We are living in a tale of at least two countries with starkly parallel realities. In the experience of the vast majority of Bahamians, the country continues to sink to new lows, with few hopeful signs.
For many, it is the worst of times. Many Bahamians barely have enough money to pay for groceries or to put gas in their vehicles. Many have lost their homes, businesses and dreams.
For his part and those benefiting from the largesse doled out by the PLP to cronies and benefactors, it is the best of times for Prime Minister Perry Gladstone Christie, who lives in a cosseted bubble of privilege, fiction and fantasy that may be described as Perryland.
The personal anthem of Christie in Perryland appears to be Pharrell Williams' song, "Happy":
It might seem crazy what I'm about to say,
Sunshine she's here, you can take a break,
I'm a hot air balloon that could go to space,
With the air, like I don't care baby, by the way,
Because I'm happy,
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof,
Because I'm happy...
Here come bad news talking this and that, yeah,
Well, give me all you got, and don't hold back, yeah,
Well, I should probably warn you I'll be just fine, yeah,
No offense to you, don't waste your time,
Here's why...
Hey, come on,
(Happy)
Bring me down,
Can't nothing bring me down,
My level's too high...
Under the current administration it continues to get worse from year to year and sometimes seemingly from month to month. There is widespread dread that there are approximately three years left in this term for the PLP.
Crime unabated
The virulence of crime, which the PLP promised to check, remains virtually unabated. The bloody carnage at Fox Hill at the beginning of the year, which left four dead and seven wounded, was a prelude to the frenzy of murders throughout 2014, with many especially bloody weekends, including six people last weekend, including a government official and another individual shot on the weekend who died yesterday.
In 2011, Christie and the PLP were largely blaming the FNM for the high level of violence, promising significant relief if elected to office, especially with the much-touted Urban Renewal 2.0. In a national address as opposition leader in 2011 Christie declared:
"...The tsunami of violence sweeping our nation was never inevitable. It tells you an important reason for the escalation of crime in The Bahamas is poor governance."
So what or who is responsible for the tsunami of violence three years later? On crime, mortgage relief and other policy areas, a mealy-mouthed prime minister is either not leveling with Bahamians or is painting a rosy picture which he alone must see through his rose-colored glasses and crystal ball.
With the introduction of a value-added tax next year, the poor will become poorer and prospects for an already struggling and hollowed-out middle class may worsen significantly. Some businesses may shutter their doors or reduce staff levels, with unemployment and the need for social assistance both rising.
The very day that the House of Assembly passed the biggest tax hike in Bahamian history, the self-absorbed prime minister (and minister of finance) was absent for the vote.
Instead, in what must be one of the more arrogant, callous and indifferent acts of his public career, he jetted off to Las Vegas on his birthday weekend, recalling the popular legend of Emperor Nero playing the lyre and singing while Rome burned.
Insensitivity
In a stunning display of insensitivity Emperor Christie and his entourage headed to Vegas for a pampered weekend, where he could celebrate his birthday in grand style, with his accommodations not paid for by the government, according to Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe, but the travel presumably paid for by the very taxpayers on whom his government was passing a tax hike. Viva, Las Vegas!
We may never know the true cost and the price paid by the country for the Vegas extravaganza. Perhaps what happens in Vegas really does stay in Vegas.
Following his birthday weekend jaunt to Las Vegas, the prime minster returned home to further gamble away the future of the Bahamian people. We still do not know the results of the attorney general's meetings with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) concerning web shop gambling.
What we do know, is that Christie broke his promise to abide by the results of the gambling referendum. In a disgraceful betrayal of the national good, he is preparing to legalize a private lottery system that will further enrich numbers bosses to the tune of hundreds of millions and eventually over a billion and counting at the expense of poor and middle-class Bahamians.
A national lottery would likely get a green light from the FATF and better secure the country against certain money laundering activities. More importantly, a national lottery would provide the government with a source of significant ongoing revenue for things such as education, cultural development and sports.
Instead, in the world of Perryland, already fat cats will get even wealthier as living standards continue to decline for many Bahamians. Perry Christie is not a man of the people.
Long ago and faraway, many still believed the Christie shtick that he and the contemporary PLP were the man and the party of great compassion, especially for the poor. That patina of empathy has faded.
The stark reality is that the upper echelons of today's PLP are made up mostly of elitists whose claims of love for the common man and woman ring hollow. It is the FNM that now has a demonstrably superior record of social development and concern for the poor.
Following in the footsteps of Sir Lynden Pindling, Christie used the good people of his constituency to get elected, often doling out favors, but never significantly enhancing the infrastructure and quality of life of his constituency.
Extravagance
The elitism of the upper echelons of the PLP is one of extravagance and frequent luxury travel, of high coppice and entitlement, swarms of police outriders, luxury vehicles and pampered lifestyles, all the while boasting of a love for the poor.
As even more Bahamians now accept as bogus the PLP's claim of championing gender equality, the ruse is wearing thinner that it is the party of the people.
Meanwhile, the make-believe that is Perryland is collapsing. Even as Emperor Christie adores the trappings of office, his moral authority on policy matters has dwindled to next to nothing and his political authority is being shattered by a revolt on the PLP backbench and murmurings from Cabinet colleagues.
Considerably before Fort Charlotte MP Dr. Andre Rollins' scathing and broad-based assault on Christie in the House of Assembly, respect for and the credibility of the prime minister were already at rock-bottom throughout the country and within certain quarters in the PLP.
The comedy of incompetence and government-run-amuck that is the Christie administration continues to stun much of the public, with a Cabinet largely out of control and a prime minister too weak or too unwilling to rein in some of the worst excesses.
He remains intimidated by Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller, who should have been fired as BEC chairman weeks ago. The strange affair of Bamboo Town MP Renward Wells and that infamous letter of intent has further weakened a seemingly punch-drunk and embattled Christie.
Investigations he promised into matters concerning Miller and Wells will likely come to nothing, as have most of the investigations he promised over a 40-year public career.
The PLP is widely loathed, and Christie is so vastly unpopular that internal dissent within the PLP has risen dramatically, with the revolt of the backbench symptomatic of the prime minister's declining fortunes and weakness.
Rollins, Wells and Marco City MP Gregory Moss have struck sensitive nerves with Christie and the PLP, with the party hammered internally and externally for failing to fulfil key promises.
But in the make-believe of Perryland it's a different story. In response to Moss' assertion of the administration's failure to fulfil certain promises, Christie deflected that his government has five years to meet its promises and remains on track to meet its goals.
Except that, in the real world where most Bahamians live, quite a number have already lost their homes waiting on the PLP's promised mortgage relief. In the real world, those 10,000 new jobs in one year never materialized. In the real world, the promised National Health Insurance has not materialized in the time frame promised.
Christie promised in his crime address, "We intend to double our investment in education over the next five years", which suggests gradually over the course of five years. Instead the education budget was cut.
Christie recently said that, when one is in opposition, one can say what one wants. He should know. He is the master of promising heaven and earth. Having failed to provide either, today he retreats even further into a world of fiction and fantasy.
It must be nice to escape to Perryland or to Las Vegas for one's birthday. Sadly, the vast majority of Bahamians have to endure the escapism and fantasies of a prime minister and government who are wrecking the real world country in which most of us live.
o frontporchguardian@gmail.com, www.bahamapundit.com.
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