The Bahamas has been in a no-growth/contraction phase the past few years. In that time government debt has gone up. The government debt-to-GDP went from 48 percent in the 2011/12 fiscal year to a projected 71.5 percent this fiscal year.
The new Free National Movement (FNM) administration is borrowing $722 million it thinks necessary to stabilize the mess left by the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP). We are in a bad financial situation.
The Bahamas has an inefficient and over-staffed public service. That has been known and accepted for years. No sane person thinks the public service should be grown by thousands. Yet, that's what the PLP did.
Minister of State for Public Service and National Insurance Brensil Rolle revealed yesterday that the public service grew by 6,500 people over the last five years, and the government's payroll ballooned by $10 million in the last five months of the Christie administration's term.
Rolle, who made those revelations during his contribution to the budget debate in the House of Assembly, said the established process for hiring new people, which includes proving to the Ministry of Public Service that there is sufficient money to cover salaries, was "thrown out the window" under the former government.
"Every minister hired whomever they wished, at whatever rank they wished," he continued.
"Many of whom did not even come to the public service."
The minister said when he inquired as to how many of the new employees were paid, he was informed that the Ministry of Finance did not know that they existed in many cases.
The Bahamian people knew the PLP was ruining the country. That's why the party was rejected across the archipelago. Voters tried to remove the entire then governing party from the House. Even the sitting prime minister lost his seat. The four PLPs who won just barely did so.
The FNM should not keep all these people the PLP irresponsibly hired. Bahamians cannot afford the increased tax burden for more unneeded state bureaucrats.
Thankfully, Rolle is of this view too.
"While this government is truly committed to the Bahamian people, we are fully aware that there are some burdens we can't carry at the public's expense," he said.
Another major issue in the public service, Rolle said, is the number of pensioners who were re-engaged by the former administration.
"We have been saddled with the engagement and re-engagement of too many pensioners with skills that are already resident in the public service," he said.
"And they are given salaries that are substantially higher than that of members in the public service.
"...This government will engage in an exercise that will somehow deal with these issues."
Terminating workers from the public service is always a politically charged issue. The FNM would be wise to terminate all the people it deems unnecessary at once in order to avoid numerous battles with those who dissent.
The tens of thousands of Bahamians who voted for the FNM understand that it is trying to clean up the PLP's mess, and that tough measures are necessary. The excessive levels of PLP spending should not be retained. We cannot create a prosperous country by wasting tax dollars on unnecessary jobs.
We hope the prime minister addresses this issue sooner rather than later. Order must be restored.

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