The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The size of the central government in The Bahamas is simply too big and unwieldy. The head, indeed, may not at any given time know what the tail is doing. In short, the tail may be wagging the dog as opposed to the opposite. Successive electoral cycles would have seen political parties, to date only the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and the Free National Movement (FNM) qualify for this distinction, whereby the size of the cabinet and membership in the House of Assembly, continues to grow almost on their own exponentially.

There was a time when former Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Hubert A Ingraham, a man given to speaking his mind in a blunt fashion declared that one of the late Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling’s cabinet was of Gussiemae proportions. That was when there were about fourteen (14) substantive ministers and at least six (6) Ministers of State. Since then the numbers have fluctuated but never really dropped dramatically or at all.

This has resulted in a number of undesirable and unsustainable situations. Once elections are concluded, it seems as if every elected Member of Parliament besieges the party leader, who inevitably becomes Prime Minister, for a place at the cabinet table. The majority of them would never have held high office before and may be unable to cross the streets while chewing gum.

There are currently at least six ministers and ministers of state who in my considered view should not be in the House or the Senate much less sitting in cabinet. This situation is inflamed by the fact that the state bureaucracy or civil services becomes bloated and unmanageable. Inefficiency and unaccountability soon sets in and nothing ever seems to be accomplished of lasting value.

In opposition the current interim Prime Minister lambasted the gussiemae sized cabinet of former Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Perry Gladstone Christie and lashed him bitterly with political whips. Today with some 33 MPs, almost 20 of them are in cabinet or close by as so-called Ministers of State (or is it wards of the state?). This creates fiefdoms and cliques which take on and adopt the persona of the particular office holder.

With the arrival of the ongoing pandemic the central government led by the PM who purports to be the Competent Authority has gone on a wide and extensive power grab. It has been said that the proper extent of the activity and authority of government is the chief question in political philosophy. What size should a cabinet or government be for The Bahamas? As it is right now it is too big and it will fail.

The sheer size of the central government poses a clear and present danger to our way of life and the rebounding of our economy. There is a department; agency or a ministry for literally everything. The ease of doing business for Bahamians in The Bahamas is too cumbersome and far too expensive. There are countless functionaries that one must go through and, some suggest, use devious means to achieve one’s objective.

I would venture to opine that the project of confining government to the task of ensuring individuals and enterprises a stable legal and monetary framework within which they might plan their own activities have been abandoned and thrown through the window. There is now, almost common place, the political attitude by successive administrations of a return to ‘stop-go’ policies viz-a-viz of macro-economic management with the government de jure conceiving itself as the leader; sponsor or author of enterprise.

Professor John Gray of Jesus College, Oxford, UK, penned a small book titled: ‘Limited Government’ some years ago. It is regarded as a ‘classic’ and is recommended to my readers; detractors and, of course the politicians across the board. He opined that the state or central government will have to adopt policies of withdrawal from many areas of social life.

The government is not necessarily to be an interventionist, but rather an impartial umpire. This administration is neither of them. The overreaching by the FNM administration is very clear and very draconian. A blind person would have seen the overt preferential treatment given to certain substrata of the economic and political divide at the gross expense of the unwashed masses.

I would hope that a Philip ‘Brave’ Davis administration will come into office, in due season, and hit the ground running towards and not away from the people. We do not need or want any more unnecessary red tape; yellow laws and green pie-in-the sky governmental intervention. People just want to be left alone to earn a living based on limited government and strong public fiscal responsibility. No more, no less. To God then, in all things, be the glory.

ORTLAND H BODIE Jr

Nassau,

January 26, 2021