Dear Editor,
The Whistleblower, along with thousands of fellow Facebook junkies, is hoping against the odds that the repressive regime of Prime Minister Perry Christie was not behind the shutdown of the popular Facebook news page Bahama News Ma Bey (BN).
BN was a social media news source that kept the PLP's feet to the fire by shedding light on the inner workings of the government. Bahamians from all walks of life and of all political persuasions were routinely kept abreast on the affairs of the PLP.
BN is the second Facebook news page which was mysteriously shut down without so much as an explanation. Several weeks ago, popular activist Rodney Moncur's Facebook page was also shut down. Like BN, Moncur was very critical of the PLP and its many questionable, head-scratching policies.
Based on the plethora of comments which were given by thousands of Bahamians on these Facebook sites, the PLP's popularity has faded. With the recent announcement that law enforcement officials will now be keeping an eagle eye on social media sites, due to their understandable anti-PLPism, it is a given that the PLP has become jittery and would do almost anything to hold on to the reins of power.
The Whistleblower cannot help but notice the PLP's radical transformation into a totalitarian government in the two years it has occupied high office. The party is slowing but surely morphing into a dictatorship.
Lost in all the ongoing discussion concerning NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and the troubling allegations of the U.S. government wiretapping and eavesdropping on the cell phone calls of Bahamians is the creation of the Christie regime's National Intelligence Agency, which is headed by Clifford ''Butch'' Scavella.
The Whistleblower has heard and wants clarification as to whether Scavella is making a hefty salary.
The NIA is made up of law enforcement officers. Just exactly what is the purpose of the NIA? Are all members of the NIA PLPs? Is the NIA the PLP's paramilitary, which mirrors to a certain extent the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's Black shirts and Roman despot Caligula's Bodyguard?
Will the NIA be used to intimidate political opponents of the PLP in the remaining three yers till election? And is Butch Scavella subservient to police chief Ellison Greenslade, or is it the other way round?
Whatever the case, one thing has become patently clear: the PLP has all but hamstrung and humiliated Greenslade. The PLP has undermined his authority. No PLP police officer fears Greenslade because he cannot touch them as they are the untouchables. You get the sense that the PLP wants to fire Greenslade, but they can't bring themselves to do it. It looks like they are blaming him because their Urban Renewal and Project Safe Bahamas programs have flopped.
FNM Deputy Leader Loretta Butler-Turner said a few weeks ago that the NIA is doing the same thing the NSA is being accused of. Butler-Turner's postulation that the NIA is wiretapping the phones of FNMs is indeed troubling.
Her remarks came on the heels of a well publicized incident at the home of FNM chairman Darron Cash, when police officers went to his home and took his computer laptop and smartphone as part of an ongoing investigation into sensitive leakage of information at the Bank of the Bahamas.
The managers at that Bahamian-owned bank are prominent PLPs. It came as no surprise to the Whistleblower when he read reports of Cash's wife being placed on administrative leave.
Some PLPs have already rendered judgment on Mrs Cash. The PLP has all the earmarks of a dictatorship. It looks like the party is now targeting its political rivals and is silencing its most vocal critics.
And these are the very people who labeled Hubert Ingraham a dictator. Well at least Ingraham opened the airwaves and gave plenty latitude to the media. The media wasn't targeted as it is today by the PLP. I hope Bahamians see these people for who they truly are.
- The Whistleblower
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