Ulterior Motives in the Bahamas Debate on National Health

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

Attributing ulterior motives to others is a risky business but nevertheless a favourite pastime with many people, especially in the political arena. The first element of risk is that when you attribute bad motives to others they can easily do the same to you, with interest. The second is that you can be wrong about another person’s motives even though circumstances may indicate otherwise.

In the current debate about National Health Insurance, the attribution of motives has added a dimension of resentment and even anger that confounds rational dialogue. The PLP has accused those who criticize and question the Government’s proposals of having the worst possible motives.

The Opposition, the trade union leaders, the business people and the doctors do not care about the poor, they say, or are simply greedy and selfish. This malicious form of attack is calculated to cut the ground from under the critics and expose them to public contempt and ridicule. But all it does is stir up resentment and rage.

An outstanding Bahamian cardiologist who is a great credit to his profession and to his country, and who counts both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition among his patients, gave voice to that rage last week. Said Dr. Conville Brown:

“That is extremely offensive and insulting when the politicians do that. Because there are people like myself who have gone out on a limb for our poor people -- I am also a consultant at PMH where I help to take care of poor people every day of the week for the last 16 years – since 1990.

“So don’t tell me nothing about we don’t care about the poor people. That’s a problem. And that’s where you’ll go off the deep end and that’s where you’ll get most of your rage. Because you’re insulting the integrity of people in our profession when you do that.”

It seems there are many deluded members of the governing party who really believe that everybody is perversely motivated except them, that they are the only ones capable of decency, noble feelings and human compassion. At least that is what they want people to believe. But there must be a few who are reasonable enough not to think like that.

It would have been nice if Prime Minister Perry Christie could have been counted solidly in the ranks of those few and if he had at the outset vigorously repudiated the abuse. But Mr. Christie contributed to the poisonous brew and once again disappointed those who would like to believe the best about him.

Of course there are one or two greedy and unscrupulous doctors, but The Bahamas is fortunate to have a contingent of top notch medical professionals that would make any first world country proud. Certainly doctors are interested in a fair deal for themselves and their families but thousands of poor Bahamians have been the beneficiaries of their skill, compassion and generosity.

Much the same applies to all the other groups involved in this exercise, including politicians, not all of whom are corrupt, greedy and arrogant, although some members of the ruling party seem intent on convincing the public otherwise.

* * *

Circumstances and knowledge of the nature of the beast would seem to indicate that it is the leaders of the governing party who are guilty of the very thing they accuse others of.

Perhaps because of a misperception of certain historical events, many PLPs seem to think their party has a measure of entitlement and that they are somehow set apart from other Bahamians, even though many of them were not involved in those events and a few who were peripherally involved were on the wrong side of history.

Not too long ago one of those in the latter category was taken up in a rapturous mood of power consciousness and inspired to declare from the floor of the House of Assembly that “God gave this country to the PLP!”

When the Bahamian people finally got sick and tired of being abused, deceived and exploited on the basis of these historical events, and kicked out the perpetrators, their stunned Leader declared that the new administration was “an interim government”.

What he did not understand was that the reservoir of goodwill and gratitude to which he and many others had contributed was exhausted by repeated betrayals and in any event was never exclusive to him and his group.

The following election proved the point as the PLP was nearly wiped out at the polls in 1997. A new age of politics had begun in The Bahamas, an age of deepened democracy, of free expression without fear, of free choice without penalty, of leadership without entitlement, the age of accountability.

So today it is foolish in the extreme for PLP politicians to believe that just because a proposal comes from them it will be embraced without question and that they are entitled to the confidence of the people in all things. It is not likely that any government in The Bahamas will ever again enjoy that status.

The Bahamian people rose up in protest when the new PLP Government sought to stuff CSME down their throats without adequate information and consultation and, as it turned out, without a full understanding of the implications on the part of the Government itself.

Now, the PLP Government with a general election just a few months away seeks to ram a National Health Insurance scheme through the legislature clearly without adequate consultation and dissemination of information to the Bahamian people.

Even if this scheme had been properly thought out, there is no possible way it could be put into effect in the remaining months of this administration. So those critics who are being accused of ulterior motives -- and the public at large -- are entitled to conclude that it is all about personal legacy and political expediency; in short, ulterior motives.

The new Minister of Health, Dr. Bernard Nottage, has for years carefully cultivated a public image of competence, even eschewing the political appellation of Leader of a party in favour of the corporate Chief Executive Officer.

But the trouble with cosmetics is that they tend to wash off with the application of soap and water, not to mention some harsher detergents, abrasives and chemical removers.

The FNM did a lot to upgrade the delivery of health care at the nation’s hospitals and clinics, and statistics indicate that that administration was successful in significantly improving the delivery of health care to Bahamians who depend on public health facilities, especially mothers and infants.

Those improvements have been eroded since the PLP came to office and that erosion has continued under two PLP Ministers, one of them being Dr. Nottage who is now in the investigative stage trying to determine what has gone wrong.

The cosmetics are wearing off and reality is setting in so the doctor has to burnish his image in order to win a seat and take over leadership of the PLP. Could that be one reason why this scheme is being hurried?

Even if Dr. Nottage is given the benefit of the doubt and if it be conceded that he is acting on the best motives, it is far more difficult to make and sustain such a case for Prime Minister Christie and his other colleagues.

It has been said that in our system of government an administration is more likely to tire and fall apart late in their second term, but the new PLP Government has chalked up an unenviable record of calamities in just five years, and they started very early.

Perhaps this exercise is all about distracting the attention of the Bahamian people from that unhappy record.

Comments

[EB Christen]

Amen Sir!