The Baptist community is holding fast to its belief that a national lottery should not be established in the country.
Bahamas National Baptist Missionary and Educational Convention president, Rev Dr William Thompson, made it clear Tuesday night that the body would not support anyone who was pushing for the same.
“Baptists are categorically, unequivocally, unshakably opposed to the introduction of a national lottery system for The Bahamas,” Rev Thompson said, while addressing the 47th annual Baptist Convention, held at the Mt Horeb Baptist Church.
He said despite there being those who are pushing for the gambling system, the Baptists are joined by other Christians who strongly oppose the idea.
“Baptists cannot support a national lottery and Baptists will not support those who support a national lottery,” he said.
Last year, Mr. Thompson said he offered a proposal for a small levy of two cents to be charged on gasoline and diesel being put towards financing sports programmes. “Considering the huge amounts of fuel consumed,” he stated, “this would certainly raise the massive amounts required to fund sports.”
Despite the increases of gasoline and diesel within the last year, he said the proposal should still be considered viable.
Shifting focus to the topic of illegal immigrants, Rev. Thompson said that area was a “serious disaster waiting to happen.”
Likening the situation to that of a ticking time bomb, the BCC president said “the time may have passed for this problem to be resolved without a great amount of pain and suffering.”
In addition, he highlighted Haitian communities of concern as those in Pigeon Pea and the Mud located in Marsh Harbour, Abaco. He called upon the government to act aggressively but compassionately, “to stem the steady flow of illegal immigrants and to apprehend and repatriate all non-documented aliens from The Bahamas.”
The government was also challenged to investigate claims of corruption leveled against employees of the Immigration department and other government agencies.
On the topic of education, Rev. Thompson said, “a ‘D’ average is a ‘D’ average and it is totally unacceptable. The truth of the matter is that our public schools are churning out too many functionally illiterate young adults.”
Coupled with that concern is the physical states of school buildings. “Historically, the beginning of the school year in September has exposed the lack of preparation by the Ministry of Education for the return of students,” he said.
Students and teachers should not be put in a position where they are exposed to danger, he said, and questioned why repairs could not be done earlier in the year.
He also thanked God for the steadiness of the economy having recovered from the blows of Hurricanes Jeanne and Frances of last year.
In a years’ time, he said energy costs have also skyrocketed, which led to the announcement that the government planned to obtain cheaper oil from Venezuela through the PetroCaribe deal. “After a great deal of talk, the details of the project are still shrouded in claims and counter claims leaving the Bahamian people as much in the dark as the beginning,” he said.
For that reason, he called on the Government to make the PetroCaribe deal simple and comprehensive, for the people to know what the project entails.
By: JIMENITA SWAIN, The Nassau Guardian
