Freedom in the World 1999 - Bahamas

1999 Scores

Status: Free
Freedom Rating: 1.0
Civil Liberties: 1
Political Rights: 1

Ratings Change

Bahamas' civil liberties rating changed from 2 to 1 due to government attempts to engage community organizations in an effort to achieve greater improvements in the area of public safety.

Overview

A battle for leadership of the ruling Free National Movement (FNM), to be decided at a party convention in April 2000, resulted in December 1999 in the resignation of the Bahamas' attorney general and the firing of one of his key political allies by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. Ingraham, who has announced he will step down as party chief at the end of his second term in office, appeared to be attempting to maintain control of the party apparatus. A spiraling crime rate linked to illegal narcotics and gunrunning has left Bahamians questioning whether the islands were returning to the ways of the last decade, when the Bahamas earned the nickname "a nation for sale."

The Bahamas, a 700-island nation in the Caribbean, is a member of the Commonwealth. It was granted independence in 1973. The British monarchy is represented by a governor-general.

Under the 1973 constitution, a bicameral parliament consisted of a 49-member house of assembly directly elected for five years and a 16-member Senate with 9 members appointed by the prime minister, 4 by the leader of the parliament opposition, and 3 by the governor-general. The number of seats in the assembly has been reduced by 9, to 40, in keeping with a 1992 FNM campaign promise. The prime minister is the leader of the party that commands a majority in the house.

After 25 years in office, Lyndon Pindling's Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) was ousted by Ingraham and the FNM in the 1992 elections. The PLP had been dogged by years of allegations of corruption and high official involvement in narcotics trafficking. Ingraham, a lawyer and former cabinet official, was expelled by the PLP in 1986 for his outspoken attacks on corruption. He became leader of the FNM in 1990.

Ingraham vowed to bring honesty, efficiency, and accountability to government. Pindling, at the time the western hemisphere's longest-serving head of government, relied on his image as the father of the nation's independence. With 90 percent of the electorate voting, the FNM won 32 seats in the house of assembly, to the PLP's 17. Pindling held his own seat and became the official opposition leader.

Upon taking office, Ingraham appointed a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the Pindling government. In 1995 the commission detailed widespread mismanagement and malpractice in the national telephone and airline companies.

In the 1997 election, Ingraham claimed credit for revitalizing the economy by attracting foreign investment. Voters handed his FNM a 34 to 6 majority in parliament and rebuked Pindling and the PLP for a second time. In April 1997, Pindling resigned as opposition leader and was replaced by Perry Christie, who had served in the PLP cabinet until he denounced government corruption in the wake of a drug probe.

In 1998, Ingraham commuted the death sentences of 17 prisoners who had spent more than five years on death row – in keeping with the limit set by the Privy Council in London, the highest court for several current and former British colonies. However, in September he announced that his government would limit the right of appeal in capital cases. Ingraham also kicked off the hiring of 200 more police officers in an effort to crack down on violent crime. Law enforcement sources say that illegal guns were used in most of the more than 60 murders that occurred in the population of 280,000.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Citizens can change their government democratically. Constitutional guarantees regarding the right to organize political parties, civic organizations, and labor unions are generally respected, as is the free exercise of religion.

The judicial system is headed by a supreme court and a court of appeal, with the right of appeal under certain circumstances to the Privy Council in London. There are local courts, and on the outer islands the local commissioners have magisterial powers. Despite antidrug legislation and a 1987 agreement with the United States to suppress the drug trade, there is evidence of drug-related corruption and moneylaundering, although less than during the Pindling years.

Violent crime is a growing concern, particularly in Nassau, and has been a focus of the Ingraham government. Nongovernmental organizations have documented the increase in recent years of violent crime and police brutality. Rights groups also criticize the subhuman conditions and overcrowding in the nation's prisons. The Fox Hill prison remains filled to more than twice its intended capacity. In 1996 Ingraham reinstated the death penalty for murder. In 1998, 30 people sat on death row. Two people were executed.

Full freedom of expression is constrained by strict libel laws. Unlike its predecessor, the Ingraham government has not made use of these laws against independent newspapers. It has amended media laws to allow for private ownership of broadcasting outlets.

In 1998, the government denied asylum requests and deported scores of Cuban refugees held in detention centers back to Cuba. Among those repatriated were three members of the Cuban national baseball team, who were sent back despite an asylum offer from the government of Nicaragua. Bahamian authorities responded to complaints by pointing out that they were complying with the terms of a 1996 memorandum of understanding with Cuba.

Labor, business, and professional organizations are generally free. Unions have the right to strike, and collective bargaining is prevalent. Between 25,000 and 40,000 Haitians reside illegally in the Bahamas. Tight citizenship laws and a strict work permit system leave Haitians with few rights. The influx has created social tension because of the strain on government services. In November 1998, law enforcement authorities broke up an international ring trafficking in illegal immigrants from Asia responsible for supplying U.S. businesses with cheap labor. Violence against women is a serious, widespread problem.