50 Years of Majority Rule marked controversially in The Bahamas

Nassau, Bahamas, January 10, 2017 –  It is a public holiday today in The Bahamas to mark majority rule day; the day the black majority occupied the majority of the seats in the House of Assembly after decades of struggles to get every citizen, 18 years and older the right to vote and before women had the right to vote. 

January 10, 1967 was a pivotal day in Bahamian politics and history.  In Nassau there will be two controversial gatherings… one led by the Progressive Liberal Party, which is the government today and was the government which ushered in majority rule under the late Sir Lynden Pindling; the other led by Renard Henfield and We March Bahamas which inspired hundreds of Bahamians, in November, to don black in protest of injustices they believe are perpetrated by successive governments. 

There is criticism for the PLP, as it is widely stated that Majority Rule Day belongs to the people and should not be politicized by the PLP; the governing party denies this.

There is push back too on the United People Day March which some say is overshadowing the historic event with negativity, but Henfield says his freedom movement is about upsetting the status quo and uniting those very people.   

Meanwhile, the University of The Bahamas aims to take the 50 Year commemoration of Majority Rule Day to another level and will host two symposiums and a lecture; those begin on January 12. 

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