![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/festival-place.jpg\" "\\"festival-place\\"")
Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe said yesterday his ministry is worried over reports of prostitution of boys, drug dealing and solicitation in the tourist hub Festival Place.<\/p>\nMinister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe said yesterday his ministry is worried over reports of prostitution of boys, drug dealing and solicitation in the tourist hub Festival Place.<\/p>\n
Wilchcombe said he feared that the reports of illicit activities, coupled with the recent murder of an American man in New Providence, would damage the country\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hearing about a lot of solicitation taking place,\u201d he told reporters outside of Cabinet. \u201cWe\u2019re hearing about a lot of drugs being sold and we\u2019re hearing that [there is] also a very troubling situation about prostitution involving boys.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that has me troubled because that\u2019s not what we\u2019re supposed to be all about. Desperation sometimes necessitates [drastic measures] but that doesn\u2019t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the reported incidents point to deterioration of morale and social values.<\/p>\n
However, Superintendent Ashton Greenslade, head of the Central Police Station, said he could not confirm the reports.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t been able to prove that,\u201d he said when told about Wilchcombe\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n
Wilchcombe also hit out at Opposition Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis for his recent comments on crime and accused him of waffling on the hot-button issue.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Minnis said the government is paralyzed in its fight against crime. \u201cWhen you cannot protect your own guests, that\u2019s a problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said they\u2019re the solution to crime, but in spite of all their energy and drive, they\u2019ve not demonstrated it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilchcombe said Minnis was a government minister when the former administration dismantled the Tourism Police Unit, a move he thinks has hindered crime prevention.<\/p>\n
He said crime did not happen overnight and Minnis should have taken a tough stance when he was a Cabinet minister.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would have by now manifested into what it was supposed to have been,\u201d said Wilchcombe, referring to the unit.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they stopped it and they have to re-engineer something else with the Royal Bahamas Police Force but we had a force out there intending to protect the hotspots of tourism and the places where the guests [go].<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing right now is that many areas are not being properly managed in terms of security because obviously there are limitations…So we were augmenting it through the Ministry of Tourism.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when that decision was made (to dismantle the unit) it was a bad decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, he said it is time for politicians to stop pointing fingers over the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not miss the fact that we are responsible right now; we are the government,\u201d Wilchcombe said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take our responsibility seriously, but it\u2019s high time the politicians learn to be more mature in handling situations and the leader of the opposition needs to stop flip-flopping all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kyle Bruner, 34, of Chicago, Illinois, was shot dead during an armed robbery around 4:30 a.m. on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Police said Bruner was trying to defend a female friend who was being robbed on Mackey Street near East Bay Street.<\/p>\n
Wilchcombe said the victim\u2019s father said he does not blame the country for his son\u2019s death, but was hoping quick arrests will bring the family some comfort.<\/p>\n
He said ministry officials are monitoring the spread of the story and plan to mount an international and domestic campaign to stem any fallout.<\/p>\n
Police have arrested a teenager in connection to the killing.<\/p>\n
Taneka Thompson<\/em><\/span> The Tourism Minister is concerned over reported prostitution of boys, drug dealing and solicitation in the tourist hub Festival Place. Such reports coupled with the recent tourist murder could damage the country\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"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":[12],"tags":[31,226,33,73,157,219],"class_list":["post-35674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines","tag-crime","tag-murder","tag-tourism","tag-travel-2","tag-vacation","tag-violence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35674","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\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35674\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe Nassau Guardian<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"