By Blox Content Management

Copyright thenassauguardian

Dear Editor,

As a concerned Bahamian who has been following the government’s handling of immigration and national security closely, I cannot stay silent about recent developments.

Last week’s hearing before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the latest weak response from our prime minister on immigration should be a wake-up call for our country.

Herschel Walker, nominated as the next US ambassador to The Bahamas, warned about a rise in drug smuggling through our islands and pointed to China’s deepening grip on The Bahamas.

US Senator Jim Risch went further, noting that China already wields outsized influence through its control of the Freeport Container Terminal and its heavy diplomatic presence. And just this week, we read that the US has placed The Bahamas on its list of major drug transit or producing countries for the fiscal year 2026.

However, what has disturbed me most was not what was said in Washington, but how our own minister of national security, Wayne Munroe, responded. True to form, Munroe brushed aside the warnings about drug smuggling while praising Walker’s remarks on China as “incredibly sensible”. That is the height of hypocrisy.

This is the same PLP government under which the US attorney indicted a chief superintendent of the Royal Bahamas Police Force and other officials in what was described as a “massive cocaine importation conspiracy enabled by corrupt Bahamian officials”.

When international prosecutors lay out evidence that senior police officers were helping to protect drug shipments, that is not something a minister of national security should dismiss. That is a national crisis.

Even more troubling, while brushing aside drug smuggling concerns, this government saddled Bahamians with $267 million in new debt to the People’s Republic of China for a hospital project that guarantees half the construction jobs will go to imported Chinese workers.

These are not one-off mistakes. Every chance this administration gets, they continue to sell out the Bahamian people. They have failed to keep our streets safe. They have failed to manage our economy responsibly. And they are failing at controlling illegal migration. And every failure falls on us — families struggling with higher costs, workers denied opportunities, and communities left vulnerable to crime and corruption.

It’s time for Bahamians to see that this government continues to hide the truth and mortgage our future. Bahamians must recognize the pattern for what it is. It’s time for a change!

— Maria Clarke