Bahama Pundit

Vote No on Referendum: PLP Sells Out the Country

by Simon

On multiple grounds, Bahamians should roundly defeat the upcoming referendum question on legalizing web shops.  First, there is a stunning and insulting lack of transparency.  

Moreover, the PLP that cried foul over a lack of process during the last referendum has been breathtakingly hypocritical and cynical in terms of the lack of process in its rush to give certain numbers houses an early Christmas gift.  This referendum involves both a perceived conflict of interest and a betrayal of the common good.

A part of the back-story of the PLP’s decision to hold a referendum solely on the question of legalizing the current criminal enterprise of selected web shops involves a bizarre statement recently made by Prime Minister Perry Christie.

When asked if his party accepted campaign donations from various illegal numbers houses for the recent general election, former prime minister and FNM Leader Hubert Ingraham said that while individual candidates may have, he did not accept such donations on behalf of the party.

By stunning contrast Christie said he didn’t know whether the PLP received donations from such illegal enterprises.  Bahamians will have to judge whether they find credible Christie and his stated ignorance on this matter. 

Bahamas Gambling Referendum—Confusing, Inept and Counter-productive

by Larry Smith

Well, if social media, the press and personal conversations are any guide, there has been a noticeable turn away from the previously favourable or indifferent view towards the upcoming gambling referendum on the part of most non-evangelical Bahamians.

And playing the central role in this shift has been the confusing and contradictory statements from the prime minister who, if ZNS is anything to go by, spends all his time flitting around the country making portentous and convoluted statements on every issue under the sun, as he basks in his political glory.

But supporters of the measure still believe that a well-funded campaign will carry the day. And the promotional machine funded by the web shop operators is only just beginning to kick in.

T-shirts and other paraphernalia urging a 'yes' vote are being given away in all sorts of places, from PLP block parties to government offices, and a Facebook contest has been launched offering cash prizes for videos, songs, poems and dances promoting the legalisation of web shops. 

The Vote Yes campaign's Facebook page has more than 2800 fans and says it represents "the thousands of Bahamians who believe the Bahamian gaming industry is worth fighting for." It argues that too much is at stake for indifference to prevail on this issue.

Election 2012: What just Happened?

by Larry Smith

For the past three general elections Michael Pintard and David Wallace have put together sketch comedies lampooning the key personalities and issues in the campaigns. These side-splitting performances have played to sold-out audiences in Nassau and Freeport.

The current version is called Election 2012: What Just Happened? It explores the events and issues surrounding the most recent campaign, and effectively impersonates leading members of the PLP, the FNM and the DNA.

Pintard, the losing FNM candidate for Cat Island, San Salvador & Rum Cay in the last election, took some barbs himself. For example, recalling an actual stump speech, David Wallace (the Hubert Ingraham impersonator) declared dramatically "Pintard, I'm sending you on a mission! Only it's a one-way mission, heh, heh."

Christie ("who had the shuffle kicked out of him in 2007"), was brilliantly impersonated by Will Stubbs. It's relatively easy to imitate HAI because of his speech impediment and the fact that he actually has a sense of humour. But it's a rather more complex task to attempt the same with Christie. Nevertheless, Stubbs managed to pull it off brilliantly.

Meanwhile, the unfortunate Bran McCartney, impersonated by Tawari Rodgers, was only a bit player, which belied the DNA's key role in Ingraham's demise.

Both Wallace and Pintard are losing FNM candidates (although Wallace won West End and Bimini in the 1997 FNM wipeout of the PLP). Pintard, who lost in May by only 85 votes to now Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis, conceded that the play had been delayed this election cycle because it had taken him longer to heal.

Arguably, the star of the show was Marquita Whymns, who (among other characters) portrayed the archetypal Haitian-Bahamian matriarch, Marie, cleverly massaging both Obie Wilcombe and Pakeshia Edgecombe. After assuring both Grand Bahama candidates of unswerving loyalty, she turned to her dissolute Bahamian husband and declared "We deliver same as repatriate".

The three-hour performance on Saturday (at the so-called National Centre for the Performing Arts) was sold out and the audience appeared hugely entertained by even the most banal jokes. The opening scene - featuring the "roads dem, dig up, dig up" - proved especially energising. 

