The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

 I am writing in response to an interesting article under the headline ''ZNS Staff Jobs Shock'' in the August 17 edition of The Tribune. According to the article, popular ZNS newsreaders Shenique Miller and Clint Watson have been reassigned to make way for new personnel. This is seen as a move by some to ''beef up the news coverage at ZNS.''

Not surprisingly, ZNS TV-13 News is losing ground in ratings and in the market to Cable News 12. This is the main reason given for these latest rounds of restructuring at the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas (BCB). Not everyone is buying this explanation, however.

According to Free National Movement (FNM) supporters, this is victimisation in its purest form. The gist of The Tribune article is that both Miller and Watson have been reassigned because they are perceived to be FNMs. To the Christie administration's credit, they were not hung out to dry like Chrissy Love, the former host of ZNS Radio's Immediate Response. Her contract was terminated immediately after the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) came to office in May. Also, former BCB chairman and alleged supporter of the FNM, Michael Moss, immediately tendered his resignation either on or immediately after May 7. Rather than waiting for the PLP government to give him the boot, he did the sensible thing and resigned. Why give your political opponents the satisfaction of humiliating you?

Days after the May 7 general elections, it was rumoured that Watson and Miller would be fired because they were perceived to be FNMs. How did PLP operatives know that they are FNMs anyway? All of a sudden it appears that it is taboo to say you are an FNM. According to the article, Miller and Watson covered the FNM's campaign. And apparently some PLPs saw this as an indication that they supported Hubert Ingraham. But supposed they had refused to do their job by covering the FNM rallies, what then? If they had lost their jobs for defying their bosses' orders to cover the FNM rallies, who in the then opposition PLP would have helped them to meet their financial obligations? 

I learnt on my job many years ago that it is always prudent to obey your boss; just as long as you are not told to do anything immoral or illegal. But be that as it may, in this country, you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. Now that the PLP is the government, it would appear that it is dangerous for FNMs at ZNS to state their political allegiance. For some ZNS workers, depending on which party is in high office, the atmosphere at their workplace is somewhat similar to the atmosphere in the gulag labour camps in the days of Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

The culture of fear has existed at ZNS since time immemorial. For a corporation which makes absolutely no economic sense to the Bahamian treasury, ZNS has historically been associated with claims of political victimization. And this is an organization that cannot earn its keep. For instance, according to a July 16, 2010 article that was published in The Freeport News, ZNS' salary bill for its nine executives, 70 managers, 149 permanent, pensionable staff and 14 contractual staff was just under $8 million, total pay and benefits exceed $10.5 million annually. That was the financial burden that that unprofitable organization carried in 2010. I cannot say what ZNS' financial situation is today under the Christie regime. But I would guess that the BCB is still unable to stand on its own two legs.

Furthermore, will the Christie administration follow through with the previous administration's plans to transform ZNS into an autonomous public service broadcaster?  Also, the former government had awarded Kit Digital Inc. a $2.4 million contract in order to digitally upgrade the television facilities at the BCB in Nassau. The FNM government had also approved an additional $2.6 million for digital upgrades at the Northern Service in Grand Bahama, staff training and for the purchase of a mobile TV vehicle. Since coming to office on May 7, I haven't heard anything about these much needed upgrades at ZNS. Has this process been scrapped by the PLP government? I hope not.

Will the PLP government continue the arduous task of transforming ZNS into a public service broadcaster? Again, it would appear that this initiative has been placed on the back burner by this administration. I will say this though; had ZNS been privatised, I think that the issue of political victimization at that organization would be a thing of the past. I hope that the current administration continues the process that was started by the Ingraham administration. But unfortunately for alleged FNMs like (Clint) Watson and (Shenique) Miller, that might be wishful thinking.

 As for the FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis' announcement that his party would back a class action lawsuit against the Christie administration over claims of victimisation by FNM supporters. I believe that the FNM leader should instead admonish his supporters in the civil service, particularly those employed at ZNS, to keep silent about their political affiliation before they are fired; or, as in the case of Miller and Watson, reassigned to another post. It makes no sense further clogging up an already constipated justice system with a lawsuit that will undoubtedly go nowhere or drag on for years. Even if it is proven that an FNM has been victimised by the Christie administration, the FNM party would be powerless to remedy the situation. With only nine members of Parliament to the PLP's 29 members of Parliament, the FNM is like a weak Grizzly bear without its teeth and claws. With such a small parliamentary caucus, the opposition party is just not in a position to flex its political muscle in the House of Assembly. And the PLP and its followers are well aware of this. If an FNM loses his/her job at ZNS because of their politics, the FNM party can do very little, if anything at all to help them. Therefore, every FNM civil servant must remove their FNM paraphernalia off of their vehicles and homes, and make it a point not to attend any FNM functions, because it is now evident to me that there are some mischievous persons in the civil service who would immediately run to inform their PLP representative or PLP general of the names of their fellow civil servants who supports the FNM party.

You can read about the FNM function in the dailies. Stop wearing FNM T-shirts and caps. Don't jeopardize your livelihood for any political organisation. It just isn't worth it. Jesus told His disciples to be harmless as doves and wise as serpents. That is something that FNMs must apply to themselves. Nearly 40 years after independence and this nation is still politically retarded. FNMs need to remember that the PLP is the government of The Bahamas. Therefore, supporters of the PLP will get the spoils of victory. I don't like this brand of politics, but that is the way the cookie crumbles in this country.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama

August 19, 2012.