Dear Editor,

Historically, no political party or grouping, other than the loosely organized United Bahamian Party (UBP), has been known to be good at managing money and implementing realistic and sustainable fiscal policies. The bulk of the membership of the UBP were white or conchy joe Bahamians. Most of them were either in the usual professions such as law, banking, medicine or business. In the main they were self-made individuals who did not have to suck on the public pap, so to speak.

Politics back in the day were almost a sideshow and was not regarded as the ‘cure it all’ proposition we now see it as being today. The parliament would meet on a regular basis, mostly in the afternoon. There were few known scandals and few if any cases of alleged public and overt corrupt practices. Yes, we all concede that members of the UBP, especially those at the higher levels, were able to enrich themselves but not, I submit, at the direct expense of the taxpayers or from the trough called and known as the Public Treasury.

Today, we have witnessed the evolution of the ‘all for me baby’ syndrome, which pervades our political class across the divide. One enters politics, initially, with good intentions and the professed desire to help the average man and woman. Some even proclaim that they would have come to ‘Wipe away the tear from every eye, to bring comfort to the sick and relief to the oppressed’. At the end of the whole exercise, however, the slick politico, et al, ends up dead rich, with little or no apparent effort, at our expense.

The politics of money is a serious business but the average Bahamian ‘sells’ him or herself out too cheaply and often lives to rue the day and curse the night that he or she was born. The politicians, however, go laughing all the way to the proverbial bank. Political enrichment is the easiest way to accumulate an easy million or so or to amass unaccounted and unverifiable wealth in the shortest space of time. The church, the web shops and simple pimping and drug dealing are also other viable avenues, but politics is still the path of choice.

It is precisely because of the pervasive and insidious influence of money that we now find ourselves in the stark position where if you have access to a few dollars or know how to plant it judiciously, you hold the ‘power’ of the throne and the ‘glory’ behind the same. Politics as practiced today in our wonderful nation is not for the broke, faint at heart or the saint. It is a means towards an ignoble end.

We have now been downgraded by Standard & Poor’s to the level where we are a notch or two above ‘junk bond’ status. Baha Mar, seemingly, will not be opening any time soon. The prime minister has, again, gone missing in action. The Attorney General has gone deadly quiet. Nottage spoke above the heads of the unwashed masses the other evening during his decadent and juvenile address on crime. He was, as usual, jiving and shucking.

Damien ‘wipe out corruption’ Gomez is continuing to play cute and coy while talking about corruption. Has the Office of the Attorney General located the ‘missing’ extradition files? Is Gomez still going to resign? Did he fold up his former law practice and merge it into Lockhart & Company? What is his status within those chambers, if any? Is he an active or inactive partner?

The politics of money whether we acknowledge it or not, will be crucial to the outcome of the next general election. The average Bahamian talks about politics, supports a political organization or even an individual but they are not positioned to fully comprehend or appreciate the forces being played out. The elected politician and his colleagues are capable of promulgating laws and regulations that impact every facet of our lives but few of us bother to analyze the politics of money. They have the ability and resources to enforce those laws via the state security apparatus, the police and the judiciary.

Ordinary Bahamians see politics as a means of entertainment; the possibility of having a grand time while partying and, of course, access to trivial and non-consequential governmental contracts and menial jobs. With these expectations in mind, supporters of the assorted political parties and fringe groupings go all out, regardless of who gets in the way, for the eventual electoral success of the party or grouping that he/she might support.

Once in power, all hell normally breaks lose at the expense of the ‘opponents’. The politics of money is a deadly game, which few know how to play well. In our wonderful nation, the political directorate has played fast and loose with the media and those who comprise the Fourth Estate in civil society. Those who call themselves by the name of ‘politician’ will continue to do so at their own peril. The media is able to make or break the career of one who feeds at the public trough, without exception.

The main reason the FNM lost in 2012 was that its public relations skills, or lack thereof, were called in to question. The perception was that its leader had grown into a Napoleon as described in Animal Farm by George Orwell. The party was also an ‘in your face’ organization viz-a-vie the tasteless sale of BTC for a relative pittance. The FNM at that time, clearly, had started to run and back fire on fumes. We all remember the prophetic phrase: ‘I am a one man band’!

The media has the powerful glare of a flashlight on steroids to expose and highlight the failures, broken promises and clueless vision of politicians. This time around it will be no different. We will hold their feet to the fire and either the PLP under the anticipated leadership of Philip ‘Brave’ Davis (PLP-Cat Island), DPM and minister of works (Urban Renewal thrown in) will come through or the FNM will, under the expected leadership of Hubert Alexander Ingraham.

It was once written by a now long-dead British author, Edward Bulwer-Lytton that: ‘Beneath the rule of men entirely great...the pen is mightier than the sword.’ The interim PM does not appreciate the media and he has no idea how to deal with such a ‘wild’ creature. He will suffer a heavy political price for this stellar and glaring inability. Indeed, the PLP will relegate itself to the historical dustbin if it does not ramp up its communications abilities. The FNM is where you put me and the hapless DNA is consumed by generating nonsensical position papers and press releases.

It will take massive amounts of money for any individual or organized political party to capture the government come the next general elections. The politics of money will fully play out and he who holds the gold, will dictate the song and dance to be performed.

The PLP has its go-to man in the form of Brave. Christie, historically, allegedly, has always been either too lazy to solicit financial donations or is too full of pomp, or worse, to beg for the same. It has its cadre of ‘monied’ individuals but they, by and large, are too tight to donate anything of value. Brave is the go-to man for fundraising. He has the uncanny ability to wring the last dollar out of a potential donor while making him/her appreciate that it is for the common cause and good of all.

The FNM under Minnis’ disjointed and possibly conflicted leadership will not be able to raise a measly $1 million, much less the $50 million or so required to run a national campaign. Ingraham, however, at the mere announcement that he ‘has heard the cries of the Bahamian people’ inclusive of FNMs, and that he will return to leadership, could raise that figure and more within weeks.

And so, those who have little or no money may as well resign themselves to the outside looking in, because they will not secure a party nomination and/or will not be able to buy one, if that were possible. I, however, have my war chest in place and I will offer, God willing, for Bain and Grants Town whenever the bell is rung. Even in the politics of money, in all things, to God be the glory.

– Ortland H. Bodie, Jr.