The headline in the Monday July 31st, 2006 edition of the Nassau Guardian, “Work Permit Dilemma” and the accompanying story was shocking.
In a nutshell, the Minister of Immigration and Labour, Mr. Shane Gibson has decided to defer the work permit renewal application of Mr. John Marquis, managing editor of The Tribune.
It is obvious that this is in response to calls from Mr. Philip Galanis, a PLP Senator, Bahamas Uncensored, (a web site that could be written by Mr. Fred Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs), and Mr. Bradley Roberts, Minister of Works, that Mr. Marquis work permit should be revoked because he dares to publish articles critical of the government and some of its policies.
The Guardian states they have been reliably informed that the decision to defer Mr. Marquis work permit is directly linked to the question of training Bahamians in certain sectors, including journalism.
Of course this is a ruse to exert political power my not so humble opinion and I would be willing to bet that a random poll of journalists would suggest that most of them received training at The Tribune.
This is reminiscent of the intimidation tactics of the old PLP that so many Bahamians rejected in 1992 and is certainly not what was promised by the New PLP.
Mr. Obie Wilchombe, Minister of Tourism is the only leader among the PLP who seems to understand what freedom of the press means.
It should be understood that Mr. Marquis can write for The Tribune wherever he might be in the world and these immature rantings of some of the leaders in the PLP should be dismissed out of hand.
Ludwig von Mises, the great Libertarian economist wrote in his book Liberalism that There is an inherent tendency in all government power to recognize no restraints on its operation and to extend the sphere of its dominion as much as possible. To control everything, to leave no room for anything to happen of its own accord without the interference of the authorities this is the goal for which every ruler secretly strives.
We can only hope that Minister Gibson will allow cooler heads to prevail in this exercise and show the maturity to allow differing opinions, even by a foreigner.
If this wasn’t so pathetic one could pity these so called leaders.
By: Rick Lowe