Aside from a few technical difficulties, like delayed musical prompts and a non-functioning stage curtain, the performance is well worth the $25 ticket price. Extra shows are being scheduled for this Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so you still have a chance to get in on the action. 

 

FNM Should 'Keep Calm and Carry On'

by Simon

A perennial conceit of the present is ignorance of history, giving rise to feckless commentary, including purposely mischievous or slipshod editorializing and news analysis.

The current conceit concerns the supposed terminal illness of the Free National Movement.  One oft-pontificating prelate questions the FNM’s survival, especially given, in his opinion, that it is a coalition of interests.  What studied ignorance. 

The FNM overcame the 25-year reign of Sir Lynden Pindling.  It is resilient, demonstrating the ability to take a cut in the posterior and bounce back.  Moreover, political parties are typically coalitions of various interests.  

Undeniably, these are challenging times for the FNM following electoral loss and the departure from frontline politics of the Delivery Boy who first led it to office. Still, one wishes that more of our professional opinion-makers and political journalists might seed and flavour their analysis with historical perspective beyond the limited horizon of the daily news.

The Christie News Network

by Simon

Not to be outdone by Oprah Winfrey’s launch of her eponymous network, OWN, Prime Minister Christie has so captivated the ZNS Evening News that it might be rebranded, the Christie News Network or CNN.

Ad nauseum, week after week, Christie is featured, story after story.  Some have taken to betting on the number of reports that will showcase the Prime Minister: two, three, four?  

To boost ratings, Oprah is prominently featured on OWN.  Perhaps Christie’s mandarins decided to further capitalize on his razzle-dazzle celebrity; in this instance, to jazz-up the evening news.  As Bahamians are mesmerized by his every utterance, ZNS may consider a nightly commentary by him on the weather. 

After Basil Dean’s forecast, Christie might comment on whether we may expect: fair to mild, partly cloudy or thunderstorms.  Given Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the country’s long-term outlook from stable to negative, the Finance Minister’s thoughts would be welcome on the inclement weather relative of public finances.

The strategy at the Christie News Network is, “Show Me Your Motion”, recording Christie in constant motion, in contrast to his previous term.  At play is the illusion that public relations equals substance.  

The End of the Ingraham Factor—the Start of a New Politics?

by Larry Smith

North Abaco voters were unable to resist the blandishments of the new PLP government on Monday. The by-election was a replay of what happened when former Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling resigned in 1997. Voters in a small out island constituency elected a little-known freshman from the other side to replace one of the all-time heavyweights of Bahamian politics.

Just as South Andros voters repudiated Pindling, Abaconians disowned Hubert Ingraham - who had represented them for 35 years before stepping down in August - by rejecting his hand-picked successor two to one. This only goes to show that once considered out of power for good a politician becomes as irrelevant as yesterday's wet newspaper.

In time Ingraham may metamorphose into an elder statesman - whose experienced advice is sought after. But for now he is on the wrong side of history, and his North Abaco swan song will be recorded as one of a number of key by-elections that helped shape the political development of the modern Bahamas.

August 19, 1992 -- A New Birth of Freedom

by Simon

The struggle for majority rule was a march for freedom and social justice.  The second emancipation ushered in a new era of racial equality and greater opportunity for the majority.  

The empowerment of the black majority comprised political, economic and social advances.  Yet, much of the spirit and many of the promises of January 10, 1967, were corrupted or ignored as the party of majority rule coalesced into a cult of personality and a leadership so avaricious, so hungry for power, that it betrayed core ideals and values of the movement.

Various freedoms were stifled as the PLP entrenched a political culture of intimidation.  The instruments of the state were directed to intimidate scores of Bahamians, freeze out opposing voices in the broadcast media, deport the spouses of opposition supporters, economically destroy opponents, corrupt electoral processes, and to marshal a host of other practices antithetical to democracy.

August 19, 1992, represented not only a break with this past and a new direction for The Bahamas.  It also represented an opportunity to renew much of the spirit and many of the promises unfulfilled after 25 years of rule by Sir Lynden Pindling’s PLP.  The election of the Free National Movement in August of 1992 was a new birth of freedom for Bahamian democracy.

