The Tribune

YOUR SAY

By Frederick R M Smith QC

A visionary and enlightened approach to economic policy would focus on the pursuit of “economic opportunity,” not simply “job opportunity”.

In my view, the proper role of the government is to foster a political and economic environment that encourages Bahamian ownership in the economy, not simply the expectation of employment.

The focus on simply creating jobs is an antiquated, paternalistic, colonial, plantation-style “hand-out” culture and mentality.

It devalues the worth of Bahamians and negates their potential entirely.

Rather, the focus should be on creating a political and investment model where Bahamians have an opportunity, first and foremost, to be employers, owners of businesses, investors in their own right.

This should be the Bahamian political and economic Holy Grail.

Key to achieving this is the institutionalisation of democratic norms of governance – fiscal responsibility, accountability and transparency in government.

Government must fight corruption and instill ethical expectations of political leaders.

It should also:

• Invest heavily in education

• Enact laws and pursue policies that encourage foreign investors to openly partner with or make joint ventures with Bahamians

• Reform Immigration law to promote Bahamian economic empowerment with and through foreign investment and labor

• Remove financial barriers, such as Exchange Control laws that prevent Bahamians accessing cheap foreign venture capital, such as the trillions of US dollars sitting idle in over 700 international banks operating in this country.

This is not an overnight process. There are thousands upon thousands who simply need jobs, because historically they have suffered from under-education, lack the necessary skills to compete globally, and exist within a political and economic foreign investment model that militates against ownership of the economy by Bahamians.

This FNM government has made ambitious promises and now has a unique mandate to adopt aggressive policies, laws and measures that will help The Bahamas quickly transition to a model of long-term ownership and participation by Bahamians in our own nation and economy.

Bahamians should be encouraged by their government to aspire to become employers; to become owners of businesses that employ, for instance, hundreds of foreign workers, instead of being content with working for a foreign investor who simply “gives” jobs to hundreds of Bahamians.

Take myself as an example. I am a Bahamian. I am the senior partner in the oldest and one of the most respected law firms in the Bahamas. Why should I be prevented, say, from employing ten expert foreign lawyers, to compete with the law firms in Bermuda, or the Cayman, or London, or New York, in providing national and international legal services?

The laws in those other countries allow their own citizens to create such business opportunities so they can compete effectively in the international marketplace. Yet I cannot do the same. Nor can any other law firm in The Bahamas.

We have been sold on and have accepted the false idea that foreign professionals are “the enemy” because they take jobs away from Bahamians. In fact, the opposite is true – foreign professionals can create many exciting professional and ownership opportunities for Bahamians if we strategically harness their expertise and use it to expand and diversify the economy.

We the citizens continue to tolerate a system of political governance that is counterproductive, economically constricting and which decreases our competitiveness in the global economy. Bahamians have been shooting themselves in the foot since 1969 with the advent of “Bahamianisation”. The Bahamas has lost so many economic opportunities to the Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman, Bermuda and other Caribbean jurisdictions.

Since 1969, the Bahamian political elite has been allowed to luxuriate and corruptly profit in a paternalistic and increasingly dictatorial model of governance.

That is why, I believe, the FNM election slogan, “It’s The People’s Time,” resonated with the electorate so effectively. The Bahamas is tired of the old, outdated, corrupt and ineffective model of economic and political governance.

The old political guard view themselves as being “entitled”; they believe they know best and can tell Bahamians who they should or should not get into business with; they consider it their divine right to control Bahamian participation in the world economy with exchange control; they dictate which foreigner gets to invest in The Bahamas, ensuring they can get their sticky fingers into the cookie jar in the process.

Why should they control policy, law and expectations? Why should they be allowed to relegate Bahamians to collecting the lowest hanging fruit of economic activity?

Do they want our sons and daughters to only collect garbage? Only toil and break their backs in the hard, rocky, no-soil limestone in Andros? Only pick up towels on the beach for millions of tourists? Only clean hotels rooms? Only carry bags? Only labor under the hot sun? Only work in oily, dirty and often unsafe heavy industry?

Don’t get me wrong, there is no indignity in hard work. There is no job that is not worth having. But we must look at what’s happening in other countries, particularly the richer more affluent developed economies.

Although regrettable, the reality is that in developed countries, the lower paid, more physically strenuous, less desirable jobs are generally left to immigrants. Citizens, meanwhile, aspire to, are educated for, and benefit from political, financial and economic institutions that support their engagement in top level professional and ownership opportunities.

Our government should pass laws and pursue policies that encourage a similar scenario. We should aspire to be masters, not servants.

Why, for instance, is it that the casinos, cruise ships, hotels, Container Port and shipyards in Freeport should only be owned by foreigners?

The irony is most of the big foreign investors in The Bahamas are companies that are publicly traded on international stock exchanges. Shares are owned by millions of foreigners, but in The Bahamas, not one Bahamian can own a single share in any of these companies that profit from our own daily toil and often blood, sweat and tears!

Yet members of our political elite have seen nothing wrong with forming their own joint ventures or partnerships with foreign investors; they have ensured their own sons and daughters are educated abroad thus obtaining the higher paying management jobs; and they have often corruptly profited from secret deals in the nontransparent, non-accountable and restrictive governance model that has suited their kleptocracy.

Meanwhile, the older white oligarchy already has a settled and comfortable economic position, meaning that regular Bahamians, both black and white, are left with little more to look forward to than getting a job inside the Massah’s house and jealously guarding it. They remain servants in the fields, enviously watching the fruit of their labor consumed by their Bahamian political masters and protected foreign white, and now also wealthy Asian investors.

Until we can break this corrosive model, the negative cycle will continue. MPs will continue to succumb to those juicy offers to “help” some foreign interest. Projects that are bad for The Bahamas will continue to get sold to the citizenry as great bringers of “jobs”.

I urge the new FNM to stay true to their campaign promises and dramatically transform the political and economic model of The Bahamas so that all Bahamians have the opportunity to become self-empowered.

Prime Minister Minnis has announced spending cuts, but there has been no discussion of how to grow revenue into the future. How are we to prepare our young people to enhance the economy and generate new wealth both for themselves and for the country?

Innovative educational reform is key to systemic change, but there seems to be no plan in this regard. Again, there is no need to reinvent the wheel; across the United States, for example, thousands of urban youths from backgrounds very similar to our own “Over-The-Hill” communities have graduated college thanks to creative educational models and bold out of-the-box thinking.

At the end of the day, a major overhaul of our economic system will require a great deal of finesse and strategic thinking, education reform, as well as a sound understanding of economic realities and trends. What is needed is a well thought out 20-year plan for the future – similar in spirit, if not in content, to the kind of forward thinking and planning advocated by the late Sir Lynden Pindling.

It may be our first prime minister had a better understanding of history, economics and policy than those who came after him.

I urge “The People’s Time” government to learn from his example and craft a long-term plan for creating an open, innovative, globally competitive economy for the benefit of all Bahamians.