The United Bahamian Party's platform

Sun, Jan 31st 2016, 11:50 PM

"A party of order or stability, and a party of progress or reform, are both necessary elements of a healthy state of political life."

- John Stuart Mill

Last week, we examined the initial Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) platform first introduced in 1953, the year that the PLP was established in The Bahamas. This week, we would like to Consider this... What were the essential elements of the initial platform of the country's second major political party, the United Bahamian Party (UBP)?

The 1956 general elections
The UBP's establishment must be viewed in the context of two major events - the general elections of 1956 and the General Strike of 1958.

In the 1956 general elections, the House of Assembly was comprised of 29 seats. The PLP won six seats and garnered 33 percent of the popular vote. The Bahama Democrat Labour Party, represented by Eugene Dupuch, won a single seat with six percent of the popular votes. The persons who formed the government, all independents, were a group of white candidates, generally referred to as "The Bay Street Boys", won 22 seats with 61 percent of the popular votes. A total of 21,941 votes were cast in that election from a population of nearly 90,000.

The Bay Street Boys had perfected the art of gerrymandering the districts, or constituencies as they are now called. That the island of Eleuthera, including Harbour Island, should have six seats - compared to eight seats for all of New Providence - was a gross perversion of the electoral process. The same can be said for Abaco, Exuma and Long Island, each with two seats.

The UBP also had an insidious plan to radically alter the colony's demographics by encouraging British Commonwealth citizens to immigrate here in order to grant them "belonger" status, thereby enabling them to vote in general elections here. Had the UBP succeeded in that diabolical enterprise, The Bahamas would be a very different country today. It is also noteworthy that Andros was the only island in the colony that exhibited the courage to reject the omnipotent forces of the mighty UBP, giving both seats to the PLP.

The General Strike of 1958
The second significant event that influenced the formation of the UBP was the 19-day General Strike of 1958. Its root cause, the unfair practices of tour cars taking business from the members of The Bahamas Taxi Cab Union, came to a head when Nassau International Airport opened in November 1957.

After a cooling off period following a Bahamas Taxi Union blockade of that facility, 19 out of 20 points were successfully negotiated. When the agreement stalled on the 20th point, the trade union movement stood with their brothers in The Bahamas Taxi Cab Union and shut Nassau down from January 12 to 31, the height of the winter tourist season.

Besides assisting the taxi drivers to resolve the 20th point, the General Strike focused the attention of the British overlords on the problems of The Bahamas. This started a sea-change which would see four new House of Assembly seats created in Nassau, one-man-one-vote become a reality, women given the right to vote, trade unions finally coming into their own, and the development of first, a constitution, and ultimately independence. All from the only general strike ever seen in The Bahamas.

The formation of the UBP

Following the General Strike, the Bay Street Boys advised the British government that they had decided to change the name of their newly formed political party from the Christian Democratic Party to the United Bahamian Party. The new party's platform was published in The Nassau Guardian in March 1958.

The platform addressed many of the concerns that the PLP expressed, including issues of great importance to black Bahamians that the white oligarchy had refused to address for many generations.

Sir Clifford Darling published the UBP twenty-point platform in his book: "A Bahamian Life Story".  The platform included the following:

1. The extension of the franchise so that all males over 21 years of age will have the right to vote in elections for Members of the House of Assembly in the district in which they are ordinarily resident in addition to those entitled to vote by reason of rental or ownership of property.

2. The early enactment of new labor legislation to permit all workers in the colony who wish to do so to join trade unions, to provide for the fixing of minimum wages, for collective bargaining and for the conciliation of labor disputes.

3. The earliest possible commencement of a sound housing scheme for New Providence and the Out Islands to provide an adequate supply of low and moderate cost housing for the lower income group in the colony by means of government-insured mortgages and full government support.

4. The early enactment of legislation to make just provision for improvement and control of road transport services, including taxis, tour cars, buses and u-drive-its.

5. The continuation and increase of the development of the Out Islands, particularly by the attraction of foreign capital to build up and expand Out Island agriculture, industries and tourist resorts.

6. The continued improvement and expansion of the educational facilities of the colony in all branches, particularly by the establishment of a properly organized teachers' training college and the establishment of vocational training schools.

7. The establishment of a university in the colony as soon as the financial position of the colony warrants such an undertaking.

8. The continued improvement and expansion of the Public Health and Public Sanitation Services of the colony, particularly in the Out Islands.

9. The extension and improvement of all Out Island communications by road, sea and air.

10. The early construction of additional airfields in the Out Islands so as to extend the benefits of air services to all principal islands in The Bahamas.

11. The continued and speedy improvement of all branches of agriculture in the colony, particularly in the Out Islands, by every means possible.

12. The improvement of stock-raising in the colony, particularly in the Out Islands, by the development with government support of better pasture land and improvement in the breeds of animals.

13. The improvement of marketing of Out Island produce both in New Providence and abroad.

14. The continued improvement and expansion of the telecommunications facilities of the Colony, both with the Out Islands and the outside world.

15. The urgent expansion of electricity and water services in New Providence so that all residents of New Providence may have the opportunity of being connected to and enjoying such services at the lowest possible cost, and the fostering by all means possible the development and expansion of electricity and water services in the Out Islands.

16. The removal of customs duties and emergency taxes on the necessaries of life as the general revenue of the colony increases as far as can be done under the terms of foreign treaties made by the government of the United Kingdom, which are binding on the colony.

17. The early amendment of The Workmen's Compensation Act of the colony to provide rates of compensation in line with the high level of wages presently paid in the colony.

18. The full investigation of the advantages and disadvantages of municipal government for built-up areas in the colony so as to determine the advisability of providing for municipalities in the colony.

19. The continued improvement in the high standard of living in the colony by further promotion of the colony's tourist trade with its many benefits to all sections of the community, and the support of sound industrial development within the colony.

20. The fostering of full co-operation and goodwill between all classes and races within the colony.
One of the most notable features of the UBP Platform was its focus on the Out Islands, which was driven by political pragmatism. The Bay Street Boys had lost tremendous support on New Providence (where the vast majority of the population resided) both at the polls in 1956 and because of the general strike in 1958. The UBP therefore focused its attention on the Out Islands, proposing to sustain the balance of power, by stacking the deck with a disproportionate number of Out Island parliamentary seats and with immigrated foreigners, as we noted earlier.
Conspicuously absent from the UBP Platform was any commitment whatsoever to the secondary education of the masses which, like its rival PLP recognized, was the mechanism for catapulting Bahamians into the professions that were certainly "beyond their reach" without this important educational steppingstone.
In the final analysis, 21 of the independent members of Parliament joined the UBP in 1958, resulting in the formation of a two-party system in the colony that has persisted today, 43 years after independence.

Conclusion
Three major events in the 1950s have forever altered the Bahamian political landscape. The formation of the PLP in 1953, the general elections of 1956 and the General Strike of 1958 all laid the groundwork for party politics, which has endured for six decades.
It is through the expression of political parties that we have come to define our democratic journey. It is precisely for this reason that we must safeguard this first line of defense for the growth and development of our nation by ensuring that the standard bearers for both political parties are selected from persons with a sense of the history of whence we came and, more importantly, with a vision of where we should be headed.

o Philip C. Galanis is the managing partner of HLB Galanis and Co., Chartered Accountants, Forensic & Litigation Support Services. He served 15 years in Parliament. Please send your comments to pgalanis@gmail.com.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

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