The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE FNM administration is a work in progress. While in opposition, it promised too much, if that were possible, to the people of this wonderful nation. We are a strange breed of people. Unlike our counterparts in the wider Caribbean, we are politically passive in the extreme but once you’ve made a promise to us, we fully expect to see a concrete delivery and instantly. We are impatient and have very short attention span. It is what it is.

A year in office is too short a time, in my view, even if I am a New Deal PLP, to judge the performance or lack thereof by the FNM. There have been political misstatements and blunders which could have been avoided. Public policy initiatives are being proposed and rolled out without adequate or any at all sometimes consultation. This is not the way to govern and it sure is not the way to inculcate public confidence and trust. Communication is critical as the FNM prepares to enter it’s second year in office.

Since the return of the FNM, the misery index has gone through the roof insofar as the unwashed masses here in New Providence and over in Grand Bahama. Mass firings in the Civil Service have been conducted and thousands of Bahamians have entered the ignoble ranks of the unemployed. Mortgages and other fixed payments are now a challenge for many Bahamians, inclusive of many of those who voted FNM. Mind you, I too voted FNM but my heart and core loyalty have always belonged and will continue to belong to the PLP.

The PM, God bless and keep him, and his colleagues say that they were elected to govern. Yes, we concede that but at what costs to the unwashed masses? They in the FNM know nothing and would appear to care less about knowing the mantra of the PLP: “Wipe away the tears from every eye; clothe the naked; bring assistance to the disabled and to rescue and bind up every wound...“ This is foreign to the corporate way of thinking by FNMs, especially the rabid ones.

While Minnis and the FNM “govern” the average Bahamian is by the Rivers of Babylon shedding real tears of unbelief; frustration and hopelessness. They are crying now but were exultant last year when the FNM was ushered back into high office. Today, tens of thousands of Bahamians are caught between a rock and a very hard place.

The FNM may have some good intentions, but they are playing their cards close to their chests and none of them, save for “my boy” the Hon Dionisio D’Aguilar (FNM-Free Town), Minister of Tourism, seem to be connected to the people. He knows what it is to be by the Rivers of Babylon due to his long standing connections to and with the people in our inner city areas of New Providence. To God then, in all things, be the glory.

ORTLAND H BODIE Jr

Nassau,

April 18, 2018.