[jones bahamas] Despite hundreds pouring into the downtown area in protest of the pending sale of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) on Wednesday, the majority of people polled by the Bahama Journal yesterday said the protest “simply didn’t make sense.”
Despite hundreds pouring into the downtown area in protest of the pending sale of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) on Wednesday, the majority of people polled by the Bahama Journal yesterday said the protest "simply didn’t make sense."
Sheer pandemonium erupted in Rawson Square, after the massive crowd flooded in the area in protest of the government’s pending controversial sale of a 51 per cent stake of the BTC to British-based telecom giant Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC).
"Personally I don’t see what they’re protesting about because the deal has already been sealed according to facts and figures," Gloria Darville said.
Arnette Knowles felt the same way.
"When it was open for discussion, no one said anything," she said.
"The sale seems pretty much like a done deal. There’s no need to make any noise at this point but I understand they want to be heard. But as a government, sometimes tough decisions have to be made."
Dwayne Rodgers said BTC should have been sold a long time ago.
"I don’t know why people are making noise about it now," he said.
Rudolph Farrington shared similar views.
"The protest was politicised and it should not have been," he said.
"It’s good to demonstrate but do so peacefully and the way they operated yesterday was unacceptable. Imagine the amount of visitors that saw that action; I wonder what they thought?"
Lionel Munroe said too much politics was involved.
"All I saw down there was more yellow shirts," he said.
"The protest shouldn’t have happened. If BTC’s unions are fighting for their rights then let them do so alone without the influence of politics. I say sell BTC so we can get better service."
There were a few people however, who felt the protest was exactly what the country needed.
Tiffany Bullard said she agreed with the protest because in her view, everything in The Bahamas is being sold.
"BTC should not be sold it should remain in the hands of Bahamians," she said.
"It was definitely necessary," Alex Morely said.
"Sometimes you just have to say enough is enough and this is only the beginning. Anytime you see people challenge the system, even if its in a small way, you have to support that - that is what we need right now."
Franklyn Donaldson said the protesters simply did what was constitutionally right.
"They are doing what they feel is right by trying to help me, my children and my grandchildren in years to come," he said.
"What are my grandchildren’s’ children going to have?"
A young man, who identified himself only as Keno, told the Journal that the protest was long overdue.
"I feel good that Bahamians are standing up for themselves," he said.
"I feel right now that the government does not care anymore about us. They only seem to care about the foreigners and what they are bringing to the table."
Keno said there are many Bahamians who can do the work that foreigners are doing.
"This is real to me so I’m in agreement with the protest," he said.
"They needed to do that and if they don’t see it now, the Free National Movement will see it when it’s too late come election time."
Undoubtedly the protest will go down in the annals of Bahamian history.
Members of unions, political parties and civic organisations along with concerned citizens, swarmed Bay Street for a mass meeting of what they called "The People’s Parliament."
Chanting "Hubert and wireless gat to go," they carried Bahamian flags and placards that read: "Stop selling out our country, stop selling the future of our babies," "BTC-100% Bahamian is what we want," "Politicians if you vote for LIME, you’re fired."
Bahamians Sound Off On BTC Protest
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment