Dear Editor,
In the May 7, 2016 edition of The Nassau Guardian a letter to the editor was published from me under the caption "National Constitutional Review". In that letter I said a number of things:
(1) That the constitution of The Bahamas is considered to be the supreme law of the land, and the people of The Bahamas should not engage in flippant alteration of its provisions.
(2) That a national constitutional review exercise should take place every 5-10 years.
(3) That the laws of the constitution were only laws fashioned by... fallible men.
(4) That I consider the constitution to be a living, breathing document; and thus... must grow.
(5) That the government and the populace must have a foundational law on which they can solidly depend; and that is the constitution.
I just thought it would be prudent of me to remind you and the Bahamian people of the main points in that letter.
Editor, in the May 12, 2016 edition of The Nassau Guardian another letter from me was published under the caption "Not Voting In Constitutional Referendum". Again, in that letter I also said a number of things:
(1) That the June 7th, 2016 constitutional referendum will be a considerably meaningful exercise in the forward development of the legal status of women and stateless individuals in this country.
(2) That the government's decision to callously disregard the will of the people in the gambling referendum left me with a distasteful and unenviable disposition toward them.
(3) That it is unequivocal that the June 7th, 2016 constitutional referendum will be a different creature.
(4) That I will not cast my vote in favor of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) during the next general election to sanction their deception, dishonesty, and betrayal.
(5) That I was not going to vote in the June 7th, 2016 referendum because it was a matter of principle.
Again, I just thought it would be prudent of me to remind you and the Bahamian people of the main points in that letter also.
Editor, can I make an obvious admission? I am only human. And, would you agree with me when I say that human beings are prone to make mistakes and also to change their minds, amongst other frail characteristics? What am I talking about? This same constitutional referendum that took place on June 7, 2016. In one of my letters to the editor mentioned above, I indicated to you and the Bahamian people that I was not going to vote in that referendum based on principle, even though I thought it was a considerably meaningful exercise in Bahamian history. Here is where my human side is relevant. Editor, I changed my mind a few days before the appointed day. Over those few days I had come to the conclusion that, that referendum was too important (at least to me) to just sit on the sidelines and watch it happen without my input and having my voice heard with my "five cents" being considered. My "five cents" would have especially counted when the polls opened on June 7th, 2016. My intention was to vote, notwithstanding my stance based on principle.
In one of the letters to the editor mentioned above I also said that I was not going to vote for this Christie government during the next general election because of their actions with reference to the gambling issue. Again, I changed my mind. I'm only human. The PLP will definitely be considered by me on election day this year. It all depends on how things play out over the next month (or so).
Editor, I fell sick before referendum day (on June 7th, 2016), and I was hospitalized. So, I could not vote. But, if I had been allowed to vote I would have voted "yes!" to all four amendments. This is the way I rationalized my intentions. If both the governing party and the opposition party voted to pass these bills in Parliament, and we put them there to look after our best interests, then voting "yes" seemed like the right thing to do. Even though I did not know all the intricacies of each bill, I felt comfortable that the members of the House and the members of the Senate felt so strongly about them that they were willing to put partisanship aside to achieve the ultimate objective -- equality between the sexes. Who knows, maybe we (the Bahamian people) will get another chance to consider the proposals after the next general election.
However, editor, since the "No" voters succeeded on June 7th, 2016, do you realize that inequality between the sexes in this country will continue for another 5 or 10 or 15 years into the future?! Do you want that, Editor? I certainly don't. But, now it is too late.
Some Bahamians viewed the June 7th, 2016 referendum as pay back time. They couldn't wait to go to the polls to show the PLP better than they could tell them, that they did not like how the first equality referendum went (during a previous Ingraham administration), and the PLP's unscrupulous behavior during that time.
Some Bahamians wanted to pay the PLP back for their betrayal of the Bahamian people during the last gambling referendum. Like I said editor, I, for one, have forgiven them. But I might be in the minority. If that was, and is, indeed the case, then PLP - "dog eat ya' lunch"!
Editor, I am not going to go through all the different reasons why some Bahamians voted "No" on June 7th, 2016. However, I will finally say that since they voted "No" and your fellow citizens were successful, and should they find in the future some time that they needed these 4 bills to have been passed, then they have only themselves to blame.
Like I said Editor, I changed my mind several days before June 7th, 2016. I am only human. And it is too late for the "No" contingent to change theirs, until a future administration.
Thank you for your valuable time, and space in your newspaper.

- Marvin G. Lightbourn

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