Bahama Pundit

The Formation of Public Opinion

by Simon

A recent Nassau Guardian editorial noted the role played by the media and public intellectuals in shaping public discourse and public policy.  That role is sometimes filled by Bahamian journalists, academics and commentators who contribute to the knowledge and understanding of issues in the public square.

Wearingly, many of these contemporary crafters of public opinion labour under a common unfounded premise upon which they construct and construe all manner of faulty conclusions and arguments.

Facility with the English language does not make for informed or good commentary; nor does staying tuned to the 24-hour news cycle of American cable news stations.  What helps make for superior commentators are the travels – literal and imaginative – they make beyond the borders of geography, academic discipline, clichés and other constraints on critical thinking.

Getting Real on Urban Renewal

by Simon

The political back and forth on Urban Renewal is counterproductive.  The launch of the programme by the PLP administration of Perry Christie was a progressive and important step in the right direction to address a host of social ills. 

FNMs and others should recognize and applaud the intent and various aspects of Urban Renewal with consideration of expanding its reach.   Meanwhile, PLPs should stop pretending that the programme has been dismantled or of its efficacy in fighting crime in the manner in which the party often boasts.

Both parties might pay more attention to Rev. C.B. Moss, Founding Pastor of the Mount Olive Baptist Church and Executive Director of Bahamas Against Crime (BAC).  Whence cometh his authority to speak about urban renewal, the idea and not simply the specific programme? 

When Hatred Triumphs Over Love

by Simon

In a stunning display of idiocy, ignorance and incomprehensibility a pastoral trinity of Lyall Bethel, Allan Lee and Cedric Moss recently fired off a knee-jerk tirade cum letter to the editor generally confused about the facts on the matters on which they pontificated with smugness, sweated brow and frenzied abandon.

They were promiscuously responding to imagined threats that only through prejudicial and tortured thinking one, or in this case, the three of them divined in comments made by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette.  In light of their indiscriminate and poorly reasoned letter the pastoral posse had the temerity to label these comments as “seemingly arbitrary”.

The DPM’s thrust pertained to a resolution adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on a report of the Third Committee and supported by The Bahamas.  If one only went by the pastors’ comments one might believe that the resolution was mainly about those supposedly evil gay people and their so-called militant agenda.

The Alternate Reality of Bahamian Squatter Settlements

 by Larry Smith

"If it was up to me I'd toss two stick a dynamite in erry one a dem dingy damned 'villages'. How is it that these ILLEGAL ALIENS can come in any time they wish and toss up a 'house' with no proper facilities to speak of and the relevant ministry folk say and do nothing. But when the average hard working Joe Blow tries to put down something, God help ya if you missin' some papers cuz dey ga have da buldozer there the next day." -- commentator on Bahamas Issues

That quote reflects the feelings of many Bahamians. But the deeper we delve into the so-called 'Haitian problem', the more we come face to face with ourselves. The squatter settlements that give rise to so much public angst are a clear example of the alternate reality that many Bahamians live in, and we are not the only ones grappling with these issues.

"Squatter settlements are all over Jamaica," according to Gleaner columnist Victor Cummings, "on hillsides, roadsides, gully banks, inner-city areas, government land, and private land. The squatting problem is not only seriously affecting the physical development of our country, but also our economic and social stability."

There are over 700 squatter sites in Jamaica with well over half a million residents, Trinidad and Tobago has 300 squatter settlements, with more than 400,000 residents. Guyana has over 200, and in St Lucia squatter settlements are a feature of all major towns and villages.

The 38 squatter settlements on New Providence include 940 houses out of a total housing stock on the island of some 70,000. According to a 2010 government survey, many of these illegal villages are on private land and they have grown by about 200 houses since the Christie administration looked at the problem in the early 2000s.

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. 

A Sociology of Hope – Part 1

by Simon

A dear friend recalls a thrill of a lifetime when a beloved teacher arranged for his class to fly over New Providence to see their home island from the air for the first time courtesy of a DC-3.

What they were familiar with on the ground, they saw anew from above, experiencing the forest and the trees differently.  They saw parts of New Providence they never before encountered.  The radical change of perspective affected their outer vision as well as their interior disposition.

Such epiphanies and flights of the imagination are still to be had in abundance for young Bahamians.  The geographic expanse from Abaco to Inagua is equivalent to that of from Puerto Rico in the Central Caribbean to Trinidad and Tobago, anchored off the coast of South America.

A tourist can no more experience this bounty through television commercials than a Bahamian student can through a textbook.  It is curious the expense and effort we expend marketing and making the Bahamian Experience available to tourists in comparison to our efforts to similarly make available such experiences to young Bahamians.

The Privilege of Voting

by Simon

One of the considerable privileges of democratic citizenship is the right to vote.  Its civic companions include equality and a charter of freedoms such as those of expression and association.   

Having attained the age of majority, every Bahamian citizen is entitled to one vote, a triumph of politics that resulted in the exercise of universal adult suffrage for the first time in 1962.  The old system of class privilege, property qualification and disenfranchisement of women had provided for some individuals to vote multiple times, relative to the property they owned in various constituencies, and others not to vote at all. 

Equality of voting was expanded to women in 1962.  It is a right that all Bahamian citizens enjoy no matter the circumstances of one’s birth, creed, race or ethnic origin, among others. 

We The People

by Simon

We the People has had many iterations in human history.  It is the foundation upon which representative government was founded in different contexts from Native American assemblies to Iceland, one of the world’s oldest parliamentary democracies.  The idea is also found in the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States of America: 

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

The ideals and goals underlying We the People concerns various issues of political philosophy that have been debated for centuries by philosophers, practitioners of the noble art of politics, and other public voices within civil society.

The new group We the People has joined the debate.  Like every fledgling, it may take some time before it finds its proper footing and voice while working through potential contradictions.  This is a part of the learning curve and growth cycle for every new group.     

Repatriating & Cultivating Bahamian Talent

by Simon

There are significant reserves of Bahamian capital, human and financial, currently abroad. That capital has been attracted to various overseas opportunities and markets able to utilize and often better reward such potential. This has resulted in a brain and financial capital drain on the country.

None of this is unique to us. Yet, The Bahamas must devise its own strategies to repatriate these resources, providing opportunities for such capital to be rewarded. Just as we target foreign direct investment and qualified international talent, we should do likewise with both Bahamian investment potential and talent resident abroad.

Of necessity, our greater, though not singular, emphasis is on attracting foreign direct investment to help capitalize our growth and development. Our developmental equation also requires world-class Bahamian talent.

Bring Home Bahamian Talent

by Simon

The Bahamas has various agencies dedicated to attracting overseas investments, including the Bahamas Maritime Authority which recently opened its third overseas office.  Today, the country enjoys one of the more successful international ship registries.  That success is measured by both gross tonnage and attention to high international standards. 

Our diplomatic missions also promote The Bahamas as an attractive destination for international business and foreign capital.  However, the country’s lead investment arm is The Bahamas Investment Authority. Its website notes:

“The proactive economic growth and development policies of the government of the Bahamas are guided by The Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA), established to "cut red tape and lay out the red carpet" for investors.   Operating from the Office of the Prime Minister, the BIA has been designated as a "one-stop shop" designed to simplify investing in The Bahamas.”

The attraction of such capital is essential to economic growth.  So too is the cultivation of another source of capital.   Just as foreign direct investment is critical to national development, so is tapping into a wealth of Bahamian talent overseas and the economic resources of this talent currently resident abroad.