The Tribune

THE Bahamian public is still feeding off the recent election like a remora sucking nutrients from the underside skin of the shark’s belly.

While FNMs seemingly cannot get enough of election dissection, gorging on the juiciness of scandal and corruption as if it were an energy bar for a nation, we say while it is important to understand how dramatic the overthrow of the PLP was and what led to it, it is even more important to get down to work with new eyes and ideas.

The Bahamian people did not just want a change of personnel. They demanded a change in the way the country conducts itself.

So we issue this advice to the new administration: it would be easy to pick up where others left off and just peck away at the leftovers. It will be harder to make real change.

Yet, that is exactly what has to happen if The Bahamas is once again going to be able to hold its head high in the world.

We have become a nation of apologies, trying to explain away why the crime rate is so high and the country’s credit rating so low, why the cost of living is among the highest on the globe but the quality of life for most leaves worlds to be desired, why once this nation was among the most literate on earth and now cannot claim better than a D+ average among high school students, half of whom leave government schools without the ability to earn a diploma.

Yes, we have become a nation of apologies.

We are sorry that repairs to Festival Place are two years behind schedule and cruise passengers arrive with nowhere to get information.

We are sorry that businesses in Grand Bahama struggle so to keep their doors open.

We are sorry that guns are so easy to come by that a hit with a rented weapon can be ordered for $50 and we appear headed for another record year of murders.

We are especially sorry that it is too dangerous to take a walk at night and good, hard-working people sit behind locked doors and shuttered windows.

We are one sorry nation, sorry for this, sorry for that, sorry that we are not the nation we once were.

The important thing is to take steps to be the proud nation we can be once again. The Bahamas is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Nowhere are there more spectacular and breathtaking waters and few places can boast the warmth of the weather and especially of the people. So by all means, new government - prosecute those who were corrupt or who colluded to allow corruption to go on unfettered, but focus more on what you do to shape the future. Here are a few suggestions.

Conduct a national online survey. Tools like surveymonkey make it easy. Ask Bahamians what they want most. Let respondents rate how important crime, education, environment, empowerment is to them. The mere act shows that you are listening to public opinion and when you announce a plan, you will have the people behind you because it is what they wanted.

Power up and strengthen the Freedom of Information legislation. It must be among the first orders of business to demonstrate that the age of secret deals is over and that you mean what you say.

Create a platform to transform Grand Bahama into a powerhouse in information technology, telecommunications, shipping, solar and alternative energy solutions, and a regional hub for processing and distribution of manufactured goods.

Separate the Attorney General and the Cabinet.

Establish true local government starting with the City of Nassau, including Bain and Grant’s Town.

Seek additional funding for after school programmes that enable students to enrol in extra studies, computer classes, get homework assistance or participate in sports, music, arts. Parental involvement on at least a once-monthly basis must be mandatory unless accompanied by a note. Engaging parents is the first basic step paving the way for a more engaged student. The nation would welcome a new education plan and for anyone who has ever made his or her way through the maze of the Ministry of Education and seen the bureaucracy without cohesive oversight, it is a nightmare that jolts even the most accustomed to mediocrity in public service. The teachers who give their all despite challenging conditions must be rewarded with merit-based salaries and benefits. And there are many who should be celebrated.

Lease the dump on a 99-year contract with the lessee paying government. The separation, recycling, processing and sale of metals, rubber, paper and plastics will provide a stream of revenue viable for the investor group, and we do hope it is a Bahamian consortium, but expect this government to do the honourable thing and handle the awarding of the lease through a proper request for proposal and bidding process. Under no circumstances should we be paying a management fee for a company to come in and earn money.

Draft and consult on a comprehensive environmental protection act as a matter of urgency. The natural beauty of the Bahamas and its waters make this country what it is. Environmental management and preservation are not only the right things to do, they open a world of opportunities.

Whether it is the green economy, blue economy or a revitalised Grand Bahama, a beautified and proud Nassau or a sustainable development in Eleuthera or Exuma, the country can regain its status and stop apologising to its own citizens and to the wider world. When pride is steeped in reality rather than empty promises, hope will flourish, jobs will flow and crime will ebb.

We close with these words from a blog by John Marquis, author and a former managing editor of The Tribune, a man who watched a country he loved decline and wrote about it with such passion.

“For me, The Bahamas is a place of many happy memories, a colourful, vibrant tropical playground where I cheerfully spent part of my youth in the glorious 1960s and ten of my mature years up to 2009. It gives me no pleasure to record its decline. I’d love to see it magically transformed into what it used to be - but that, I fear, is a forlorn hope.

An entire generation has been reared against a backdrop of rampant venality, with the PLP, in particular, enriching itself at others’ expense, and basing its political mission on a toxic mix of racism, intimidation, corruption, cronyism, venom and victimisation … As a result, the nation’s moral infrastructure has collapsed. Thieving is widespread. Violence, dishonesty and unaccountability are endemic. The legal system is broken … Worst of all, hope is fading. Fast.”

We disagree with the last sentiment of Mr Marquis’ otherwise all too true portrait of a Bahamas in decline. We do not believe hope is fading. We believe it has been renewed.