The Tribune

THE Bahamian people have spoken. They want a better Bahamas.

They want to be led by fellow Bahamians who will do their best to create a land of equal opportunities. A land in which young men and women, willing to put their shoulder to the plough, can contribute to building a nation in which all can fully participate.

When the polls closed last night, the curtain came down on the Pindling era - an era so absorbed with politicians feathering their own nests that, in the words of Sir Lynden, although he “knew the people were hurting”, he did not realise their hurt was so deep that it “determined what they would do during the election”.

Yes, the people were hurting then as they are hurting now. Bahamians had come to the end of their patience. They could no longer live on promises.

What the people did in 1992, after 25 years of being made to understand that “God gave this country to the PLP”, is what they did to the Progressive Liberal Party at the polls yesterday - they dismissed them.

They dismissed them with such a vengeance that there was hardly a shadow left of the once all powerful, all absorbing PLP when the polls closed last night.

Bahamians can breath again. They will no longer have to bow to their masters for a slice of bread.

Yes, it is a time to rejoice, but there is no time to gloat.

There is just too much work to be done to rescue our country from collapse. Too many repairs have to be made, particularly to the badly damaged Public Treasury.

The PLP made many unkept promises. Before the new government can indicate how many, and how soon, any of them can be delivered will depend on the extent of the financial damage that has been done to this country.

Much has been kept from the people. The Christie government was banking on the opening of Baha Mar to relieve some of the financial pressure and earn enough revenue from the resort to rescue our dollar from Standard & Poor’s “junk” status.

They accomplished their “soft opening” of the resort before the election, but without paying guests.

As one Bahamian put it this week after taking a tour of the hotel: staff were in place, but there wasn’t a guest to be seen.

This resort - the dream snatched from a young investor who had such high hopes for the upliftment of the Bahamian people - has been shrouded in mystery ever since the Christie government entered into agreements with a Beijing bank, Baha Mar’s creditor. The Bahamian people are entitled to know what those agreements are.

It is now up to the new government to find out exactly what has been agreed, and whether the Bahamas is to reap anything worthwhile from this once promising venture.

Bahamians are now nervous over government’s new national health scheme, which was promised to make the “health care system more modern, affordable and accessible” to all Bahamians. However, in announcing it, a doctor let slip that government did not yet know how it was to be paid for. This is for the Free National Movement government to reopen and review.

This newspaper has reported large sums of money stolen in various government departments - but so far there has been no announcement as to what has been done about it. And, then of course, there is the crime - crime that the Christie government promised five years ago to solve if elected to government. They were elected, but murders continue to soar. Already in the first five months of this year there have been 53 murders. Under their watch 622 murders were committed, according to our records.

And so the list of broken promises grows.

Last night, the parliamentary registrar’s department closed at 11.30pm leaving much unfinished business and Bahamians still in the dark as to the final results of yesterday’s election. There is no question that the FNM took the government by a landslide. As far as is known the count was 36 FNM elected to four PLP.

We left Fox Hill with a recount to be done for Fred Mitchell, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration.

The recount was requested by the PLP. It is understood that Mr Mitchell lost by a small margin.

Some time ago Mr Mitchell vowed that he would never again sit on the parliamentary back bench. Depending upon the result of the recount he might yet get his wish.

However, one thing is for certain: no matter which way the recount goes, he will not be sitting on a front bench for another five years.

It is never healthy in a democracy for any government to command such a large lead with no Opposition to keep it in check.

However, after this election campaign, the FNM must know that they have no time to waste. First of all it has to be discovered what damage the PLP government has done and the true position of our national debt.

A Freedom of Information Act must be passed in the first term of the new Parliament.

The FNM might not have a strong Opposition in Parliament, but yesterday the Bahamian people discovered their voice.

It is now the people who are going to ensure that their representatives function for the good of the nation - the whole nation - under God.