Dear Editor,
I have long held and still hold the view that the return of the former prime minister as leader of the hapless Free National Movement (FNM) is in the proverbial cards and is, despite, what deluded individuals might say, inevitable. I am, of course, not an FNM or a DNA and most of my other attributes are “good”.
PLPs, et al, also know that I am not a partisan of the current prime minister. He used to mean well for this wonderful nation and I am sure that he still harbors sentiments of usefulness and do good intentions.
The 2015-2016 budget which he presented was well crafted and provided a bone for almost every ‘dog’ in the kennel, so to speak. This, clearly, is an election year type budget and the ramifications have caught the FNM and its adherents flat-footed.
The fact that the proposed roll-out of the vaunted National Health Initiative will not, initially, attract a new tax is a game changer for the electoral chances of the ruling PLP. If it is implemented, even in incremental stages, the PLP, long the political champion of the masses, will be returned to office with a comfortable majority.
Yes, there will be at least nine PLP MPs who will be wiped out at the next vote, inclusive of the current holder of the Bain and Grants Town constituency and, alas, the holder in St. Cecilia. Renward Wells is history in Bamboo Town, as is Rollins in Fort Charlotte.
NHI, however, will not be the panacea that will enable the return to high office of the PLP in 2016. The front line leadership cadre of the FNM is in shambles. The leader has to constantly look over his shoulder to see if he sees the hologram of Hubert Ingraham or the ghost of Christmas past.
Frank Watson, one of the acknowledged ‘wise ones’ of the FNM, has been all over the place, except to Real Talk Live, pontificating about the perceived weaknesses of Minnis and how he has yet to rise to the occasion.
The budget debate over the course of the next few weeks will demonstrate whether or not Minnis and his colleagues have what it takes to wrest control of the government from Christie and company.
Minnis, a good and decent Bahamian, if ever there were one, has his work cut out for him. He has to keep one eye on Ingraham and the other on cut-throats within his inner circle. Christie, on the other hand, is comfortable in his skin as prime minister, at least for now.
The reduction in duty on motor vehicles is a welcome move but should have been slashed even lower to 45 percent. All used motor vehicles aged more than five years should have been banned so as to stimulate the local automotive industry and remove some of the dangerous and environmentally unfriendly clunkers on our roads today.
No doubt, current taxi cab franchise holders and others will be elated once this budget is passed as they will be able to access used vehicles as opposed to brand new ones.
I would wish, however, that there be some mandatory stipulation of the kind of vehicle that can be utilized as a taxi, especially for those that ply at our major ports of entry and downtown New Providence, as is the case in most major countries of the world. A mandatory dress code used to be in place but one hardly ever hears about that any more. The minister of transport in office is totally different from how she was in opposition.
There were constant cries about the necessity of unification and modernization of the omnibus system. We were told that there would be public meetings to discuss and rationalize the necessity for dedicated bus stops and shelters. Nothing, to date, has been done or said to bring a bussing hub into the downtown areas of New Providence.
The Ministry of Tourism is encouraging increased visitor arrivals but it is doing very little to enhance the experiences and memorable events for those who venture to our shores. Customer service is still nebulous and a work in progress. Some say that the private sector should drive the innovations needed but for Bahamians – however, most of them lack access to capital and to the multimillions of dollars in incentives doled out and spoon fed to the foreign investors.
We are concentrating on New Providence, Grand Bahama and basically that is the extent of the ‘growth’ of our tourism industry and the tweaking of the now fabled Sir Stafford Sands model. In the event of the eventual opening of Cuba and other exotic destinations, we will have to conceptualize and implement a revitalization and modernization of the same with a more extensive selection and choices for both domestic and foreign tourists.
This budget could be a game changer but we must demand – not beg or ask for – fiscal accountability, proper and transparent audits and, of course more specifics about many of the proposed allocations.
I am particularly concerned about the additional $20 million that is about to be flung into a potential “black hole” called Urban Renewal, aka, youth employment programs. While the stated objectives are not easily understood, it is obvious that there is the potential to transform this into an electoral and political slush fund.
Why inject more money into a program where there are serious doubts about the viability of the same, an apparent lack of accountability and the availability of audited financial statements? This money belongs to the people of this wonderful nation and not to the politicians and their favorites, supplicants and alleged cronies.
The prime minister did offer a bone to the public sector housing industry but he failed, miserably, so far, to explain why after more than three years in office, the loquacious but often ‘missing in action’ minister of housing and environment, and his top-heavy ministry have yet to complete a dozen houses. The government needs to get out of the housing construction business and encourage the private sector to stimulate home ownership at affordable prices and with secured legal title.
The Critical Care Block at the Princess Margaret Hospital, still a work in progress, may eventually come on stream but there are too many unanswered questions about the administration at The Public Hospitals Authority.
A while back, the managing director was ‘terminated’ or ‘suspended’ by the board for some unknown reason. Shortly thereafter he was reinstated. This does not bode well for transparency, accountability or, at the minimum, common sense.
We have yet to be given the full details or to see a concise forensic report of the alleged abuses within the authority. Tens of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars and funded medication are missing or unaccounted for. Yet, the budget, as presented by a prime minister who “believes in Bahamians”, is deadly silent on reforms at the Public Hospital Authority. To add insult to injury, numerous mini hospitals and clinics are unable to open because of lack of equipment and/or trained personnel.
The Ministry of Works is one of the few ministries that is actually working under the leadership of the deputy prime minister, Philip ‘Brave’ Davis (PLP-Cat Island). Of course, he and his competent staff have their work cut out for them due to the nature of the makeup of our nation.
I have no problem with that ministry’s allocation being increased. Already, major roads in New Providence have been paved and repaired. The East Street corridor is excellent. Attention must now be paid to Poinciana Drive, Wulff Road and Farrington Road.
Governmental buildings, especially the crumbling Post Office Building, are in a terrible state of disrepair. I wonder, are they all insured, especially the Rodney Bain Building at the corner of Parliament and Shirley Streets?
My insipid member of Parliament, the well intentioned but clueless Arnold Forbes (PLP-Mt. Moriah), boldly stated in Parliament a few weeks ago that “all buildings at BAMSI were insured” but he has yet, as far as I am aware, to lay supporting certificates of insurance on the table of the House.
Very little was said by the nation’s leader – as perhaps could be expected from a prime minister who, by his own admission, dropped out of high school – about doubling the expenditure on education, a concerning issue, especially considering the long evolving saga of the University of The Bahamas. We have witnessed, in this lifetime, the literal decimation of our educational system and the results have proven a natural disaster by all accounts.
Surprisingly, nothing much was said along the lines of sustainable job creation and the development and growth of an entrepreneurial class. Micro lending for credible businesses has never really been an integral objective of either Ingraham or Christie. Sir Lynden tried it but he was too busy running an embryonic nation. A mere job in the hospitality field or a minimum wage in the private or public sector will no longer cut it.
I will give the prime minister a ‘B’ for a well presented budget and the same grade for finally getting it sort of ‘right’. I say this grudgingly because I see this budget as a calculated and deliberate ploy to delay and, if possible, derail the eventual ascendency of Brave Davis to the office of prime minister.
If this budget plays out and if Christie is able to jettison some of the political baggage and the apostates which he totes and tolerates, he may well, as intimated to me by a former FNM cabinet minister and a political casualty of the wily Hubert Ingraham, kick Brave to the curb and seek another term as prime minister.
I am a Brave partisan and he must understand that now is the time or he will be relegated to the category of “They also aspired”. To God then, in all things, be the glory.
– Ortland H. Bodie, Jr.
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