Solutions to make our Bahamas great again

Thu, Jan 14th 2016, 10:43 PM

Dear Editor,

I have formulated 21 solutions to problems that  to make our Bahamas great again. I appreciate that space is limited, so in this letter I will share only the first five.

Problem 1: Our men and women are growing up without an education to help them secure a respectable, well-paying job, but still feel entitled to the financial benefits/rewards of such a job.

Solution: All of our public education primary schools must return to the grammar school model with the focus on four things: mathematics, reading/English, social discipline (respect for God, family/marriage and community) and sports (to develop team building skills, coping skills when losses happen in life and problem solving abilities).

Forget Spanish, French, art, science, social studies etc... such luxuries should be enjoyed in high-school when the fundamentals are secured.

I do believe that our children should feel entitled to the financial benefits/rewards of a well-paying job or business, but we must give them the opportunity for an education that can provide this. Further, the children of all foreign nationals (legal or illegal) must be made to pay a fee to attend schools in The Bahamas. It works in the Cayman Islands.

In fact, the children of foreign nationals in the Cayman Islands must attend private (fee paying) schools. Let's show our children that they are getting something of value that others in our country have to pay for. In addition, we increase a foreigner's contribution/ investment in our educational system.

Problem 2: There are no leaders that demonstrate the social discipline that should be taught in schools.

Solution: Let us start with the Members of Parliament (MPs) as a key leadership group in our community. All married MPs, show respect for your marriages by wearing your wedding bands. The prime minister does not and the leader of the opposition does not. If our Bahamian family structures are important, MPs must respect all the symbols of their importance, including wearing your wedding ring. Also, we should have a national "Family Day", where leaders in our country promote and demonstrate a good family life.

Communicate with each other in the House of Assembly in a tone and demeanor that demonstrates that differences/conflicts can be resolved without belittling another, without shouting, using undisciplined language and insults.
The ordinary man on the street, without the education (Problem 1), will communicate just as he is lead to, except when his ego is bruised - we see now where many will resolve issues with a gun.

Prime minister and Cabinet ministers - discipline your staff against wrongdoing that is not necessarily criminal, but represents moral/character failings, particularly where those failings are in the public domain.

Most of us know and believe we should obey the 10 commandments of God. In our present society, only two of those commandments are accompanied by a worldly penalty - "thou shall not kill" and "thou shall not steal". Sadly, all the others have had their worldly/humanistic penalties removed as we consider ourselves "advanced" and "intelligent". Yet, the Godly penalties still exist and they are reflected in the moral decay that we now cry about every time our families are destroyed by affairs, our children's lives are shot out by a gun, our covetousness causes us to get into more debt to keep up with our neighbors' lifestyles.

There should be no leader given a public role in our country who cannot demonstrate a high standard of moral excellence in their own lives, and the ability to use this standard as a tool with which to lead our people. Those who lack a high standard of moral excellence, but still have a desire to serve and skills to contribute, should do so; however, they should do so in the background. That is the cost they pay for their Christian moral failings. If they want their skills and contributions to be known and respected publicly, then they should be prepared to live a respectful life to lead our young men and women.

Problem 3: The physical decay of the country contributes to the social decay of our people.

Solution: Clean-up! Have you ever walked into a messy office or a house of a stranger that is dirty? How do you feel? What if you are told you must stay for the rest of your life, and you realized the water was off-and-on, the garbage was not always collected and others came by and threw more garbage into the area? But on the other hand, what if you cleaned it up?

What if things just started working again? Each day would a little easier. Each day you would love where you are a little more. Each day you would begin to value the place that you must call home. So...just clean-up! It doesn't matter that you use a contractor because of political patronage (let's get real and accept this), but that contractor should do his job well and give our people excellent service.

For example, if "your boy" is responsible for patching the roads, give "your boy" the contract, but hold him accountable for patching the roads properly and to a standard that shows he has respect for his community and his country.

Far too often "your boy" is hired, but does a poor job and short-changes Bahamians. Cleaning up means to collect the garbage from all the public parks before 6am the next morning, patch the roads and patch them properly, remove all vendors from public spaces, remove the broken street lamps and street signs and place signs around our public parks and spaces to remind our people and guests to respect the cleanliness of our home.

Problem 4: Unlicensed and unregulated vendors set-up on any public park, beach or space.

Solution: Just like no one can walk into the public treasury and start removing money, no individual (Bahamian or not) is "entitled" to set up a business on any area reserved for ALL Bahamians and visitors, for example public parks, beaches or sidewalks. I understand that these vendors are "trying to make a dollar", so the government should create free economic zones around the island of New Providence. These would be spaces where people can sell their items once they adhere to a certain minimal standard of appearance and cleanliness.

In these spaces, the government should provide free electricity, water and sanitation services. Then the government could enforce laws that prevent vendors from setting up randomly and creating eye sores all over the island.

Problem 5: Downtown Nassau (I don't think I need to say much more).

Solution: Get the basics right. The vacant land where Tropical Shipping used to be, turn that into a bus, ferry, scooter and taxi terminal with proper waiting stands for those that need public transport, schedules for transportation arrivals and departures and a food court where you can eat while you wait.

The area called Price George Wharf should be changed to an entirely pedestrian zone with nice eateries and entertainment. Kill that horse-and-carriage business by offering those business owners excellent incentives to be man-and-carriage tour guides.

Downtown is no longer the center of retail business activity in The Bahamas; please accept this. It has died because for Bahamians there is not adequate parking, no real shelter from the elements (heat, rain, cold) and also too far away for many in a population that has expanded to all corners of the island.

Kill the Downtown Revitalization Project, most retail businesses there are on life support or surely dead without any chance in hell of bringing them back. Instead, get the tourists to spend money there for authentic Bahamian experiences.

Move a key aspect of the National Art Gallery onto main Bay Street, have a cultural entertainment show on re-run at least three times per day (including a late evening show), commission our young artists in the schools and College of The Bahamas to create works of art on canvas in the public square (and sell them) each weekend; have a Bahamian cuisine show on re-run at least three times per day and charge tourists for each sample and recipe card they wish to have.
Also we should have a public out-door movie screen showing Bahamian movies and promoting our Bahamians that are involved in cinema.

All of these activities will be in walking distance for cruise ship tourists and because they are authentically Bahamian, can serve to motivate passengers to free themselves from the cruise ship entertainment and food to come and spend money with us. Those are the first five suggestions and even if you disagree, come up with your own and share them without looking for fame and fortune. We have a knowledge drain in this country and our leadership is short on ideas. Our country is decayed. I believe we can restore it - with love of country first and courage to speak and act, second.

- Nicole Albury

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