Bahama Pundit

Montagu Remediation, Invasive Scaevola & the Bill to Kill Bin Laden

by Larry Smith

"Little Fort Montagu was finished in 1742...It always calls up pleasant memories, as we often passed near it during the forenoon sails and afternoon rides that did so much to fill our cup of pleasure at Nassau." -- Charles Ives, 1880.

Unfortunately, it is more and more difficult for contemporary visitors and locals to spend a pleasant day at Montagu. The little fort itself may have remained relatively unchanged over the centuries, but its environs are another story.

The beach has all but disappeared due to man-made erosion, and the inappropriately placed seawall has to be rebuilt at great expense every few years. The complex intersection is a major safety hazard, And there is a significant public health threat from garbage, oil and fuel discharges, human and animal waste, sewerage and storm water runoff.

Over the last 20 years this urban waterfront - one of our few recreational areas - has degenerated into an open-air slaughterhouse, flea market and commercial boat ramp  - right smack in the middle of a major road junction next to a public park - without the slightest thought or organization. And these are issues that daily affect an estimated 50,000 people living in the eastern portion of the island.

But that may be about to change - although this is something I have repeated so often in recent years that I am afraid to hold my breath.

The National Museum and Political Satire in the Bahamas

by Larry Smith

He is 93 now and too frail to pilot a boat, but he can still step up to a lecturn and deliver a sprightly speech, peppered with amusing anecdotes.

Listening to Sir Duward Knowles these days is like opening a time capsule planted 64 years ago. That's when he, his new wife Holly, and two other 20-something Bahamians set off on a road trip across the continental USA, with their boat in tow, to win a world championship sailing event in Los Angeles.

For Knowles, that unprecedented event was both the beginning and end of a long and distinguished sailing career. Even winning a gold medal at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, one suspects, did not compare with that glorious victory at sea in 1947.

"You don't know what it was like back then for an island boy to become champion of the world," he told scores of well-wishers during a recent ceremony at Centreville House to turn over his two Olympic medals and the 1947 Star Class trophy to the Antiquities, Monuments & Museums Corporation.

The Third Rail of Bahamian Politics

by Larry Smith

The phrase "third rail" is an American political metaphor for an idea so charged that any politician who dares touch it will inevitably suffer the consequences.

Stepping on the third rail of an electric railway usually results in electrocution. Many consider the third rail in Bahamian politics to be a commitment to a new political party, and some feel that Bamboo Town MP Branville McCartney has just touched that deadly conduit.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves. First we have to consider why political parties exist at all.

They are, of course, linked to the extension of democracy. In The Bahamas, political parties evolved as voting restrictions based on property, race and gender were eliminated over the first half of the 20th century.

The question at hand is, why do some political parties wither and die while others take root and flourish? To find the answer we have to look at the historical context.

Shelby White and the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve on the Island of Eleuthera

by Larry Smith

GOVERNOR'S HARBOUR, Eleuthera - What is described as "the biggest fundraising drive in history" was launched last year by Wall Street financier Warren Buffet and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. They have roped in scores of the wealthiest families in America for a long-term, charitable project of unprecedented scope.

Buffett and Gates have asked America's super rich to publicly commit to give away at least half of their fortunes within their lifetimes or after their deaths, in their own ways. The pledge stemmed from a series of meetings the two men held with key billionaires in 2009 to consider the effects of the recession on philanthropy.

Those who have stepped up to the plate so far include New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Dominos Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, software mogul Larry Ellison, hotelier Barron Hilton, banker David Rockefeller, eBay founder Jeff Skoll, Steve Case of AOL, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, and CNN founder Ted Turner.

Also on the list is Shelby White, who has spent part of every winter over the last 30-plus years in Governor's Harbour. She first came to Eleuthera in the early 1970s to attend a wedding reception with her then boyfriend Leon Levy, co-founder of the Oppenheimer mutual fund. Levy has been described by Forbes magazine as a “Wall Street investment genius and prolific philanthropist”.

"Leon and I married in 1983 and we bought this house on Banks Road a couple years later," she told me last week over a glass of wine, following the gala opening of the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve just down the road. "We loved the simplicity of life here, the people, and the beauty of the landscape."

Fuel Margins and the Montague Mess

by Larry Smith

There was a remarkable editorial in the Guardian last week.

The newspaper announced that it preferred to see the closure of Bahamian businesses rather than contemplate an increase in government-controlled margins on gasoline and diesel fuel.

