By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 8, 2021 — I found a a classic political campaign photo in my photo files and I decided to publish it in BAHAMAS CHRONICLE as a reminder to the powers-that-be in the Free National Movement (FNM) government that I am a founding member of the FNM and deserve to be treated better by the party I helped establish. Unquestionably, my current dire financial situation is mainly because The Bahamas Ministry of Foreign Affairs has refused to implement a proposal I submitted after the change of government in The Bahamas in May of 2017.
Prior to the FNM winning the general election in May of 2017, I served as Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager for four-plus years at the Embassy of The Bahamas in Washington, D.C., and after the change of government, I submitted a proposal to continue doing what I did at the Embassy on a contractual basis.
As I noted in a previous article, I was informed by Ambassador Sidney Collie that an amended version of my proposal, seeking a remuneration of $2,000 a month, had been approved and this was confirmed by Attorney General Carl Bethel, who indicated that it had been sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, presumably to be implemented. It never was.
Meanwhile, I established THE BROWN AGENCY LLC, a home-based public relations company that publishes the online publication BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, which was launched to keep Bahamians and nationals of other Caribbean Community (CARICOM)-member countries in the diaspora across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom up-to-date with news from their respective countries.
When I was a diplomat, my rent was paid by the Government of The Bahamas, but the Embassy stopped paying it after my diplomatic status was rescinded. However, I was able to meet my monthly commitments, including paying my rent on time, until Hurricane Dorian decimated Grand Bahama and I lost several “public relations contracts.”
Actually, I did not fall that far behind in paying my monthly rent because of the generous financial support in received on a regular basis from Sir Franklyn Wilson; R.H. Culmer, CEO of Jarol Investments Ltd. and CHANCES GAMES, in Freeport; and the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA), thanks to my “sister,” Sarah St. George.
This was before the vicious COVID-19 pandemic practically wiped out my public relations income. Consequently, I am now faced with eviction as a result of a D.C Superior Court Landlord/Tenant Court ruling on Wednesday, March 17, in favour of my landlord for back rent that I owe. The Court granted a stay of its judgment until June 1, 2021, which means that no eviction action can be taken by my landlord until after that date.
In my desperation, I have even appealed to Brent Symonette for assistance, even though as a former United Bahamian Party (UBP) member, he has more than ample reasons to hate my guts, given my frequent condemnation of the racist policies of the UBP in articles I wrote during the struggle for majority rule in the 1960s. I have been told, however, that Brent is a pretty decent fellow, so I sent him an inbox message on his Brent Symonette-St. Anne’s Facebook page appealing for assistance.
As one of the founding members of FNM who helped established the party at Jimmy Shepherd’s house on Spring Hills Farms in Fox Hill in 1971, I am again making a public appeal to Foreign Affairs Minister Darren Henfield to check on the status of the proposal I submitted.
As the founding editor of The Torch of Freedom, the newspaper started by FNM – which was established by The Dissident Eight, after they broke away from the PLP, and moderate members of the disbanded UBP– surely my desperate situation deserves urgent consideration from the leaders of the party that I help found.
Members of the Dissident Eight included Cecil Wallace Whitfield, the founding leader of the FNM, with whom I am seen in the photo accompanying this article on a campaign trip to one of the Family Islands; Arthur Foulkes, my journalistic and political mentor; Warren Levarity, Maurice Moore, Dr. Curtis McMillan, James Shepherd, Dr. Elwood Donaldson and George Thompson.
If current Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis want more details about my committed involvement in the FNM, he can check with his older brother Cyril “Boxer” Minnis, with whom I campaigned vigorously during the years when we were both avid supporters of the FNM; so, I am likewise appealing to the Prime Minister to direct Minister of Foreign Affairs Henfield to “do the right thing” and resolve the issues surrounding the proposal that I submitted back in 2017.
Surely, $2,000 a month will be a huge help in paying off the back rent that I owe to avoid eviction after June 1.
