Dear Editor,
There is a nebulous myth here in The Bahamas that there is and has been a gradual equalization in income and property ownership amongst our people. I suggest that that is, in fact, far from reality. While in a utopian world we might all wish that each reasonable citizen should have the right to have a sustainable income and have unfettered access to property ownership, this scenario will never be obtained in our life time.
The cold statistics would show, time and time again, that the rich are getting progressively richer while the poor, as stated by The Master, continue to remain with us. The so-called middle class has been decimated by global economic issues and bad fiscal policies of all of our politicians.
In New Providence where over 85 percent of the Bahamian populace resides, affordable and suitable residential land is off the chart for many. The cheapest lots used to be available in the Nassau Village Subdivision and "in the back of the bush". Today, even in those areas, the smallest plot of land goes for B$75,000 or more. God help you if your lawyer fails to conduct a proper title search.
Yes, one with the means might still be able to access a residential lot in one of the suburbs or in a gated community, but even then one should expect to pay in excess of B$150,000 and monthly maintenance fees. The average Bahamian earns around B$20,000 to B$40,000 per year. With that sort of income you are able to appreciate that land ownership is beyond the reach of 80 percent or more of ordinary Bahamians. The results? Land ownership is restricted while income continues a downward trend.
The bulk of residents in New Providence are obliged to rent or lease property in the traditional inner city areas and live in literal hovels. The environment is, in most cases, nasty and downright uninhabitable. Large numbers of children are being reared in these areas which are breeding grounds and incubators for criminal and anti-social behavior.
Garbage collection, the cleansing of streets and even baiting for rodents and spraying for bugs are fast becoming the exception rather than the rule. As a direct result, people are getting sick and neighborhoods are looking less than desirable. The political classes all seek to represent areas in which they do not live so they really don't feel the plight of the masses and, in some cases, couldn't care less.
It is regrettable that the average Bahamian seems to be devoid of an overall plan for his or her life so long as one is able to eke out a meager existence, have a little sex on the side and catch the occasional three or four balls. The congestion here in New Providence, no doubt, contributes towards the proliferation of crime.
The disparity in income levels and the non-education of an entire generation of Bahamian youth has seen the growth of drug houses, drug dealers, web shops and liquor stores all over the place. Teenage and indiscriminate pregnancies are "growth" industries. Young boys and males, like some of the girls and females, are obliged to prostitute themselves to make a fist full of dollars.
The advent of a "new" PLP government will do little to curb these societal and economic ills because that party is faced with a "broke" treasury and many of its members are of the elite classes who no longer, if they ever did, have an affinity for the unwashed masses. In fact, I submit, that a majority of them couldn't care less whether or not you live or die, literally speaking.
Members of the administration have now been issued with firearms by the commissioner of police, who I am sure has his own piece. The ordinary citizen is obliged to rely on the police for protection when it is alleged that there are many rogue officers throughout the uniformed services. Why would ministers and others of the government need to have a private firearm if they already have access to an armed body guard and chauffeur?
Income distribution is a serious problem here in The Bahamas. Drug dealers, politicians, lawyers, clergy persons and others rake in big bucks for doing very little while hardworking ordinary Bahamians are barely able to satisfy their basic living requirements. Yes, it might be argued that one should stay in school and get a good education or a trade, but all of us were not that fortunate or lucky.
The number barons allegedly rake in tens of millions on the small and large bets of local players and successive governments continue to dither and play cute. The Bahamas Christian Council, a meaningless and un-influential self-perpetuating body of men and women who appear to have nothing else to do except play "church", continues to pontificate about all of the non-issues while the nation is rapidly slipping into a collective hell.
Some have called for a radical redistribution of wealth in this and other countries but how is this to be achieved without the state taking from one class to "give" to the other in a capitalistic society? It cannot happen and cows will jump over the moon before it does.
Statistics rarely show who the really wealthy are in our society. Many wealthy persons have little or no cash assets but own substantial shares in companies and sit on numerous boards of directors. Some allow their children and spouses to be paper holders of their assets. Others simply don't declare because we do not have a direct income tax system in this country and there is no legal requirement to disclose.
Land ownership is a finished deal until and unless a serious-minded central government make it possible for the development of affordable residential subdivisions in Andros, Grand Bahama and some of the other larger islands. Andros, for instance, is but a stone's throw away from New Providence. Imagine affordable large residential lots being made available at say B$30,000 for a quarter acre fully serviced.
Persons could purchase one on terms, go into a bank and obtain a mortgage to build a home. He or she could then commute to the capital via a fast ferry or commercial aircraft for work each day and return home either that day or on the weekends. A win-win situation but who has the vision besides me?
I invite the Christie administration to show leadership, vision and boldness. The time to think out of the box is here and present. All this talk and hot air about how badly the Free National Movement and its rejected leadership did us is now passé. Hubert Ingraham has, finally, being forced off the political stage and he will never come back (at least not with my prompting or assistance).
He left us in a leaky ship of state and we must now scull, fish, cut bait or jump the hell out of the boat.
To God then, in all of these things, be the glory.
- Ortland H. Bodie Jr.
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