CHANGE OF COMMAND AT THE RBDF

They say that outgoing Commodore of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Tellis Bethel feels hard done by because he has been pushed out of his job as the top man at RBDF and replaced by a new man.  Not many tears were shed for him by the men who thought that he was not effective at the Force and punished the PLP politically for putting him there.  Mr. Bethel’s tenure was marked by incursions by Haitian sailboats with hundreds of illegal migrants right up onto the shores of the Defence Force base. He then blamed in one instance the dead Minister of National Security Bernard Nottage for the state of affairs.  Of course dead men tell no tales. Now Mr. Bethel is gone by the hand of the people he supported politically. They savaged him by inattention and forcing him into a silent and humiliating vacation for months without telling him what was to happen to him.  He is now to take up a job at the National Security Ministry overseeing all the agencies of law enforcement.  That means he will have nothing to do at all but sit and cut newspaper clippings.  This is a favourite device in the public service when they cannot fire you but they give you nothing to do.  So now  we know how Captain Samuel Evans felt when the American Government interfered in our business at the behest of friends of the former commodore of the defence force, and blocked his appointment as Commodore.  He  left the force by being forced to resign by the FNM government and left a bitter man. He told the press that he would never forgive the FNM for what they did. Now there are new scores to settle. The RBDF rank and file though seem blissful.  All they talked about is the new man King got them their promotions. So all’s well that ends well we suppose.