If there is one thing that should be clear to us here in The Bahamas it is that crime, in particular, murder, has not responded positively to changes in government over the last 50 years.
In the year the Pindling administration came to office, the year 1968, there were 19 murders, according to police crime stats. In the last full year the Pindling administration spent in office there were 28 murders, a rise of 47 percent. In the year it lost office, 1992, having been the government for about eight months of that year, there were 41 murders, an increase from 1968 of 47 percent. In the years between 1968 and 1992, the murder rate rose and fell but never got higher than 28 in any one year.
In the first full year the Ingraham administration was in office, 1993, the number of murders that occurred was 35. In the last full year it spent in office during its first term, 2002, the number of murders was 48, an increase of 37 percent. In the years between 1992 and 2002, the number of murders rose precipitously, peaking at 74 in the year 2000. In its last full year the Ingraham administration was in office, 2001, the murder rate decreased to 43, a decline from the year 2000 of 23 percent.
In the first full year the Christie administration was in office during its first term, 2003, 50 murders took place. In its last full year during that term, 60 murders occurred, an increase of 20 percent. Only in one of the years of that term did the murder rate fall below 50.
The Ingraham administration found no better success between 2007 and 2012, when it came to office for a third term. The murder rate skyrocketed in the period, going from 73 in its first full year in office, 2008, to 127 in its last full year in office, 2011, a rise of 74 percent. Despite its promise to do better, the Christie administration continues to fall prey to the same dogged increase in the murder rate. In its first full year in office this term, 2013, there were 119 murders, while in 2015 there were 146 murders, an increase of 23 percent.
In point of fact, every decade in our country has seen a higher murder rate at the end of the decade than at the beginning of it, and the increase has not been mild. The rise in the rate from 1963, the first year the murder rate recording was available to this writer, to 1970 was 220 percent; from 1970 to 1980 was 56 percent; from 1980 to 1990 was 80 percent; from 1990 to 2000 was 64 percent; and from 2000 to 2010 was 11 percent.
It should be clear to all of us that crime, as measured by the murder rate, has been on a persistent upward climb for almost 50 years now; its stubborn increase has been seen from decade to decade. Whether the PLP or the FNM was in office was of little consequence; the murder rate rose. Ingraham or Christie as prime minister did not matter. The murder rate rose. Promise after promise of "breaking the back of crime" or taking a "zero tolerance" to crime mattered not. The murder rate rose. Despite marches, prayers, church services, task forces and reports, the murder rate rose. Murders increased in number and hideousness.
It is simply dumbfounding that in the face of the evidence we continue to have such superficial political arguments about the cause and solutions to crime. In opposition, parties lay the blame at the feet of the government, but in office say that its cause is "multifaceted" and requires a "community response". This unfortunate politicking hampers sensible dialogue on this troubling issue. There is much that can be said about the cause and possible solutions to crime, but it is simply the aim of this writing to say that we should look at the facts and see that the angle from which we tackle the issue of violent crime in our nation, the political angle, is woefully inadequate to a proper look at or addressing it.

o Zhivargo Laing is a Bahamian economic consultant and former Cabinet minister who represented the Marco City constituency in the House of Assembly.

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