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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
UNITY – Save The Bays education director Joseph Darville introduces FNM leader Dr. Hubert Minnis to the crowd at Wednesday’s Freedom of Information Rally in Rawson Square. The official opposition party was one of more than 20 organizations and groups which took part in the event, collectively representing more than 35,000 people around the country.
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Nassau, Bahamas - The leaders and top representatives of more than 20 groups and organizations were in among the crowd at Wednesday’s Freedom of Information Rally in Rawson Square, collectively representing more than 35,000 people according to veteran educator Joseph Darville.
Darville, one of the directors of fast-growing social and environmental advocacy group Save The Bays, lead organizer of the rally, said the combined membership of political parties, trade unions and citizen activist groups represented constitute a formidable social force that politicians ignore at their own risk.
“It seems like every entity in The Bahamas was represented besides the PLP,” he said, asking why the governing party seems to be “afraid” to engage with those calling for the rapid enactment of a Freedom of Information Act.
Among the many speakers at the event were the leaders of the other two major political parties in The Bahamas, as well as the secretary general of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), an umbrella entity representing more than 10,000 workers.
Free National Movement leader Dr. Hubert Minnis connected the lack of an FOIA to the degradation of the country’s precious natural resources through unregulated development, which has been given the green light by successive governments behind a veil of secrecy.
DNA Leader – Branville McCartney, leader of the DNA, called on government to enact
“a Freedom of Information Act with teeth to create a real democracy.” McCartney was among leaders of civic organisations, unions and political parties who addressed the Freedom of Information rally in Rawson Square Wednesday. Among the groups represented were the TUC (Trade Union Congress), the Bahamas Public Services Union, BREEF, The Bahamas National Trust, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce, the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association, the Bahamas Humane Society, the FNM, the DNA and many more.
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Using the example of the massive dredging operation currently going on in Bimini, which experts say will destroy one of the most pristine and ecologically significant reef systems in the region, Minnis said renowned visitors Martin Luther King, Jr. and Earnest Hemingway must be “turning over in their graves” over what is taking place in that island.
Meanwhile, Branville McCartney, leader of the Democratic Alliance (DNA), said the FOIA passed but not enacted by the former FNM government was deficient and needs to be replaced, but urged government not to delay in taking action.
“The time has also come for our government to put an end to the culture of secrecy which has existed in this country for the past 40 years and the first step toward making that happen is implementing a Freedom of Information Act,” he said. “A real Freedom of Information Act that will have teeth!”
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