The Tribune

IT IS interesting to browse through The Tribune’s “dead” files only to discover that they are not so dead after all. In the Bahamas history has a way of repeating itself at very short intervals.

The debate going on now about the appointment of statutory boards for various government corporations and committees is almost identical to the debate that was going on for several months after the Christie government was voted into power on May 2, 2002. As a matter of fact in that year the squabble continued into August — three months after the election— this time over the persons Mr Christie had selected to serve on the boards.

Yesterday FNM Chairman Charles Maynard criticised government’s appointments — announced on Monday – to this year’s boards. He said the boards and committees had been filled with “recycled politicians.”

“The biggest question that jumps out in our mind is where is the new generation of leaders?” Mr Maynard asked. “As we look at the substantial board and their leadership what we see is a lot of the old guard of the Progressive Liberal Party; a lot of recycled politicians and what we don’t see are any new young Bahamians who could actually perform at the highest level on some of these boards.”

Mr Maynard suggested that the new appointments could possibly be based on party loyalty rather than on bringing in new faces.

“Some of them are hard supporters of the Progressive Liberal Party,” he said. “We’re not saying that Progressive Liberal Party supporters shouldn’t be on the board. What we are saying is, what happened to the new generation of leaders that was a big part of their campaign?”

Now let’s flashback to August 2, 2002 when the same debate was swirling around what Mr Christie chose to call the “new” PLP – so named to distance it from the discredited Pindling regime. The Ingraham administration was voted from government on May 2, 2002 and replaced by the “new” PLP, headed by Mr Christie.

Apparently all board members had not yet been appointed because on August 2 Mr Christie was responding to critics of press speculation as to those appointments. Many of these persons, said the critics, represented the “old PLP”, despite the fact that during the election campaign voters were promised that he would give them a “new” PLP.

Mr Christie declared that he refused to be “boxed in” by critics about procedural matters when it came to making appointments to government boards. He said he had a personal obligation to the Bahamian people as a political leader, to deliver a government of integrity and efficiency. At the end of five years – years marked with scandal – it was questionable whether he had succeeded in delivering either. However, that is a debate for another time.

To justify surrounding himself with the “old” PLP, Mr Christie noted that President George Bush, the 41st president of the US, chose the top five people around him from his “daddy’s regime.”

And, he added, “the 43rd president picked people from the 41st president’s administration, Colin Powell, Secretary of State, Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defence, and Dick Cheney, vice president.” Of course, history will probably record that Rumsfeld and Cheney, the two old hawks, were the ones who led Bush astray. Nevertheless, their choice by Bush was sufficient to justify Mr Christie inviting some of the baggage from the Pindling regime to come on board.

Mr Christie said that people had to be judged on their ability.

“The Bahamian people elected me in overwhelming numbers to form the government of the Bahamas. I propose to do so on the basis of integrity and by having people who in my view are able to serve their country well.

“I have taken my time,” he said. “I have deliberated. I have consulted and I have acted. The problems of our country need focusing on.”

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No public holidays mid-week

NEXT time government decides the placement of a public holiday, it should not be during the week — Bahamians need at least one day after a holiday to sober up. Many businesses were hard hit yesterday by befuddled employees who staggered to work, and others who accepted their incapacity and decided to sober up in bed.

Yesterday morning a maid, who lives in the Grants Town area, said Independence partying continued until the early hours of Wednesday morning. The buses were running late – so many were late for work. One maid had made the effort to get on the bus to head for work, but she was in such a drunken state that her bus mates advised her to return home. However, the valiant soul was determined to make the effort. She stumbled off the bus, and staggered off to her job.

Even The Tribune’s press room suffered. The full complement to run the presses failed to report for work. When one of them was finally contacted, he said he was sick — suffering from a hangover. It is well that Tribune owners know how to run their own presses — and so with a few faithful ones, The Tribune was published.

But, seriously, when Independence falls mid-week, government should consider holding the celebrations on a weekend. Bahamians, it seems, take their independence so seriously that the day after must be reserved for their bed — not their job.