The Tribune

By ROCHELLE DEAN

Politics in the Bahamas has easily become entertaining at minimum as leaders use their platforms to maim each other right before the eyes of the Bahamian electorate.

These same leaders exercise unscrupulous acts of dissent and divide while making false promises and demanding respect.

The standard for leaders seems to contradict the very purpose of their office.

The engagement with each other and the public is governed by a colonial ideology of leadership and it is very disturbing to watch as the country evolves with little to no behavioural change in leadership.

The tit-for-tat that never translates into meaningful opposition of the current administration or government policies is laughable and laudable all at the same time.

The fact that we have leaders who prefer public discourse and a political row over decisive relevant opposition is profoundly pedestrian.

This however, isn’t a general condemnation as the reliance on those leaders who do bring a level of competency and political acumen are obviously lauded by the public and politically astute.

The distraction of petty politics is as dangerous as it is disappointing for the entire Bahamian electorate.

Double standard

Along a similar vein, members of the public are also engaged in these political games we coined polititricks.

However, the general public are arrested and brought before the courts for these same theatrics in many cases led by political leaders who encourage this behaviour in exchange for political favors and cronyism.

The Bahamian public obviously easily play these games in desperation for political astuteness, favor and notoriety.

The consequences however present a different reality as these persons become weaponised to fuel petty political reasoning.

These tactics do nothing to quell the political diaspora and the discourse that exists within the political arena.

Matter-of-factly it propels the common ideology that everything in the Bahamas derives from politics and as true as that may be it certainly is of no consequence or of any good to those Bahamians who simply view the electoral process as bureaucratic and far less democratic in nature.

This double standard demands participation by all Bahamian’s at any cost and most fittingly for the cause and proliferation of a distracted electorate who in most cases suffer greatly at the hands of the elected few.

Political populism

Political populism seems to be on the decline for a perceived elite dynamic. This reality isn’t new but it means that democratic principles and the rule of the people is rather, heavily diluted for a perceived elite dynamic.

Those that should be advocates for democratic principles are now exploiting and prostituting politics for their own individual gratification.

This is where we see citizenships being renounced, newly regulated and once illegal industry’s being abandoned, double minded political players continually undecided about leadership and aspiring political hopefuls refusing to follow proper protocol.

On the flip side of the coin, we see the passing away of a collective form of fascism that had brought about a stalemate regimentation of no progress.

This is a hallelujah moment for most who are witnesses to so many emerging systems of entry into the political arena.

These civic emergences can be perceived as wonderful and even progressive, making opposition the strongest show of democracy and must not be viewed from the lens of negativity resulting in resistance and expulsion.

However, there must be ‘caution’ as this can also lead to “machiavellian dynasties” that can be likened to countries like Columbia and even Haiti.

Amoral popular appeasement cannot be at the helm of political rule and national sovereignty.

Leaders must be rooted in trustworthiness, honesty, integrity and love for the Bahamian people.

Leaders must be knowledgeable about the challenges the people face but more so familiar with proper methods to make concise contributions to the advancement of constituents and the country.

Leaders should be visionaries not simply signatories to agreement, conventions and investments.

There must be evidence-based results and outcomes rooted in negotiations that put Bahamian’s first.

The Bahamian people deserve more than well spoken speeches about their many woes in the honorable house of assembly.

The people deserve solutions and if not that, they deserve transparency.

The reality is that politics is becoming an advancement of a few at the expense of the masses. And while, to be able to serve is truly a dichotomy, something has to give as Bahamian’s have affectionately coined Bahamian politics silly season.

Political Plethora

This leads us to the crux of the matter - a political plethora of candidates, committees and aspiring leaders that may be needed or wanted but leads to confusion and lack of clarity.

If one takes a look at the social architecture of the Bahamas it is easy to see that the country went from no progress to a plethora of policies, new regulatory changes, competing ideas and proposals as well as political hopefuls.

Certainly, this does speak to the strength of the country’s democracy or perhaps the lunacy of its societal make up.

The country is rich in leadership yet, there exists a dearth in areas that need the same zeal.

The gap between knowledge, resources and decision making seems to be lacking.

While the realities of political plethora look very democratic and politically pleasing to the masses but in actuality it leads back to the same circular rationale.

Voter fatigue and confusion then becomes a serious challenge, leading the country to coalition governments, cancel culture and finally, back to two-party dynamics and overall political gridlock.

Finally, these observations obviously highlight that every effort to build a robust Bahamian community leads to politics while other spaces shrink.

Community building becomes another task that leads to apathy and fuels the stop, review and cancel effect that has become very familiar to the Bahamian people.

The political plethora has become a great hindrance to nation building as productivity, respect, value and true nationalism is quantified through the lens of political affluence.

This reality isn’t a bad thing but there must be a sense of balancing collective contributions with one’s individualistic identity, while also recognising that contribution to one’s country is not only a right but an obligation and politics requires greater metrics of access and acumen for entry into public service.