The Tribune

WHEN one picks up a copy of The Tribune and sees page upon page of homes on the market because owners are unable to keep up with their bank mortgages, there is cause for tremendous concern.

Realtors will tell you that now is not the time to be renting if you expect a reasonable return on your rental -- there is a glut on the market of homes of all shapes and sizes and in every location on this island.

Yes, people are suffering. Yes, these Bahamians need help. But no, now is not the time for politicians to use the misfortune of their fellow citizens as an election football to gain votes. As a matter of fact it is callous to make pie-in-the sky promises that cannot be delivered by any party should they win an election.

There are all types of borrowers in this nation. There is the family, both parents with jobs and a steady income. They have taken out a mortgage, which they can meet based on their income at the time of the transaction.

Suddenly, there is a universal economic collapse, from which the Bahamas is not immune. Businesses start trimming their expenses by cutting back staff. The family with the mortgage, who at the time of going into debt could not foresee that before their mortgage was paid off that one or both of their jobs would be made redundant. Through no fault of their own, their future has collapsed. These Bahamians deserve help.

And then there are those who have the funds to keep up with their mortgages, but through bad management, fail to do so. These Bahamians should look to themselves to get their own houses in order, not to the banks or the Bahamian taxpayer to bail them out.

And then there are Bahamians who should never have been granted a mortgage in the first place, because their circumstances were such that they were living way beyond their means. These persons can hardly expect others to assist in their continued short-sighted extravagance.

And yet the solution of the PLP's 10-point plan should they win at the polls in the next few weeks is to get the banks to agree to "write off 100 per cent of the unpaid interest and fees for those mortgagors who are facing foreclosure."

"This," reasons the PLP, "should be acceptable to the banks as they would already have made provisions against these losses. Therefore, writing off the unpaid interest and fees would have no immediate financial impact on the banks."

The PLP have to be reminded that this money is not the bank's money to be played with at will. This is the money of investors, who deposit their money with banks expecting a reasonable return on their investment. And so the bank is not at liberty to play Robin Hood with another man's investment.

Bran McCartney of the DNA wrote Mr Christie's PLP plan off as "unfounded and impractical".

He reminded Mr Christie that "banks are in the business of making money and that banks make their money from interest and fees."

Mr McCartney accused Mr Christie of not thinking clearly. He is only thinking, he said, "in the context of gaining support for the next general elections."

The FNM agreed that the Christie plan was just "a political ploy." If the plan were ever implemented, said Dr Duane Sands, Bahamas Mortgage Corporation chairman, it would "destroy the entrepreneur business class".

"What they (the PLP) are basically saying," said Dr Sands, "is redistribute wealth in the country, not on the basis of compromise, discussion or negotiation, but on government imposition."

The DNA had a three-point solution of its own, one of which was to encourage the Central Bank of the Bahamas to reduce its rates; encourage banks to reduce their principal by 50 per cent and lower interest rates on the mortgages.

Dr Sands said that the attitude of the Opposition PLP highlights the difference between the two parties -- FNM and PLP.

"The PLP," he said, "tells the public: 'Stick with us and we will take care of you', while the FNM believes in providing a level playing field so people can take care of themselves."

This reminds us of the comments of Sir Lynden Pindling from a political platform many years ago when he encouraged his supporters: "Don't worry, be happy!" In other words leave everything to "the Chief" and he will take care of you.

In his 1992 Manifesto, Mr Ingraham wrote: "It is perhaps for the devastation done to the people's spirit that the outgoing regime must be held to the most serious account. In their quarter of a century in power, they have systematically and brutally reduced large numbers of our people to dependence on politicians who have ceased to see themselves as the servants of the people.

"That is why the FNM places such great emphasis on the elevation of our people's spirit in a participatory democracy in which social and economic justice is the entitlement of every citizen and the dependency syndrome is a thing of the past.

"And that is why the FNM will work to ensure that every Bahamian will have the opportunity to be all that he or she wants to be, assured of upward mobility in an open society fuelled by a market-driven economy."

In other words, Bahamians throw off the last yoke of slavery and through hard work move "forward, upward and onward."