LEAVE GORMAN BANNISTER ALONE

Last week, the Government struck again with the use of the criminal law in the exercise of free speech.  Gorman Bannister is a popular  activist on social media.  He sends out many voice notes a day to an audience by what’s app chats to politically attack the FNM and its supporters. It obviously is getting to them. These things are best ignored, but as usual in acts of civil disobedience they provoke the objects of the attacks to do or say something foolish. In this case, Tennyson Wells, who is the Chairman of the Bahamas Agriculture Marine Science Institute ( BAMSI) and his wife were attacked and they complained to the police. The result Gorman Bannister was arrested and if he did not have skillful lawyers would have been in Fox Hill on remand. That is the point to silence dissent. The fact that two years ago a fellow named Omar Archer was doing it for the FNM and got clean away made no difference, Mr. Bannister is the subject of a the usual FNM double standard. Enter into the fray the organization calling themselves Rights Bahamas. This is an organization that’s not worth the paper its name is written on.  It is simply another disguise for Fred Smith who in his capacity as a lawyer has used the civil law to bludgeon the press into silence even as he trumpets the right of free speech.  It is hypocrisy of the worst kind.  This organization wrote a press release in which it said that the criminal law should not be used to attack Desmond Bannister. We agree.  However, they then quote Fred Smith who was using in aid and comfort Senator Fred Mitchell whom he hates to support his position. As they say: WTH.  Fred Smith is a miscreant and mischief maker. He does not need Fred Mitchell to support his case. How about making his own case and while he’s at explain his rank hypocrisy?