Khrisna Virgil reviews the big stories that had the Bahamas talking this week.

BAHAMAS Communications and Public Officers Union president Bernard Evans said yesterday that Thursday's meeting with Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) executives "did not produce results but was promising".

A man was shot and killed in the Winton area of New Providence. There was little detail up to press time, but police confirmed the man was killed on Culberts Hill off Prince Charles Drive sometime after eight o'clock.

Dear Editor,

I have never made it a state secret that I am first and foremost a supporter of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and the eventual ascendancy of Philip ‘Brave’ Davis (PLP-Cat Island; Rum Cay and San Salvador). Brave is the future, at the appropriate time, for political leadership of the parliamentary caucus of the party. Anyone else, if he or she so chooses, is eligible to be or become party leader, outside of the house, but not prime minister.

In recent times, the current prime minister has risen to the occasion. There has been an apparent transformation in Perry Christie as he prepares and attempts to etch his political legacy in stone, paper mache or shaving cream.

The prime minister is now on the right course and I, for one congratulate him. I call it for what it is. Initially, I submit, the prime minister was distracted, delusional and, clearly out of it. Now, however, he has assumed the mantle of leadership with the capable and able assistance of his Cabinet colleagues.

The prime minister looks and acts as if he has found a way to transform himself from the orator, who really says nothing, to a new phenomenon who is now actually doing something of real value for real, live Bahamians. We could not have allowed the Bank of The Bahamas to fail. The company formed to accept the toxic loan portfolio of that revered institution was absolutely necessary.

The salient fact of the matter is that the bank, under both administrations, may have taken on loans which, clearly, may have been untenable. Kudos on this rescue, prime minister. The proposed mortgage relief program, however, is better left alone at this juncture.

What the prime minister and his economic team should focus on is persuading, by incentives, commercial banks to renegotiate the terms of mortgages, across the board, so as to either allow persons to get out of the foreclosure maze or to secure more reasonable repayment plans at reduced interest rates for at least 12-18 months. This would be a win/win situation for all of the relevant parties and stakeholders.

The prime minister needs also to clearly come out in support of the commissioner of police (COP) and his team. He once said that his legacy would not be tied to the performance and effectiveness of the COP and the Royal Bahamas Police Force. This was dead wrong and totally out of order.

The prime minister, however, is able to correct this blunder, in short order. Here is how: The prime minister, God bless his soul, need not be too concerned with providing more equipment for the various forces. He and his administration should immediately address the concerns and legitimate grievances of members for the disciplined forces.

These men and women place their health and very lives on the line every day and night to provide us with a degree of security and law and order. Teachers and medical personnel and line staffers must also be honorably dealt with.

The prime minister may well be the bridge to the future but this apparent transformation must be real. All of the political ghosts lurking in Christie’s past and present must be exorcized at the earliest opportunity. He must now move, aggressively, to secure what could be a wonderful and unprecedented legacy, etched in granite.

He must, post haste, address the people of this great little nation in terms that would connect with the masses of the people. The coinage of a motivational and uplifting slogan or cliché should be a priority of the prime minister.

Bahamians have always been used to catching hell and calling it a good time. The time has come, however, when the regular Bahamian, wherever found in The Bahamas, feels left out of the economic utopia that has long been promised but has yet to materialize.

Distractions are one thing and the unwashed masses must be entertained, regularly, but Christie must transform the economy to the point where Joe Blow and Mary Jane feel included in the soon to be boom in our economy.

I am more than prepared to allow the prime minister to remain in office until the end of this year. His evolving, if disjointed legacy is now starting to flesh itself out. More time is needed for him to do this in a coherent and well thought out manner. A deal, however, even at the most subliminal level, is a deal.

The people of this country expected more from the Gold Rush.

With his now evident transformation, Christie, if he so chooses, can do more in terms of expanding democracy and transparency in government, almost with the stroke of his Mont Blanc pen. Hard head makes thin bird soup.

To God then, in all things, be the glory.

– Ortland H. Bodie Jr.