With public confidence in the Christie administration's responses to crime and its causes low and ebbing, especially after the carnage in Fox Hill several fresh weeks ago, the two most senior men in government seem stuck in a quicksand and quandary of denial and delusion.
Soon after Prime Minister Perry Christie publicly undermined Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade, Deputy Prime Minister Philip "Brave" Davis dismissively underplayed the severity of crime. This week Christie made other comments which leave many wondering where the prime minister's mind is on crime.
Quicksand is "a place or situation into which entry can be swift and sudden but from which extrication can be difficult or impossible". Having breezily touted that it had many of the answers to crime, the PLP is now caught in the quicksand of overpromising, with the party sinking under the weight of its pandering and unfulfilled promises.
Christie's address at the opening of the 2014 Bahamas Business Outlook again demonstrated his colossal failure "as prime minister", including his abysmal failure to lead on the crime front.
As the country wrestles with economic and national insecurity we are faced with a crisis of leadership at the heart of government. Christie does not have the capacity to lead, yet there is more than three years left in a floundering and mostly failed government.
With domestic and international attendees seeking guidance from the head of government, Christie went off-script, was rambling and unfocused, at times unintelligible. As usual he talked big in terms of his government's plans. Such talk so often results in little to no action.
In another bout of self-adulation and self-congratulation, Christie patted himself on the back for being such a hard worker, the sort of praise best left to others, especially in light of how arguably most Bahamians actually view his prime ministership.

In denial
The haunting concern for many is that the prime minister seems to be in denial about his failures, unable to address them, while deluding himself on what a good job he's doing
Christie's penchant for endless gab is legendary. Now he increasingly seems not to think before he speaks, making reckless statements sometimes bordering on the bizarre. Christie's rhetoric is alarming and deeply troubling.
The Tribune reported: "Prime Minister Perry Christie expressed concern over his own personal safety as he expanded on the government's toughened stance against violent crime in the country, specifically in his own constituency."
Christie was possibly trying to demonstrate empathy with a public deeply anxious about crime. If so, his statement had the opposite effect. He made matters even worse in terms of public confidence.
In what should have been a major headline, The Bahamas prime minister announced to domestic and international audiences that he feels unsafe, despite the fact that he enjoys 24-hour police protection including quite often outriders accompanying him around New Providence.
This was yet another slap at the Royal Bahamas Police Force, a reckless statement by a prime minister whose judgment is seriously in question. He used the megaphone of his office to inform potential investors, foreign governments, the international media, cruise lines and other tourism stakeholders that he personally feels unsafe.
Perhaps Christie's statement was not a headline because many journalists, who may have thought this was just Christie being Christie, often do not take his comments seriously.
Because many foreign observers may not know better, is there no one who can rein in a prime minister whose out-of-control rhetoric risks doing great harm to the country?
The Tribune also reported: "'There is something', he (Christie) said, 'that is supposed to happen as a country automatically as a response, a team of people go in and talk. Those are the things happening now that I'm not going to apologize for it. I'm raising hell for it, and talking strongly about it, what must be in place. I want you to know this. I don't care what the position is'."
What is he blustering about? What exactly does he want us to know - that he's actually not telling us? If he is referring to sensitive internal matters he should exercise better judgment and remain quiet. Instead he left his audience totally baffled.
Referring to a survey he indicated his administration would take in response to crime, Christie was reported to have said at the forum:
"Go to every house in every constituency, begin with mine and I'm not talking about no random survey. Every house, tell me who's blind, who's deaf, who's dumb, who's not working, who's smartest in class. I am not going to allow the country to compromise on this."

Big idea
This is classic Christie, a so-called "big idea" that is easier to announce than to fully realize. A survey of the kind that the prime minister indicated would be quite an undertaking. Think, for example, of the massive undertaking that is the decennial census.
What is the purpose and scope of the proposed survey? Exactly what sort of data is being collected? How are the questions being designed? The retrieval of the data is another huge undertaking in terms of a public education program, training those doing the collection, getting people to respond to certain questions and a host of other issues.
Does the government really intend to survey every household? If so, why? And exactly why is Christie's household to be interviewed?
From Christie's list of matters the survey may ask, it is clear, that like the initial announcement of a Bahamian Mardi Gras, that little has been thought through, as is often the case with the grand pronouncements he makes.
A statement by DPM Davis on crime being overplayed was another troubling example of how out of touch are certain senior members of this administration.
Last Wednesday, The Guardian's Royston Jones Jr. reported: "Despite being robbed at gunpoint in his home last month, Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis said The Bahamas is not 'as dangerous as it is made out to be'.
"Davis was responding to a question from The Nassau Guardian about the security upgrades at his West Ridge home following a December 8 armed robbery."
Davis was quoted: "We do have pockets of young men who have lost their way and are wreaking havoc, but I think it is all confined within what I call groupings."
The reporter did not fail to note the discrepancy between Davis' recent statement and one made just some months ago. As reported: "His (Davis') claim that The Bahamas is not as dangerous as it is made out to be came months after he declared that 'no one is safe from crime' in The Bahamas.
"Davis made that statement after one of his police aides was shot in eastern New Providence..."

Fertilizer
For the man who promoted the very public and gratuitous display of crime statistics at various roundabouts in order to score political gain to say that crime is overplayed is more than garden-variety hypocrisy. His statement is an orchard of hypocrisy fuelled by noxious fertilizer.
As for those pockets of young men who have lost their way and are wreaking havoc, supposedly "confined" to certain "groupings", they regularly leave their confines in order to rob, maim, rape and assault residents throughout New Providence, including invading and robbing the home of the acting prime minister.
The Tribune reported on what was stolen from the DPM's home, including "jewellery worth $93,000, a jewellery box worth $200, Baraka gold jewellery worth $700, an opal top wallet worth $450, a Royal Bank credit card ... " and $2,953 from Davis' wife.
Bahamians are relieved that the incident was not even more serious. How is one robbed of jewellery and cash worth approximately $100,000 and then suggest that crime is overplayed? Perhaps those of us who have been victims of crime are simply not as "brave" as the DPM.
Guardian Business Editor Allison Lowe reported on the concerns of "Jim Walker, partner at Walker and O'Neil, a Miami law firm" who represents "clients injured or assaulted on cruise ships around the world."
Guardian Business reported: "Walker called the recent armed robbery of then-acting prime minister, Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis in his home, a 'real wake-up call' which would not have gone unnoticed by cruise lines.
"'It fascinates me that the acting prime minister was robbed at gunpoint - it's unbelievable to me. It's deeply disturbing because you'd assume you would take far better protection of your honorable leaders than some teenagers coming on shore with flip flops, so what does that say?' said Walker."
What does this say indeed about the mindset, incoherence and incompetence of this administration on matters of law and order?

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