, were involved. I have very reliable
information that supports by suspicion.
Initially I was very
bitter, but I would like to assure Mr. Laing that this is no longer the
case. My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is in the driver’s seat of my
life and he has convinced me that it is unchristian to harbor bitterness
in one’s mind; therefore, I decided to leave whatever retribution is
due to these evil individuals up to the Lord.
However, I would
like to assure Mr. Laing that my criticism of him has nothing to do with
my belief that he was involved in my forced retirement. I simply think
that he is not qualified to hold down the important position of Minister
of State for Finance, and this is one of the reasons why this country’s
economy is in such poor shape.
Yours sincerely,
Oswald T. Brown
Freeport, Grand Bahama
April 12, 2011
© Copyright 2011 by thebahamasweekly.com
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