Dear Editor,

I serve as the lead person for the referendum education group Think, Bahamas! It is our view that public funds should not be used to fund referenda campaigns. However, if public funds are used, we believe they should be made available to all sides in a fair manner.

That's the way it is done in functioning democracies. It is for this reason that I am pained to observe the government lavishly spending public funds on its YES Bahamas campaign, while at the same time denying funding to groups who oppose one or more of the four bills. Clearly, what the government is doing is unfair and an abuse of public funds.

What is sad and ironic is that the government is spending an enormous amount of public funds to promote its message of equal rights, even as it denies equal rights to funding for groups like Think, Bahamas! This glaring contradiction seems to be overlooked by those who are the public face of YES Bahamas, and they clearly have no difficulty in supporting this unfair arrangement and abuse of public funds.

I am one who has consistently been calling voters to vote on each bill based on its merits or demerits, but I must confess that as of late I find myself fighting the temptation to vote no to all the bills because of the government's abuse of public funds and unfair conduct. But I've resolved not to yield to that temptation.

I will vote for each bill on its merits or demerits, and once again I encourage all voters to do the same. So, this means that on June 7, 2016, I will vote yes to bill one because of its merits and no to bills two, three, and four because of their demerits.

Only the Lord knows what the outcome of this referendum will be. However, whatever success the government achieves in terms of any of the bills being approved will be stained by the unfair manner in which it was achieved. I realize that for some, how a desired result is achieved does not matter; but it should. Whatever we achieve, we should achieve in a fair and honest manner.

Even though we are disappointed in the government and its abuse of public funds to finance its YES Bahamas campaign, we are not disheartened - because God is still on the throne. We will continue to work and pray and do our best to educate voters on the four bills and to encourage them to think and then vote. In the end, the results are ultimately in the sovereign hands of our sovereign Lord who does all things well.

- Pastor Cedric Moss

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