The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

 In a September 3, article entitled The Mysterious Disappearance of Urban Renewal in The Nassau Tribune, columnist Paco Nunez was highly critical of Grand Bahama Urban Renewal Assistant Director Michelle Reckley for refusing to speak with his newspaper's Freeport reporter about the progress of the Progressive Liberal Party's (PLP) highly touted social intervention programme in the nation's second city. I think it was shortsighted of Reckley to refuse to dialogue with the reporter, who was only seeking information regarding Urban Renewal. The Tribune is the largest newspaper in The Bahamas. Why not use that medium as a conduit to get the information out to the general public about the success of the programme in Grand Bahama?

It is likely that Reckley views The Tribune as a rabid supporter of the FNM party. There appears to be an ongoing rift between the prominent newspaper and the governing PLP. I understand that Reckley was the assistant secretary general of the PLP before taking up her new post. I also recall reading a letter to one of the dailies that gave her credit for helping her political party to win three of the five seats that were up for grabs on Grand Bahama. Nowadays, it seems as if everybody wants to take credit for the Free National Movement's (FNM) defeat.

Another newspaper article on Reckley had mentioned the fact that she had been a loyal supporter of the PLP all the way back to the Pindling era. Nunez said in the column that the head of urban renewal seems to be upset with The Tribune for asking her for a list of her qualifications ''relevant to a leading cutting edge, interdisciplinary, social intervention task force.'' I think the opposition party had also raised the issue concerning Reckley's academic qualifications for such a high level job. It was hinted by critics of the PLP that she was given the post because of her politics. I think this claim has been denied by PLP supporters. Nunez called Reckley ''the former cook and school caterer'' in his column.  While I agree with his overall argument, I think he comes off as condescending towards Reckley, and other blue-collar working Bahamians, by calling her (Reckley) a former cook and caterer. It looks like he was snubbing his nose at her past jobs. Most working Bahamians can relate with Reckley, because many of them are menial and blue-collar labourers who are not as educated as Nunez.

According to a recent Nassau Guardian report, only approximately 30 per cent of the 200,000 Bahamian workforce have completed some form of higher education. In a word, most Bahamians have never attended college or university. I am also a blue-collar worker who was not as fortunate as some to attend college. Granted, I have studied systematic theology at a branch of the Assemblies of God Bible college in The Bahamas. But I don't have a degree; only two certificates. I am of the view that the PLP was able to win eight of the last eleven general elections because of its appeal and popularity with poor, uneducated black Bahamians. Until the FNM understands this, it will always play the unenviable role of underdog to the PLP. Far too many poor, uneducated Bahamians view the FNM as the party for elite individuals who live in a bubble.

While Nunez and others will take issue with the Michelle Reckleys being given important, high-level jobs by this government, uneducated people might look at it as the PLP being the party for the small man, notwithstanding his lack of a tertiary education. This is not to downplay the importance of a college education, however. It is important. Nunez is obviously a supporter of the FNM. I am a supporter of the FNM also. In fact, I am a big fan of former prime minister Hubert A. Ingraham. That being said, I believe that Nunez is not helping the opposition party by snubbing Reckley. Such a snobbish attitude will only turn off uneducated voters from the FNM party. And that is the last thing the FNM needs.

Nunez is unwittingly assisting the PLP when he writes condescending things about Reckley. He needs to understand this. Judging from what he had to say about Reckley before she was given her urban renewal job, it would appear that he looks down on her past professions as a cook and caterer. But was is wrong with being a cook? There is dignity in work.

In a speech that he delivered shortly before he was assassinated, the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr said the following about the dignity of work: ''One day our society will come to respect the sanitation worker if it is to survive, for the person who picks up our garbage is in the final analysis as significant as the physician, for if he doesn't do his job, diseases are rampant. All labour is dignity.'' When it was said to him that he was a shoemaker, the legendary British missionary to India William Carey responded by saying that he was simply a cobbler who repaired shoes.

 I am tired of ordinary Bahamians telling me that the FNM is only for rich white people and college educated Bahamians. The FNM has got to address this issue if it wants to make inroads among uneducated Bahamians. I hope the next time he writes, Nunez will begin appealing to us uneducated folks, especially those who work as cooks and caterers. The FNM surely needs it. Thank you!

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama,

September 12, 2012.