CHANGING OF THE GUARD AT THE RBDF

Raymond King, New RBDF Head 

The Bahamas Government announced last week that Tellis Bethel the Commodore of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force was going on three months leave.  The week earlier, they announced that Raymond King was appointed the Deputy Commodore of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force. The only thing is they forgot that there was a man named Samuel Evans who was already in that post and was on leave and  you could not have two Deputy Commodores.  Don’t worry the FNM fixed that problem, they forced Mr. Evans to retire. That was announced also last week. With that Mr. King became the Commodore of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, although this will only occur formally when Mr. Bethel does not come back from leave and he too will retire.  The PLP gave Mr. Bethel a short commission and it was not the intention to appoint him beyond three years. Mr. Evans was the man to lead the Force. The problem was the American Government objected to Mr. Evans on the grounds that he was too much influenced by the previous Commodore Butch Scavella, no doubt nonsense fed to them by  the enemies of Mr. Scavella on the Force, some of whom preceded him in the job and who were marginalized while Mr. Scavella was in office.  It was a disservice to Mr. Evans and to Mr. Scavella. The Americans threatened to stop all cooperation with the RBDF if Mr. Evans was appointed.  So we are where we are now and Mr. King comes with the suspicion of being the choice of an FNM administration that is the most tribal in the history of our country. What does that mean for a Force already divided by politics and incompetence.  The performance in Hurricane Dorian was atrocious. They disgraced The Bahamas. Mr. King does not come with good will. The PLPs in the Force believe that they will be further victimized by this new administration.