Dear Editor,
Another Christmas has come and gone. On that date this year we recorded yet another alleged homicide and, according to the police, another suspected suicide. The revealed crime statistics are such that we have become numb to the daily briefings by the Royal Bahamas Police Force. The prime minister says that "in a few weeks" he will lay out another crime fighting plan. He is, of course, joking.
I am a PLP, but at the rate that it is mismanaging the affairs of the nation, I may be obliged in January 2016 to break ranks with my party for the sake of the country. The PLP is like a ship adrift at sea and heading toward the reefs and shoals while the captain is either out of touch or asleep at the wheel. The sad thing about this whole exercise is that the vast majority of PLP parliamentarians and Cabinet ministers are just as bad in the execution of their constitutional duties as the prime minister, or worse.
It is inconceivable that the nation can or should continue along this course. Our people in New Providence and Grand Bahama are catching economic hell right here on Earth. Our fellow citizens in the rest of the country have been relegated to the back of the proverbial bus. Yes, I concede that an embryonic national development plan is being crafted or thrown together, ad hoc. Has there been a publicized public consultation or the presentation of a white or blue paper on the same?
Within a matter of weeks we are poised to roll out National Health Insurance (NHI). The concept is supposed to be a 'cure it all' for the traditional access or non-availability of medical treatment for assorted chronic illnesses. The necessity of hosting cook outs and other less intrusive forms of actual begging are supposed to be eliminated or reduced to an irreducible minimum. No one knows the costs and no one has yet to present proposed legislation to the nation, much less Parliament.
The prime minister is a man on a mission which he has clearly lost sight of. It is a no brainer that unemployment and the fear of crime are the two biggest hurdles facing the average Bahamian. Yet, in the face of all of this, the prime minister and his puppet masters are seeking to impose yet another form or level of taxation on your already meager income to support a proposal which, in the short term, will benefit the government (PLP) of the day.
General elections are just around the corner, and the PLP is gearing up to fill its political coffers. Certain parliamentarians are seemingly getting rich by all and any means necessary. It does not matter, and it has not for a long time that huge pockets of our unwashed masses are unemployed or underemployed.
My family and I live in the Mount Moriah constituency. The MP for the area is one Arnold Forbes who is, to me, more known for his absence than his presence in the constituency. This year, he and his people did not send one single card, much less a ham or turkey (which thank God, I did not need).
This is the style of the PLP and it was vividly shown during the so-called Christmas message of the prime minister to the nation. I should not blame our politicians, however, as we have given them carte blanche over our individual and collective lives. We have elevated them to demigod status and they 'rule' over most of you with disdain and impunity.
Despite the annual requirements under law, few of them ever honestly declare what is what to anybody. Most of them used to live amongst us, but today they are all behind gates; it is a pity that except for one politician way back in the day, none of the political class have ever been criminally charged and prosecuted for corruption, bribe taking and/or skimming off the top of various contracts, as would have been alleged over the years.
Bahamians, by and large, are very laid back and seem not to have a care in the world. The mediocre political leadership we are experiencing right now would be unacceptable in many other nations, even Haiti and Jamaica - two 'failed' states. There would have been massive public demonstrations, the erection of barricades and burning of rubber tires.
Unemployment is off the charts, but the administration totes its job creation plan and claims to have actually added jobs. Mind you, this is the same administration that presided over the debacle at Baha Mar and the ongoing and ceaseless disintegration of the Grand Bahama economy. Thousands of Bahamians celebrated one of the worst Christmases of their lives, but none of the politicians or their families, I am sure, were short of a delectable ham or turkey with all of the trimmings.
In Mount Moriah, the public spaces are being badly neglected and the playground equipment is in need of repairs and/or replacement. Hundreds of young men in Mount Moriah are clueless, leaderless and suffering, acutely, from a lack of motivation. They have been relegated to petty drug dealing and theft. They have been left behind on the bridge to the future.
The prime minister seems to be oblivious to conditions on the ground in New Providence and the more populated islands. Crime, believe it or not, is not as bad as the politicians, across the board, like to portray it. Yes, there have been and are too many alleged homicides but they are, generally, limited to a certain demographic in our society.
Other types of crimes, based on verifiable statistics, are down. It is now abundantly clear, however, that the Christie administration has absolutely no plan for tackling crime and no inkling about how to formulate one. This administration is all about smokescreens, mirrors and illusion. Sleight of hand and bamboozle are its trademarks. Transparency and accountability are foreign to its leadership.
We have now evolved into a constitutional dictatorship where most ministers are mere props and cronies of the prime minister. During the first installment of the Christie interregnum, we witnessed, big time, allegations of corruption and malfeasance. This second time around is the worst of the worst, and the prime minister has maintained a deadly silence.
Millions of dollars have gone missing from the coffers of the Ministry of Transport and Aviation. Millions more, allegedly, went missing from the Road Traffic Department under the watch of officials, one of whom is the purported owner of several choice pieces of residential land in Millenium Gardens. Others, allegedly, own numerous omnibus and taxi franchises. It is alleged that Cabinet ministers and/or their surrogates actually have ownership stakes in entities that do business with the administration.
Law firms, formerly headed by ministers, allegedly are representing or lobbying for individuals and companies that are doing or seeking to do business with the Gold Rush administration. I am fairly close to all of the major players in the web shop industry. The majority of them will never ever publicly say that they were 'approached' during the referendum and the lead up to regulation of the industry. At least a half dozen individuals, known to me, would have received millions of dollars for their 'greasing' of the process. If challenged, I will reveal names and amounts.
The PLP is on the political ropes, and the average Bahamian is definitely not feeling it or appreciating its public policy initiatives. VAT may have been needed, but we have had no detailed reporting in months on the status of the same. The prime minister has promised to give 'an account' on any number of issues and concerns, but, so far, has failed or refused to do so. The FNM, led by Dr. Hubert Minnis (FNM-Killarney) will be defeated by the PLP.
The only hope for the FNM is for the return of Hubert Ingraham. I could care less about the views, jaundiced at best, that he should stay in retirement. The state of the nation mandates strong, clear-headed and visionary leadership. Philip Brave Davis (the member of Parliament for Cat Island) has all of these attributes but he has challenges. Unless and until he overcomes them, who is the logical successor? The fabled bridge is crumbling. Anyone who dares to attempt to cross over the same does so at his/her own risk.
This year was a year of survivorship. Next year will make or break tens of thousands of Bahamians, politically, economically and, of course, spiritually. Repeated experiences should, in the natural course of things, lead to wisdom. Unfortunately, however, the man who preens as king may well still be in kindergarten. The bridge is nothing less than an illusion of epic portions.
To God then, in all things, as we prepare to leap into 2016, be the glory.
- Ortland H. Bodie Jr.
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