![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/nottage.jpg\" "\\"nottage\\"")
I watched on NB12 news in absolute amazement as the Progressive Liberal Party\u2019s (PLP) Member of Parliament for Bains Town and Grants Town and Minister of National Security Dr. Bernard Nottage ignored the pleas for an audience by Tabitha Munnings.\u00a0 Munnings is the sister of the late Job Munnings, who was allegedly gunned down by police officers in Abaco in January.<\/p>\n
Munnings, as well as community activist Troy Garvey and the family members of persons who either died while in police custody or were the victims of murder, were assembled on Rawson Square as MPs made their way into the House of Assembly to debate the resolution to borrow $100 million.\u00a0 As Munnings and the group called out to Nottage, who was surrounded by an entourage, he just kept on walking as if they were insignificant and subhuman.\u00a0 Nottage carried on as if he is out of touch and insensitive to the plight of these Bahamians.\u00a0 The group simply wanted to query him on the rash of alleged police killings.\u00a0 They want reassurance from the national security minister that they will get justice.<\/p>\n
They want to know that the cases of their slain family members won\u2019t get lost in a judicial system which has a significant backlog of cases.\u00a0 They want to know that if any wrongdoing has been committed the culprits will be treated the same way ordinary people, who have broken the law, are treated by the justice system.\u00a0 Nowadays, it seems as if you are not even safe when you are in police custody.\u00a0 These people have every right to demand an answer from Nottage, who is the top brass of this nation\u2019s security forces.\u00a0 Had this been in a First World country, both Nottage and Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade might have been asked to resign.\u00a0 The problem that I have with many of our run-of-the-mill politicians is that they often forget that they work for the people.\u00a0 Judging from the reaction of Munnings and the group as Nottage dissed them, one could tell that they were devastated and felt slighted.<\/p>\n
For what it\u2019s worth, Nottage, by his refusal to meet with the group, which was all caught on camera, has forever ruined his image as a compassionate leader who cares about the plight of his people.\u00a0 He should have emulated his leader Prime Minister Perry Christie, who took time out to talk to the group, after he arrived on Rawson Square.<\/p>\n
Whatever Nottage has accomplished in his lengthy political career means absolutely nothing now to the thousands who watched him on TV ignore the distraught group.\u00a0 By that single act, Nottage has forever ruined his political image.\u00a0 NB12 viewers are probably wondering if Nottage always ignores the small man who comes up to him with a request for a meeting.\u00a0 They might also be wondering if he ignores his constituents, most of whom live in poverty.\u00a0 Whatever the case, the entire incident has given thousands a negative impression of him.<\/p>\n
To be sure, if he runs in 2017, he will no doubt win his seat in Bains Town and Grants Town.\u00a0 Unfortunately, no matter how ineffective and incompetent PLP MPs are, the people in those poverty stricken over-the-hill communities will still vote PLP.\u00a0 But for the voters in the other constituencies, forever etched in their minds is a PLP minister walking past a group of distraught Bahamians pleading for him to give them just a moment of his time.<\/p>\n
By: Kevin Evans<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Whatever Nottage has accomplished in his lengthy political career means absolutely nothing now to the thousands who watched him on TV ignore the distraught group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[93,142,60],"class_list":["post-32817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinions","tag-corruption","tag-incompetence","tag-plp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32817\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}