WASHINGTON, D.C., June 10, 2020 – This is a very difficult column for me to write because of the personal nature of the topic I am about to discuss. In doing so, I may burn some more bridges, a self-destructive flaw that I have exhibited throughout my life as an outspoken participant in the political affairs of The Bahamas for more than 55 years. However, when all of the attempts to resolve the issues I am faced with through appeals to decision-makers who are the root cause of the predicament I find myself in, it is necessary to again risk the consequences of exposing the duplicity and vindictiveness of some political decision-makers in The Bahamas.
When I relocated to Washington, D.C., in May of 2013 to become the Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager at the Embassy of The Bahamas, I considered it to be an ideal job, given my background as a veteran journalist and the fact that I had previously lived in Washington, D.C., for 21 years, during which I was News Editor of the Washington Informer – an award-winning black-owned newspaper — for more than 12 years before returning to The Bahamas permanently in 1996.
However, after the change of government in The Bahamas in May of 2017, my diplomatic “contract” was not renewed, although there was widespread consensus that I had done an excellent job not only in keeping Bahamians in the diaspora well informed and up-to-date on embassy-related issues, but also in promoting The Bahamas generally in a city that in not only the capital of the United States, but one of the most important cities in the world. Indeed, virtually every country in the world has an Embassy in Washington, D.C., which diplomatically is recognized as a microcosm of the countries they represent.
When my diplomatic tenure ended, I decided to remain in D.C. and submitted a proposal to the government to continue doing what I did at the embassy on a contractual basis through a public relations company that I formed, THE BROWN AGENCY LLC, and personally presented a copy of it to Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis in November of 2017 when I visited Nassau on a promotional tour for my recently published novel WOES OF LIFE, a copy of which I presented to the Prime Minister at the time.
After not getting a response for several months, I drastically reduce the financial remuneration I was seeking for my services, and re-submitted a revised proposal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Several weeks later, Ambassador Sidney Collie informed me that my revised proposal had been approved and had been sent to the Attorney General’s Office for review. Shortly before Christmas of 2018, I contacted Attorney General Carl Bethel to find out the status of my proposal and he said he would check into it and get back to me. After he did not, a month of so later I contacted him again and he told me that the proposal was sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
More than two years later, my “approved proposal” has still not been “activated” by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I have sent several “official letters” to Minister of Foreign Affairs Darren Henfield to find out the status of my proposal, but after ignoring most of them, a couple months ago, he informed me that he would discuss the matter with Permanent Secretary Peter Deveaux Isaacs.
Meanwhile, because I have not collected a salary in almost three years and THE BROWN AGENCY has not generated the kind of income to “keep my head above water” financially, I have had some serious financial problems over the past year, resulting in me not being able to make my monthly rental payments for extended periods. I live in an apartment complex near the waterfront, where I selected to live when I moved back to D.C. because I am a die-hard baseball fan and it is six blocks from my beloved Washington Nationals stadium.
Of course, when I was with the Embassy, my rent was paid by the Embassy, but it became my responsibility when my diplomatic contract was not renewed. The dilemma that I am now faced with is that my lease has expired and my landlord on June 1 sent me a new lease agreement, even though there is a pending eviction court action against me for back rent that has been postponed because of the city-wide shutdown imposed by the D.C. government as a result of COVID-19. My initial court date was March 19, but it was at first postponed to May 24, then June 4 and has now been postponed until D.C. no longer has to deal with the restrictions placed on public gatherings by COVID-19.
Actually, if it were not for some good friends who responded to my appeal for financial help, I would have been evicted before COVID-19 pushed back my initial court date. I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank R.H. Culmer, Sarah St. George, Sir Franklyn Wilson, Anthony Ferguson, Philip “Brave” Davis, Michael Turner, Craig Flowers, Felix Stubbs, Leon Williams, Allan Blondell, Dr. Roger Weir, Chris Gardiner and, of course, my “sister” Denise Rolark-Barnes, Publisher of the Washington Informer, for their generous support.
My online publication BAHAMAS CHRONICLE is beginning to get some support both in The Bahamas and D.C., so hopefully I’ll soon see some “light at the end of the tunnel” financially; however, it would certainly help tremendously if Minister of Foreign Affairs Darren Henfield would respond positively to the status of my proposal.
Meanwhile, several months ago, I launched a GO FUND ME drive in one of my columns aimed at garnering some support from “friends” in The Bahamas, but apparently I do not have as many friends as I thought I had, because the response has been very disappointing. I am renewing that appeal. My Royal Bank of Canada account number in Nassau is 735-231-3.
