Dear Editor,
many of the thousands of Bahamians who enthusiastically supported the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) last May and in the recent North Abaco by-election were under the impression (or delusion) that a win for the PLP and Perry G. Christie would usher in an utopian age of peace and prosperity similar to that of Aslan's country in the late Clive Staples Lewis' classic children's novel "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader". However, nine months into the current tenure of the Christie administration and hardly anything has panned out the way many of these people thought it would.
In "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", Lucy and Edmund Pevensie, Eustace Clarence Scrubb and Reepicheep the Mouse sailed to the end of the world in Narnia. Upon realizing that they were near Aslan's country, the excited mouse lowered his coracle into the water, threw away his sword and sailed into Aslan's country. The narrator of the novel remarked that no one can truly claim to have seen Reepicheep again. But it was his belief that he came safe into Aslan's country. To Narnians, Aslan's country is a place of happiness and extraordinary wealth.
There is no such thing there as financial debt or budget deficits or persons losing their homes due to their inability to meet mortgage payments or utilities being disconnected for lack of payment of the bill. There is no crime there and its subjects live in tranquility and peace. Aslan's country is an ideal world that every Narnian wants to live in. Only Aslan the creator of Narnia can give such a world.
The PLP ran the greatest campaign in the history of Bahamian politics in 2012. Its gold rush theme was a classic and captured the imagination of thousands who were dissatisfied with the Ingraham administration. Christie told the people what they wanted to hear. He gave them hope. If it was remotely possible for the PLP to fulfill many of its extraordinary campaign pledges, The Bahamas in 2013 would mirror Aslan's country to a certain extent.
In an allegorical sense, PLPs during the campaign embarked on a journey in the Gold Rush Treader to Christie's country, where they would no longer encounter the myriad of problems which dogged them during the former administration. They believed that Christie would end the recession, especially in Freeport, and create tens of thousands of jobs in a year or two; put an end to the high murder rate; introduce universal health insurance within a year or so; meet the demands of the ungrateful, unreasonable unions; rescue thousands of homeowners who were in danger of having their homes repossessed by the banks and double the investment in public education.
The PLP complained vociferously about the fiscal policies of the former Free National Movement (FNM) government and had accused it of worsening the recession. Perhaps the number one complaint that was leveled over and repeatedly against the FNM was the $206 million cost overrun for the New Providence Road Improvement Project. Blaming the road works for the dire financial state of their once prosperous businesses, a group of businesspersons calling themselves the Coconut Grove Business League (CGBL), were a constant thorn in the FNM government's side in the run up to the general election.
another grand opportunity to gain political capital, the PLP promised these businesspersons to compensate them for their financial loss once it gets back into office. I read that the Ministry of Finance had put together a $15 million package which has been frowned upon by the CGBL. Rather than hand out cash to the affected businesspersons, the government instead proposes to give business license and real property tax relief. Unfortunately for the CGBL, which claimed that its members lost $40 million because of the road works, the government doesn't have the money to compensate them for their massive financial loss.
The FNM was also chided for the unacceptably high national unemployment rate which was in the double digits. Crime, particularly murder, soared under the Ingraham administration. In 2011 there were 127 murders. Despite the FNM being given the proverbial boot in May of last year, high double digit unemployment continues to dog the country and the financial state of the national treasury still leaves much to be desired. With a projected budget deficit of a staggering $700 million, it is clear to all and sundry that the high expectations of PLPs will have to be drastically tapered.
Many of that party's grandiose promises have been significantly scaled back. Despite inviting many important union bosses to sit on many of its statutory boards, union unrest continues. Several of the unions, such as the Bahamas Electrical Workers Union and the Bahamas Public Service Union, are now growing restless with the PLP. Last December, Christie had to talk to disgruntled members of the Bahamas Customs Immigration and Allied Workers Union in order to inform them of the sorry state of the public purse. Like many civil servants, they feel as if they are underpaid. As well, there have been rumors of substitute teachers in the Ministry of Education not being paid for months.
The payment debacle at Urban Renewal is well documented. For what it's worth, poverty continues to ravage thousands of Bahamian families - many of whom are now depending on social services for food, rent and utility vouchers. The Ministry of Social Services, according to The Tribune, has recently announced that it will likely request additional funding from the government to cover aid to the public for electricity and rental payments. Regarding murder, when the PLP came to office in May, the murder count was around 44 or thereabouts. By December 31, it had reached the mark of 110. So in an eight-month period, there were over 60 murders, notwithstanding the best efforts of Urban Renewal 2.0.
While the murder rate has seen a slight decrease, armed robberies have gone up. Related to this, the United States Embassy recently issued a warning to its citizens traveling to and living in New Providence. Clearly, this has a potential to ruin our number one bread and butter which is tourism. As well, who can forget the much touted mortgage relief program and the national health scheme which were both promised by the PLP? And what about the promise to double the investment in education? With education already receiving over $200 million annually, it was difficult during the gold rush campaign to comprehend how a PLP government would be able to increase the education budget by 100 percent.
Regarding universal health insurance, National Security Minister Dr. Bernard Nottage recently noted that the government is struggling to finance health insurance for public servants. Almost $100 million is spent annually on health coverage for civil servants. If the government is having difficulty in funding health coverage that is about $100 million, how will it be able to afford health coverage for 300,000-plus Bahamians? Such a program could easily exceed $1 billion per annum. With respect to the mortgage relief program, the PLP promised that it would assist 1,100 of the nearly 4,000 homeowners whose homes were in danger of being repossessed by the banks.
However, the present relief plan is a mere shell of what was initially promised. The government has set aside only $10 million for the program. And only a small fraction of the 1,100 homeowners are qualified to receive government assistance. In the last analysis, I hope this PLP government succeeds in fulfilling its ambitious agenda as outlined in its plan. But I believe that many of its lofty campaign promises can only be fulfilled in the mythological world that C.S. Lewis wrote about in "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader".
- Kevin Evans
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