Tommy Turnquest living in the Land of Oz

Dear Editor,

Just hold Dorothy’s hand and skip along the Yellow Brick Road to the Land of Oz, the Fairy Country, there you will find our Minister of National Security.

On Tuesday, December 8th, you reported on an exclusive interview with the Minister of National Security: “Turnquest says number too high, but killings not necessarily random.” So if I am understanding the Minister, then all I have to do is:

• 1) Make sure I do not have an argument with anybody, as I may be like one of the 28 that have been murdered as a result of arguments.

• 2) Don’t argue with my wife she may kill me and I may be like one of the nine murdered in domestic violence.

• 3) Don’t accidentally stumble on a drug deal, as I may be like one of 14 killed in a drug related murder.
  Wow, I am sure this exclusive interview made the family of the Burger King Manager feel better, I am sure it brought closure to the family of Wendy Bullard shot in a robbery, or peace of mind to the family of Mrs Cates who was brutally murdered in Eleuthera. What explanation does the Minister have for these crimes. And how will the Minister explain the explosive rate of armed robberies. We even had a Supreme Court Judge held at gun point. I guess it is the fault of the hard working businessperson why they have a gun held to their head, while their material possessions are taken and their lives threatened.

Again Minister, we do not expect you to be in everybody’s bedroom or prevent every drug deal, but we do expect you and your Government to move forward with legislation to get these thugs off the streets and carry out capital punishment. Do we have to say it in Spanish to get the People’s voice across.

I was going to leave the December 8th, report alone, but then I read The Tribune on December 9th. There on page five: “Turnquest: Tribune headlines focusing too much on crime.” This made me realise what I had been missing all along, I live in the Bahamas and the Minster lives in the Land of Oz. So let’s skip down the yellow brick road and stop reporting the crime, then maybe it will go away. Is the Minister serious? As a matter of fact, I have people tell me about crimes all the time that don’t make The Tribune. What would the Minister think if The Tribune got the opportunity to report all the crimes? I suppose us innocent people would not leave our homes, if this were the case. Trust me minister, some crimes are being suppressed because they are not reaching the media.

Well I ask the minister, what about word of mouth, what about e-mail, what about text messages, what about blogs, etc, etc, etc. I often hear about crimes by word of mouth the same day they are committed, hours before they are reported in The Tribune. I don’t need The Tribune to put the fear of God in me. It’s happening by just talking to people and living in this country.

Why didn’t the minister use the exclusive interview to report to us what the government is doing to amend the Bail Act?

What are they doing to expand the capacity of the courts?

What are they doing with signing death warrants? When will the Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy hold their next meeting? I guess he does not have an update. I should not be surprised, since I am advised that the Commissioner of Police meets with the PM on a weekly basis, not the Minister of National Security. So will the PM please answer these questions.

The minister should stop worrying about the headlines and start worrying about his government punishing the criminals and keeping the thugs off the streets. Listen at the people man!

If we could only all hold hands and skip off to the Land of Oz, maybe there would be no murders.

JEROME R. PINDER
Nassau,
December 9, 2009.