The Tribune

LAWYERS, retained by CARICOM to make a case on behalf of the Caribbean community for compensation from Britain for the scars left on their islands by the 18th century transatlantic slave trade, have invited Bahamians to add their voices to the compensation fight.

Imagine CARICOM calling on Bahamians to join in the struggle to squeeze reparation funds out of European nations, without a squeak of explanation coming from anyone in our government. Surely Bahamians are entitled to the courtesy of some explanation as to what is going on and how we got mixed up in this without our consent.

Our foreign affairs minister, who gives the impression of being an active CARICOM member, could only explain that the vote was taken when his back was turned, but whatever that vote was it “would represent our position”.

For a matter of such importance, it would seem that it was imperative for him to have been there to represent this country’s position. In fact, other than inferring that we have to blindly follow CARICOM’s lead, Bahamians have yet to learn what our official position is, or just what it is that we are trying to get from Britain. Mr Christie, if your foreign minister has lost his tongue, maybe you can find yours.

Such disrespect for your own people is insufferable. With a downturn in our economy, how much does the Bahamas have to contribute to the law firm that has been retained to fight this cause?

It would seem that this money would be better spent on cleaning up Bay Street, which since the PLP has taken over, has returned to the shanty-town state left us by the Pindling regime. It’s far more important to concentrate on trying to win back our tourist trade, which, if the figures were released, would show a heavy drop off, both by air and sea. Instead we go chasing elusive rainbows, instead of putting our shoulders to the wheel and getting a decent job done at home. Our tourist industry is slipping. It has nothing to do with our slave heritage, but all to do with our own slap-happy foolishness.

According to British lawyer Martyn Day, retained to advise CARICOM, it is doubtful that CARICOM’s membership in the Commonwealth will be affected by its scramble for money. “However,” he said, “our advice has been that the Caribbean states should be claiming in relation to the impact of the slave trade on the Caribbean today rather than looking for reparations related to what happened to the slaves historically.”

There are those who hold up the Mau Mau struggle of the Fifties and the Jewish massacre of the Second World War as examples of groups of people who were compensated. In the Mau Mau uprising against the British in Kenya, for example, cases of torture and abuse could be proved by people still living to tell the tale — the same holds true for the Jews – but the identity of slaves is so buried in the past that any compensation could end up benefitting the descendants of some of the slave owners.

Foreign Secretary William Hague announced earlier this year that the Kenyans will receive compensation totalling £20 million for what they suffered at the hands of their British overlords. This has opened the floodgates and now everyone wants to jump on the reparations band waggon, displaying the typical traits of upward palms and the “gimme, gimme” bleat!

However, the Bahamas, judged the richest slave in town, might have a tough time proving its own case, unlike some of the plantation owning islands to the south of us.

It was reported in yesterday morning’s Tribune that the Bahamas is the richest country in the Caribbean. In the “key indicators of development” section of the World Bank 2014 World Development Report — which applies to 2012 — the Bahamas has a gross national income per capita of $21,280. The United States’ figure is $50,120 and the UK, $38,250. Trinidad and Tobago, despite its oil, has $14,400.

But we must share with our readers a few paragraphs from a Jamaican newspaper to illustrate how the Bahamas is perceived by others.

David Paulin, writing two years ago — October 2, 2011 — under the heading “Grievance-mongering leaders demand slave reparations at the United Nations” made this comparison between Jamaica and the Bahamas.

“Jamaica’s blame-it-on-slavery argument becomes especially problematic,” he writes, “when the country’s dysfunction is contrasted against the prosperity enjoyed by the Bahamas. A former British colony, the Bahamas also has a legacy of slavery. Yet it has no crippling debt, no history of serious political violence, and no out-of-control crime rate. It has one of the region’s highest per capita incomes: $19,000, nearly five times more than Jamaica’s. There’s no huge Bahamian Diaspora.

“Why is the Bahamas a success? Because its political leaders and voters look forward, not backward – and they unashamedly look to America as an example. They have for the most part embraced business-friendly policies and a low-tax philosophy.

“Four years ago, for instance, an interesting political phenomena occurred in the Bahamas. Its ruling left-leaning political party suffered a stunning election defeat, despite having overseen an expanding economy and an unprecedented development boom. Interestingly, the main campaign issues were good management and honesty in government – not racial issues (such as which candidate had the darker skin colour). It’s an example of the Bahamas’ good governance and civic culture – traits not as apparent in Jamaica and other Caribbean island-nations with similar histories of racism and colonialism.”

We doubt that Mr Paulin would be writing the same today, but still our comparative success, despite slavery and colonialism, as we drop to our knees before our Queen with begging bowl in hand, would put us in a success bracket of our own. The Bahamas would probably be sent to the back of the line to repent for its relative success. There is every likelihood that it would be eliminated from the race.

In the meantime, some spokesman for government should have the courtesy to explain to the Bahamian people what exactly is going on and what is being presented to the world on our behalf.