Bahama Pundit

A Brief Analysis of a Mid-Term Bye-election

by Larry Smith

Well, I am no shell-shocked poll worker, but I thought that a look at the overall numbers in last week's bye-election would be instructive.

Taking the official numbers at face value (it is alleged that many people registered illegally), there were 4,942 registered voters in the Elizabeth constituency - an increase of 691 since 2007 - but more than a third of them stayed home on February 16.

And despite all the talk of a surge in support for new parties, the venerable Bahamas Democratic Movement, the newly-formed National Development Party and the idiosyncratic Workers Party won only 209 votes collectively - about 4 per cent of the total cast. So my first observation is that support for splinter candidates remains negligible, and is consistent with past experience.

Perry Christie in Wonderland

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.

The deep-seated resistance to reform within the PLP notwithstanding, a clue as to when the party is in the throes of a fresh crisis is the resurfacing of Party Leader Perry Christie to assure one and all that there is no crisis. 

It’s akin to the General Manager of BEC reading a statement by candlelight that the electricity company’s blackouts are a thing of the past.  What blackout? What crisis?  Don’t believe what you see or don’t see, believe what I tell you. 

In the long build-up to the party’s national convention this past October, Mr. Christie was generally out of sight, re-emerging to aggressively fend off the pretenders to his throne as well as urgent calls for reform within the PLP.  Crisis averted, Mr. Christie mostly disappeared again.

Confronting the Colonial Mindset

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.

After 43 years of majority rule and nearly 37 years of independence, the clutch of colonialism still controls much of our national psyche and imagination. 

As a fairly young country, similar to other postcolonial states, some of this is to be expected. But much of it is disturbingly backward looking and insidious.  The current enforcers of retrograde colonial mindsets are not primarily the British.

Today, the apologists for colonialism are typically Bahamian born and bred, though varied in the nature of the apologetics they employ.  They are black, white and mixed-race. With stubborn outmoded colonialist notions lodged in their worldview, many are unaware of their roles as apologists, mindlessly repeating shop-worn shibboleths.

A Season of Demagogues

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.

Demagogues are a staple of history, re-emerging with greater force and virulence during trying times, such as economic crises, as well as in periods of increased violence and mass inward migration. 

Political power is an enticement to demagoguery.  Adolf Hitler exploited a poisonous cocktail of German pride, humiliation and economic collapse following its defeat in World War I, becoming one of history’s more notorious demagogues.  In the U.S., Senator Joseph McCarthy exploited fears of communism to hunt for “the godless commie traitors” in “the land of the free and the home of the brave”.

Commerce is also a lucrative enticement.  American talk show huckster Rush Limbaugh and a charade of pundit-profiteers manipulate severe economic dislocation in the world’s leading superpower, manufacturing -- from an alchemy of race-baiting, immigrant-bashing and other exploitable grievances -- troves of gold.

The Bahamas faces a season of demagoguery as we confront a perfect storm of fear and anxiety induced by one of the worst economic crises in most of our lifetimes, and waves of violent crime and illegal migrants, neither of which are likely to crest in the foreseeable future.

Local Government for New Providence – Part 2

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.

This is the conclusion of a two-part commentary on the type of local government best suited for New Providence (NP).  Part one suggests that the capital island may need a different form of local government as compared to what is needed on the Family Islands.

Moreover, rather than simply parroting clichés about the need for local government in NP, it may be best to start at the beginning, stating the principles which might guide an informed debate, while looking forward, reminding ourselves about what we want to achieve through local government.

Local Government for New Providence – Part 1

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.

Local government for New Providence is one of those ideas many people support in principle but have little idea as to how it might work in practice.  Moreover, many of the proponents of local government on the capital island have yet to grasp or define basic terms.

Because of the archipelagic nature of The Bahamas, with the central government some distance from those communities, and the propensity of officials to focus on New Providence, the idea of elected local government for Grand Bahama and the other islands was much to be desired. 

It is doubtful if a similar system is necessary or practical for New Providence.  A number of questions may be posed and a number of observations may be useful.  Among others, there are three principles which rationalize the nature of and need for local government, namely: subsidiarity, the common good and participatory democracy.

Aftermath of the PLP Convention

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.

Perry Christie’s evolution towards and final transformation into the Lynden Pindling of the more scandal-ridden days of the PLP was completed last week. 

In crushing the reform spirit within, labelled as traitorous, Mr. Christie demonstrated that in circling the wagons, the PLP is mostly a closed political organization, majority-ruled by appointed Stalwart Councillors, rather than elected branch representatives as is the case with most modern political parties founded on democratic principles.  

This is in keeping with the party’s intolerance of dissent, which is the back story to the events of last week. That story has been unfolding for decades, featuring some of the central players in a drama that exploded with fury over the past few weeks, culminating in Mr. Christie’s Gussimae re-election. 

The PLP’s Great Dilemma

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.

The PLP is in a classic bind that might be posed as a question:  How to wrest the party from the grasp of a failed leader who, in all likelihood, will lead the party to defeat at the next general election, yet who may be unbeatable as Leader?

This bind is emblematic of not only Mr. Christie’s problems, but also of the weakness of his opponents, the weak standing of a number of the party’s potential Leaders with the general public, as well as the dysfunction in a party that enjoyed an overwhelming parliamentary majority just two and a half years ago.

In the run up to its long-awaited national convention, various Leaders-in-waiting are attempting to answer this question through their own stratagems and calculations.  

Hubert Ingraham’s Progressive Agenda – Part 2

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.

In the prophetic tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures, the test of justice is clear: Where you stand with God depends on how you stand with your neighbour.  At the heart of that test is the command to care for widows, orphans and resident aliens – a mandate of the ages, enduring across millennia and cultures, as urgent in our times as of those of the Hebrew Prophets.  

Today, those committed to social justice in the tradition of the Biblical prophets are engaged in the timeless work of defending the rights of and caring for widows (women), orphans (children) and resident aliens (illegal immigrants), often the more vulnerable among us.  Hubert Ingraham follows in this progressive tradition. 

Hubert Ingraham’s Progressive Agenda – Part 1

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.

Hubert Ingraham is a firebrand, similar to other political figures, including a famous eight, who left a once forward-thinking turned inward-looking party to pursue progressive dreams and liberal ideals he and similar dissidents concluded they could no longer advance through the Progressive Liberal Party.

Never limited to the struggle for racial equality, the broader struggle for social justice is a movement which has stirred the passions of generations of Bahamians, often taking root in but transcending partisan political affiliations.