The Most Illustrious Prime Minister

by Simon

Recently, a leading politician enthused: “Sir Lynden Pindling will have his place in our history.  But to my mind, Hubert Alexander Ingraham is the greatest prime minister in the history of an independent Bahamas.  History will be more than kind to him.  History will celebrate him as the Great Reformer and Modernizer.”

This encomium to the former prime minister was delivered at an FNM function a few weeks ago by the party’s Deputy Leader Loretta Butler Turner.  What makes such high praise even more noteworthy is that its author is the granddaughter of Sir Milo Butler, a Father of the Nation and a colleague of Sir Lynden and others in the struggle for majority rule and independence.

As Hubert Ingraham retires from frontline politics, the assessment of his premiership will begin in earnest.  Many are already of the view that, thus far, he has served as the nation’s most illustrious prime minister in an independent Bahamas. 

Sir Lynden, also a Father of the Nation, is a pivotal figure in an independent Bahamas, and will be accorded his due in the nation’s history.  In the pantheon of heroes, Sir Lynden is a sort of mythic figure, his portrait adorning the one dollar bill and his name the nation’s leading international airport. 

A Preliminary Assessment of Hubert Ingraham's Legacy

by Larry Smith

"My name is Hubert Ingraham - I don't need nothing before that." - Hubert Ingraham, rejecting a possible knighthood on his retirement from public life

The first time Hubert Ingraham came across my radar (and I have met him only two or three times in the past 30 years) was in a lawyer friend's office when Ingraham was chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party.

My lawyer friend was engaged in a telephone argument with Ingraham over citizenship for Belongers, a hot button issue of the 1970s and 80s. The argument was of interest to me because my father was a Belonger - having been posted here in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

He married an out island commissioner's daughter on Harbour Island in 1944, and I was one of the babies produced in the boom years that followed the war. But my father had been denied his constitutional right to citizenship by the post-Independence PLP government.

The status of white "foreigners" was a huge issue in those days, for understandable but nonetheless objectionable reasons. But that's more than enough about me - this article is about Hubert Alexander Ingraham.

I clearly recall my exasperated lawyer friend telling Ingraham sarcastically that when the Free National Movement came to power they would revoke his citizenship retroactively. The prospect of such a government seemed almost laughable at the time, but the lawyer eventually became a prominent supporter of Ingraham - after he was kicked out of the PLP to become the first FNM prime minister.

An apprenticed lawyer himself, Ingraham had been picked as a rising star in the PLP by his mentor, Sir Lynden Pindling. In 1977 he was elected by his home constituency of Cooper's Town in North Abaco, and was named to the cabinet in 1982.

He was clearly on a trajectory in the party, but within two years he was fired by Pindling for taking a principled stand against government corruption revealed by the 1984 Commission of Inquiry. In 1986 he was expelled from the party, but managed to retain his Cooper's Town seat in the 1987 general election, running as an independent.

Many a Slip Between Cup and Lip

by Simon

Perry Christie is one of those politicians typically at his best when he feels threatened.  Tellingly, despite a landslide of seats in the House of Assembly, though not of the popular vote, he executed a defensive manoeuvre to diminish threats to his leadership.

Despite a sizeable House majority, to forestall the possibility of losing the confidence of a majority of government MPs he appointed what the Opposition labelled a gussimae cabinet. 

Of the 29 PLPs in the House, 21 are in the cabinet, three are parliamentary secretaries and one is the Speaker, leaving only enough backbenchers to comfortably fit in a compact car, which can be driven to the comfortable appointments they will likely be assigned.

Christie is playing the political version of carrots and sticks.  He unsheathed his Damocles sword, quickly announcing the possibility of a midterm cabinet shake-up, the effect of which is to keep his cabinet guessing while tantalizing ministers of state and others with the possibility of future full ministerial appointment.

A prime minister has other bulwarks against losing his status as first among equals.  Controlling the votes at a national convention is such an indispensable measure. 

Christie learned this lesson from Sir Lynden Pindling who was nearly overthrown in what became known as the attempted Christmas coup of 1962 and the revolt of 1970.  Christie also learned it of necessity, as reportedly much of his first cabinet in 2002 appeared not to have supported him as Leader.