Leadership is tested in times of crisis. Some leaders panic and crumble. Some are paralyzed. Others excel and demonstrate grit and mettle. A leader's strengths and weaknesses are exposed and highlighted during national emergencies, natural disasters and other moments of trial and testing.
In the lead-up to and the aftermath of Hurricane Joaquin, one of the worst hurricanes to hit The Bahamas in a generation, Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner demonstrated the grit and quality of leadership needed in a prime minister.
An incompetent and delusional Prime Minister Perry Christie dithered and dawdled as the hurricane bore down on Crooked Island, Acklins, Long Island, Long Cay, Rum Cay and San Salvador.
Christie and much of his government did not realize the immense danger of the storm. His pre-hurricane remarks were typically confused, loquacious and nonsensical. Yet again, he failed to rise to the moment. He shrank when tested.
In the aftermath of the hurricane, he remained confused. He was slow to survey the damage and to realize the level of devastation. With thousands of Bahamians in dire need of emergency relief and rescue, the head of government bizarrely chose instead to attend two funerals rather than immediately survey the devastation.
Christie was late in getting airborne. Joaquin exposed the desultory nature of his leadership. He proved yet again to be incompetent and incoherent in his words and in his actions.
The response of much of the central government was slow because the head of government provided scant leadership. At the outset of the crisis he seemed more an infantryman than a general.
Joaquin rapidly intensified and meandered before its direct hit on parts of the south and central Bahamas. But given the proximity and nature of such storms, Christie and his government should have been prepared for various eventualities. Such preparation is called leadership and strategic thinking.
Fearsome
Butler-Turner sounded the alarm about the fearsome nature and potential damage of Joaquin as the hurricane turned its furious attention on woefully unprepared communities.
Following Joaquin's rampage and before Christie and others boarded an airplane to survey the affected islands, Butler-Turner was already in the air, demonstrating courage and resolve.
Along with a team of others, she endured a harrowing airplane ride, surveying the havoc on several islands and cays. She took to the air repeatedly to survey damage, to direct recovery and relief supplies, and as critically to offer comfort and hope.
Butler-Turner assembled and directed an extraordinary team of volunteers, disaster relief and recovery specialists from home and abroad and an army of millennials. She built a diverse team to respond to the crisis at hand. For many Bahamians, it seemed as if Butler-Turner was the prime minister during those difficult days.
In a speech delivered at Rotary after Joaquin, Butler-Turner described what she saw and felt: "On the affected islands, there are numerous heartrending and horrific stories of fear and survival in dozens of settlements and communities; stories of families abandoning their homes shortly before they collapsed; stories of frightened parents comforting even more frightened children as water levels continued to rise; stories of elderly residents who found Joaquin the worst hurricane they have ever experienced; stories of individuals fleeing to find shelter, unsure of whether they would live or die; stories of families huddling and praying in hallways, single rooms or ceilings for hours upon hours, which seemed like an eternity; stories of those who fled to safety as the eye of the hurricane passed over their settlements; stories of those who rode out the hurricane, sheltered in cars and boats and many more stories of panic and desperation."
She continued: "Following the hours and days of fear and of immediate survival, stories of devastation abound. Hundreds of homes and businesses are destroyed; a vast amount of critical infrastructure has been destroyed or is severely damaged; roads are impassable; utilities are downed and will take some time to repair; entire islands and settlements are in a catastrophic state, with extensive flooding and severe water damage."
Authentic
Her words showed an authentic leader deeply moved but not paralyzed by the devastation. Christie's late response and his incoherent words during the crisis showed a man out of touch, a public relations hack who seemed to want to get his words right for the camera and to deflect responsibility from his abysmal leadership.
Joaquin mirrored the larger crisis the country now faces in terms of crime and decay, and economic peril and high unemployment. The Bahamas is at its lowest ebb in generations. There is a collapse of hope. There is a collapse of promise. The future of the country is collapsing. Thousands are drowning in a hellish nightmare.
There is also massive corruption, taxpayers are at the mercy of deeply corrupt officials who are stealing the country blind and who don't give a damn about the suffering of thousands.
We are living in a cesspool of corruption, where certain politicians and officials are gorging themselves while thousands of Bahamians suffer from hunger and deprivation.
Some Bahamians are living in their cars, while certain corrupt politicians flaunt their luxury vehicles. Thousands are suffering in sweltering heat because they have no electricity or cannot afford to buy or turn on air conditioning.
The exodus of professionals leaving the country, especially young professionals, is a warning sign. Many expatriate workers are also seeing the direction in which The Bahamas is headed. Many of them are also leaving.
But the greatest warning sign is those for whom The Bahamas is their only home and who are being crushed by dire social and economic burdens. There is great suffering among scores of Bahamians.
Neither Perry Christie nor Opposition Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis possess the vision, the character and the ability to help rescue The Bahamas from the current devastation, which promises to worsen, and will only be worse under their leadership.
Intelligence
As she demonstrated during Joaquin and during the last four years of PLP misrule, Loretta Butler-Turner possesses the qualities needed to address the current moment. She has the intelligence, the grit, the heart, the willingness to assemble a stellar team and the steeliness needed in a head of government.
She offers hope in the dark days we now face. Butler-Turner noted in her Rotary address: "Those who fought in earlier generations for racial, economic social and gender equality were ordinary citizens and heroes who helped to build this country's infrastructure of hope during times of trial and testing. Building hope is hard work. So too, renewing hope.
"Like all infrastructure, our infrastructure of hope needs to be renewed and remodeled, with new additions, which will allow our people to realize their potential, their aspirations and the promise of being a citizen of The Bahamas.
"When I was first asked to deliver this address many weeks ago I chose as my theme, hope, not as a starry-eyed idea from rose-colored glasses, but as an enduring proposition.
"In the last week, amidst the heartache and destruction [of Hurricane Joaquin], I am even more firmly committed to the proposition that hope abounds and that we must restore faith in ourselves, in our national institutions and in our shared aspirations and common, loftier goals."
o frontporchguardian@gmail.com, www.bahamapundit.com.
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