Chaotic scenes have broken out in the Bahamas parliament after the indictment of senior police officers on drug trafficking charges sparked a heated debate over corruption, in which the deputy opposition leader tossed a ceremonial mace out a window.
During the incident, Shanendon Cartwright of the opposition Free National Movement approached the speaker, Patricia Deveaux, after she did not allow him to speak, grabbed the parliamentary mace, and tossed it out of a nearby window.
The turmoil came as the country’s top police official, commissioner Clayton Fernander, resigned following the indictment of three police officers in what the US Department of Justice described as a “massive cocaine importation conspiracy enabled by corrupt Bahamian government officials, including high-ranking members of the Royal Bahamas police force”.
US prosecutors said that since May 2021, drug traffickers had smuggled tons of cocaine through the Bahamas with the help of corrupt local officials who controlled airports and disclosed information about US Coast Guard movements.
According to the indictment, the bribes that officials were promised or given ranged from $10,000 to $2m to facilitate trafficking, including the movement of 1,320lbs (600kg) of cocaine through the Bahamas’ main international airport.
On Wednesday, dozens of protesters, angered by the allegations against members of the police force, gathered outside parliament, shouting: “Police are criminals!”
The Bahamas prime minister, Philip Davis, said his government was taking steps to address the issue and accused the opposition of stoking division at a time when the country needed unity as its “reputation is under fire”.
Davis described Wednesday’s incident inside the house of parliament as a “planned and coordinated assault”, which he claimed left the deputy speaker with a concussion and a police officer with an injured leg.
The prime minister pledged to tackle corruption and restore trust in the police. On Wednesday, he announced new legislation “to create, for the first time, independent oversight of the police”.
Davis also recommended a replacement for the role of police commissioner.
“I am recommending that the assistant commissioner of police with responsibility for the Northern District, Shanta Emily Knowles, be appointed as the nation’s next commissioner of police. She is a strong and seasoned professional, ready to lead the force through an era of substantial reform,” the prime minister’s statement said.
But Cartwright said the country was in “shambles” and accused the government of trying to suppress the voices of Bahamian people.
Defending his actions during Wednesday’s parliament session, he said: “The mace is the symbol of the speaker’s authority that has been given to her by the Bahamian people. Today, we say enough is enough, and we give the power back to the people.”