The Guardian was commenting on the demand by petroleum retailers for an increase in their fixed profit margins on fuel sales. This would immediately raise the cost of a gallon of diesel by 28 cents, and the cost of a gallon of gas by 30 cents.

"With the price of oil rising, citizens also have to pay higher electricity and food bills," the editorial explained with shock-horror. "Who wants to pay more for gas and diesel?"

Who indeed. And who wants to pay more for newsprint, advertising space, insurance policies, lawyering or toilet paper for that matter? This is a commentary that says nothing and goes nowhere.

Lessons for BTC from Bahamas Airways

by Simon

A recent editorial cartoon of MPs bearing a coffin labelled Bahamianization was cute as a caricature but unconvincing as commentary.  The cartoon represents a polar extreme from the left.  From the right is another polar extreme claiming that Bahamianization has been tried and has failed. 

As usual, the truer picture is somewhere in the middle beyond the hyperbole and casual analysis.  Certainly, we are not where we want to be, but to deny various advances since independence, of which both extremes are prone, betrays many examples of progress despite the distance we have to travel.

All of which begs the question: What constitutes Bahamianization?  Like all strands of nationalism, notions of Bahamianization are often driven by romanticism, ideological purity tests, prejudice and fear.  At its most extreme, nationalism can explode into jingoism, xenophobia and racism. 

At the heart of nationalism is a sense of identity and belonging to a place and may include political, social and economic nationalism.  The highly emotive debate about the future of BTC has triggered various waves of economic nationalism which concern issues of opportunity, ownership and empowerment.

Reforming the Bahamian Energy Sector

by Larry Smith

So here we are, two years after the last oil shock, and prices are over $100 per barrel again, with some forecasters saying they could pass the 2008 high of $147 a barrel that sent everyone scrambling to cut energy costs.

Already we are hearing the usual cries for government relief. And those cries will only get louder as higher prices filter through to gas pumps, electricity meters and store shelves. But in our case, there is very little the government can do beyond providing short-term consumption credits - and that comes at a cost to BEC's solvency.

Worldwide, fossil fuel consumption subsidies amounted to $312 billion in 2009, compared to government support for renewables and biofuels of $57 billion. A subsidy is any government action that lowers the cost of energy production, raises the price received by energy producers, or lowers the price paid by consumers.

A Lesson on Propaganda

by Larry Smith

And now class, today we are going to talk about propaganda. Does anyone know what the word means?

It derives from the Latin for propagate, which means to multiply, reproduce or transmit. In this case, we are talking about spreading information.

What kind of information? Well, that is often hard to say. The key point to remember is that the information being presented will have an agenda. And in order to judge the value and quality of the information, you need to determine what that agenda is.

In a nutshell, propaganda uses loaded messages to produce an emotional response in support of an often hidden objective. And ever since the 1930s (when German and Soviet propaganda promoted state-sponsored genocide) the term has acquired a strong negative meaning - for good reason.

Branville McCartney’s Folly

by Simon

Former junior minister Branville McCartney’s decision to leave Prime Minister Ingraham’s cabinet under three years is still unfathomable to many Bahamians.  Just as his statements since his return to the backbench have proven baffling and contradictory, his stated reasons for leaving remain inexplicable.  He claims not to have left over a matter of policy. 

In parliamentary systems such as ours, cabinet experience is not a prerequisite for serving as prime minister. Still, it provides one of the best training cum proving grounds for the office.  Cabinet service is where a potential chief executive is observed and graded by multiple audiences, including the public at large.

In significant ways, ministers are more closely vetted by those who see them up- close, including civil servants and various national stakeholders.  They are sized-up by their party faithful and opposition parties.  There is relentless media scrutiny.  Yet, there is a smaller though no less critical audience a future prime minister has to impress. 

In Memoriam: Dr. Keva Bethel

by Simon

Among the rainbow of words which may be employed to describe Dr. Keva Bethel is one that is brightly coloured, expansive and texturally rich – exuberance.  It is a primary colour in any portrait designed to chronicle the life story and measure the extraordinary contributions of the noted educator, nation-builder and cultural enthusiast who passed away this week.

In the days ahead there will be many fitting tributes to Dr. Bethel.  Yet, in addition to her contributions to our national life, is the underlying joy with which she served her country and revelled in being Bahamian.  She seemed so forever young that her illness took many by surprise.

Capturing her exuberant spirit will require the labour of love of the artistic and cultural community she greatly loved and supported in public ovation and private encouragement over many decades.