The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune

Another Christmas has come and gone. On that date this year we recorded yet another alleged homicide and, according to the police, another suspected suicide. The revealed crime statistics are such that we have become numb to the daily briefings by the Royal Bahamas Police Force. The PM says that “in a few weeks” he will lay out another “crime fighting plan”. He is, of course, joking.

I am a PLP but at the rate that it is mismanaging the affairs of the nation, I may be obliged in January to break ranks with my party for the sake of the country. The PLP is like a ship adrift at sea and heading towards the reefs and shoals while the captain is either out of touch or asleep at the wheel. The sad thing about this whole exercise is that the vast majority of PLP parliamentarians and cabinet ministers are just as bad in the execution of their constitutional duties as the PM or worse.

It is inconceivable that the nation can or should continue along this course. Our people in New Providence and Grand Bahama are catching economic hell. Our fellow citizens in the rest of the country have been relegated to the back of the proverbial bus. Yes, I concede that an embryonic national development plan is being crafted or thrown together ad hoc. Has there been a publicised public consultation or the presentation of a white or blue paper on the same?

Within a matter of weeks, we are poised to roll out National Health Insurance (NHI).The concept is supposed to be a cure it all for the traditional access or non-availability of medical treatment for assorted chronic illnesses. The necessity of hosting cook outs and other less intrusive forms of actual begging are supposed to be eliminated or reduced to the irreducible minimum. No one knows the costs and no one has yet to present proposed legislation to the nation, much less parliament.

The Prime Minister is a man on a mission which he has clearly lost sight of. It is a no brainer that unemployment and the fear of crime are the two biggest hurdles facing the average Bahamian. Yet, in the face of all of this, the PM and his puppet masters are seeking to impose yet another form or level of taxation on your already meagre income to support a proposal which, in the short term, will benefit the government (PLP) of the day.

General elections are just around the corner and the PLP is gearing up to fill its political coffers. Individual cabinet ministers and PLP parliamentarians are seemingly getting “rich by all and any means necessary”. It does not matter and it has not for a long time that huge pockets of our unwashed masses are unemployed or under employed. My family and I live in the Mount Moriah constituency. The MP for the area is Arnold Forbes who is, to me, more known for his absence than presence in the constituency. This year he and his people did not send one single card, much less a ham and turkey (which thank God I did not need).

This is the style of the PLP and it was vividly shown during the so-called Christmas message of the PM to the nation. I should not blame our politicians, however, as we have given them carte blanche over our individual and collective lives. We have elevated them to demigod status and they rule over most of you with disdain and impunity.

Despite the annual requirements by law, few of them ever honestly declare what is what to anybody. Most of them used to live amongst us but today they are all behind gates, it is a pity that except for one politician way back in the day, none of them have ever been criminally charged and prosecuted for corruption, bribe taking and or skimming off the top of various contracts, as would have been alleged over the years.

Bahamians, by and large, are very laid back and seem not to have a care in the world. The mediocre political leadership which we are experiencing right now would be unacceptable in many other nations, even like Haiti and Jamaica, two failed states. There would have been massive public demonstrations; the erection of barricades and burning of rubber tyres.

Unemployment is off the chart but the administration totes its job creation plan and claims to have actually added jobs. Mind you, this is the same administration which has presided over the debacle at Baha Mar and the ongoing and ceaseless disintegration of the Grand Bahama based economy. Thousands of Bahamians celebrated one of the worst Christmases of their lives but none of the politicians and their families, I am sure, were short of a delectable ham or turkey with all the trimmings.

In Mount Moriah, the public spaces are being badly neglected and the playground equipment is in need of repairs and/or replacement. Hundreds of young men in Mount Moriah are clueless, leaderless and suffering, acutely, from a lack of motivation. They have been relegated to petty drug dealing and theft. They have been left behind on the bridge to the future.

The PM seems to be oblivious to conditions on the ground in New Providence and the more populated islands. Crime, believe it or not, is not as bad as the politicians, across the board, like to portray it. Yes, there have been and are too many alleged homicides but they are, generally, limited to a certain demographic in our society. Other type of crimes, based on verifiable statistics, are down. It is now abundantly clear, however, that the Christie Administration has absolutely no plan for tackling crime and does not have any inkling about how to formulate one.

This administration is all about smoke screens, mirrors and illusion. Sleight of hand and the bambozzle are its trade marks. Transparency and accountability are foreign to its leadership. We have now evolved into a constitutional dictatorship where most ministers are mere props and cronies of the PM. During the first instalment of the Christie interregnum, we witnessed, big time, allegations of corruption and malfeasance. This second time around is the worst of the worst and the PM has maintained a deadly silence.

Millions of dollars have gone missing from the coffers of the Ministry of Transport and Aviation. Millions more, allegedly, went missing from the Road Traffic Department.

It is alleged that some cabinet ministers and/or the surrogates actually have “ownership stakes” in entities which do business with the administration. Law firms, formerly headed by ministers, allegedly are representing or lobbying for individuals and companies which are doing or seeking to do business with the Gold Rush Administration.

The PLP is on the political ropes and the average Bahamian is definitely not feeling it or appreciating its public policy initiatives. The PM has promised to give “an account” on any number of issues and concerns but, so far, has failed or refused to do so.

The only hope for the FNM is for the return of Hubert Ingraham. The state of the nation mandates strong, clear headed and visionary leadership. Philip “Brave” Davis (PLP-Cat Island) has all of these attributes but he has challenges. Unless and until he overcomes them, who is the logical successor? The fabled bridge is in crumbles. Anyone who dares to attempt to cross over the same does so at his/her own risk.

2015 was a year of survival; 2016 will make or break tens of thousands of Bahamians, politically, economically and, of course, spiritually. Repeated experiences should, in the natural course of things, lead to wisdom. Unfortunately, however, the man who preens as king may well still be in kindergarten. The bridge is nothing less than an illusion of epic portions.

To God then, in all things, as we prepare to leap into 2016, be the glory.

ORTLAND H BODIE JR

Nassau,

December 28, 2015