BAHAMAS BECOMING A REPUBLIC, IF NOT NOW, WHEN? – Time To Cut The Cord Completely

Cowards are afraid to speak. They prefer to stay in the middle of the road, like men who sit on the fence. For Confucius, moral neutrality in the face of right and wrong was not wisdom; it was cowardice. A person of virtue acts according to righteousness, regardless of personal cost, while the fence-sitter acts according to convenience and social approval.

The question of The Bahamas becoming a Republic is floating, and we immediately hear the same tired chorus: “We cannot sustain ourselves.”

I have heard this song before.

Fifty-three years ago, when Sir Lynden Pindling dared to discuss Independence, they used this same argument to frighten us. The Bay Street Boys stood in the House and in their boardrooms and told us we could not survive. They said we were too small, too poor, too dependent. That we needed Mother England to hold our hand. What they really meant was that they couldn’t survive without controlling us.

They were wrong. We survived. We thrived.

And do not forget, the FNM objected too. Not because they loved the Crown more, but because they feared losing some of their control over the levers of power. Independence meant majority rule, and they weren’t ready to share that power.

History has proven them wrong.

Yet here we are, 53 years later, independent in name, but still tied by an umbilical cord to London. We still run to the Privy Council for final justice. We still have a Governor General representing a King who does not live here, does not know our struggle, and does not feel our sun.

Let us be honest about who benefits from that attachment. We still have leverage if we stay attached. As long as that cord remains, those can whisper in corridors in London, interfere through the Privy Council, and get a final bite at justice that no ordinary Bahamian can afford.

Becoming a Republic would detach that umbilical completely. And THAT is what frightens them. A Bahamian final court, a Bahamian Head of State, chosen by Bahamians, means no more outside interference. No more Privy Council to overturn what our own courts have decided. True sovereignty.

We were told we could not survive Independence. We did.

Now we are told we cannot survive a Republic. We will, and we will be stronger for it.

We manage our own finances. We manage our own tourism, our own banks, our own future. A Bahamian child should be able to grow up and aspire to be Head of State of his own country. What kind of independence tells a child he can never be the highest in his own land?