Over the next few weeks our politicians will put their full efforts into campaigning. For some, this is their last chance at elected office. Millions will be spent. Promises will be made. Much will be sacrificed to win.
On May 7, barring a strange dead heat, a new government will be elected. The Parliament will then meet on May 23. While the first sitting of Parliament is usually ceremonial, serious work will have to begin right away. The new government at the end of May will bring the new budget forward a few mere weeks after the general election.
As a result of the short time between the election and the presentation of the new budget, it will be largely a Free National Movement(FNM)crafted budget whether the governing party wins the general election or not.
This is the third consecutive May election in The Bahamas. There is no need for elections so close to the presentation of the budget. Under our current system prime ministers could give the instruction at anytime to call an election. It would be useful for us to call elections at times that give new administrations enough time to craft their own budgets.
Major policy initiatives and changes of direction for countries are usually presented in budgets. Finance ministers set out how much the initiatives will cost and how they will be pursued. It is critical that this not be a rushed process.
The FNM in 2007 made changes to what it met in process left by last Christie administration. However, how different would that budget have been if as a new administration it had a few months to prepare after a hectic general election?
Hopefully, we will move away from pre-budget elections. Under the current system our leaders only need choose a different election date and this problem could be solved.
Unnecessary political rhetoric
During election campaigns people get carried away. On podia while addressing supporters, politicians especially get carried away. Last week at the Progressive Liberal Party(PLP)rally at Arawak Cay the PLP's MICAL MP and candidate, Alfred Gray, warned supporters that if Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham wins the next general election there may be no more elections.
Such hyperbolic rhetoric is unnecessary. Gray's statement is also untrue and silly. Ingraham won in 1992 and there was an election in 1997. He won in 2007 and there is about to be an election on May 7. Why suggest that the PM is not democratic?
The parties should continue to state their cases aggressively on the campaign trail. However, speakers should not make untrue statements just to scare voters to their side. The electorate deserves better than this.
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