The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The last general election in The Bahamas was held in May of 2012. This is December of 2013. And so it has been almost two years that have lapsed since that fateful day. It both surprises me and disappoints me that even though so much time has passed, it was still difficult for me to secure the contact information of the current Members of Parliament and Senators of both The Government and The Opposition in this country; information including – full name of the MP or Senator, Party Affiliation, Portfolio, Street Address of Office, Post Office Box Address(es), Telephone Number(s), Fax Number(s), Email Address(es).

To my way of thinking, this most rudimentary information from persons who would offer themselves for public office should have been readily available within one month of the general election. As a matter of fact, this information should have been garnered from these same persons on nomination day (MP’s) and day of appointment (Senators) by not only the Parliamentary Registrar, not only the secretary to the Cabinet, not only the offices of the House of Assembly, but also each party’s relevant administration official(s) months before that.

What I have grown to detest in developing nations is substandard, regressive, Third World mentality. And since The Bahamas is considered to be a Third World nation (unfortunately) we have resigned ourselves to the same type of thinking. Further to that, being able to contact your parliamentary representatives and legislators in the most efficient manner possible and as soon as possible, in my humble opinion, is one of the most fundamental tenets of our democratic system of government.

And it demonstrates First World mentality to cause this contact information to be disseminated as expeditiously as the government and the different political parties or organisations can make them to be available.
Only recently I had to subject myself to not only cumbersome, but inconvenient methods to secure the contact information of our current representatives and Senators – almost two years after the general election. The list is still grossly incomplete. I don’t consider myself to be anybody special in The Bahamas. I am only a regular citizen – Mr John Q Public. But since I do not have available to me the same platform nor do I have reposed in me any (elected or appointed) political power to effect change as do Members of Parliament or Senators, then I am relegated to attempts to influence my representatives who do have that platform and who do have that power by contacting them in the most efficient manner(s) that I can possibly think of.

But remember, Editor, I am only one Bahamian in a country of approximately 350,000. Not only that, but this world has approximately 6 billion other people. And so it is conceivable that approximately 6,000,350,000 (plus one) people could possibly be attempting to influence our 38 Members of Parliament and 16 Senators concerning the administration of affairs in The Bahamas. Needless to say, that could become overwhelming! These politicians could be inundated with calls, letters, faxes and emails from all and sundry. And so I could understand if these men and women would set up separate contact information for the public to use, and not divulge their private contact information which should be reserved for family, friends, and associates.
But the point of this whole discourse is that comprehensive contact information of our Members of Parliament and Senators should be made available to the Bahamian public and the world less than one month after them being officially sworn in as a Bahamian legislator.

MARVIN G LIGHTBOURN

Nassau,

December 19, 2013.