Bahama Pundit

Trump, Neo-Nazis, Statues and Charlottesville

by Larry Smith

The deadly weekend violence in Virginia sparked by a white nationalist rally in support of a Confederate memorial is alarming for more reasons than one.

According to the New York Times, the racist Daily Stormer neo-Nazi website has been calling 2017 the “Summer of Hate" in the United States, and identifying Charlottesville as ground zero.

But overlooking this more tangible threat to America’s liberal democracy (which we love so much), many Bahamians have taken to social media to argue over the pros and cons of removing historical statues from public places.

That’s because the Charlottesville violence flowed from a decision by that city's governing council to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from a public park, where it had been installed in 1924.

The Desperate Need for Change in the Bahamas

by Larry Smith

 

Leslie Miller and BS

 

The level of irrational and deceptive discourse from our political leaders can sometimes be stupefying.

 

Take Leslie Miller. Please. But first let me remind you he is a longtime Progressive Liberal Party MP (since the 1980s) who was appointed BEC chairman for the second time in Perry Christie’s last term, even though he and his family did not pay their own utility bills - to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 

Miller was also presumably chairman while a well-organised theft ring was siphoning millions from BEC. I am not suggesting he was involved, but official sources tell me this scam (which is now under close police investigation) has been ongoing for "many years”. 

 

Miller chaired BEC from 2012 until late 2015, and he ran his mouth the whole time. His latest buffoonery was to blame the current managers of the state-owned utility - now known as Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) - for the incessant power cuts we face.

 

He has also claimed that his former board had a surefire plan (financed by our social security funds no less) to resolve all of the country’s power woes, “but we got stopped dead in our tracks because those foreigners thought they knew better."

 

This is just so much horseradish, it should make you want to vomit. First of all the “foreigners” were put in place by Miller’s own party. And as well-researched letters to the editor by Tony Zervos have shown, we have been in an “electrical crisis” for the past 50-odd years.

 

The Cost of Culture in the Bahamas

by Larry Smith

There has been a flurry of discussion lately over the $400,000 annual contract given to Ian Poitier by the former government.

 

This comes after Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar revealed in parliament that Poitier received over a million dollars since 2014 to consult on cultural matters for Perry Christie and Obie Wilchcombe.

 

A high-flying St Anne’s alumnus, Poitier obtained an international baccalaureate in Canada before studying law at Oxford. In 1985 he switched to musical theatre, at the Arts Education School in London.

 

He worked as a performing artist in Britain, and began directing and coordinating shows and events in the 1990s. He also worked in advertising.

 

After three years as an investment manager at the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts in London, Poitier began focusing on freelance projects.

 

Beginning in 2008, he directed the annual Cacique Awards in Nassau, and he was responsible for the creative content of the 2014 independence celebrations. 

 

So there can be no argument with the fact of his exposure to, and experience in, the arts and creative industries - both here and abroad.

 

Will Bahamians Get the Accountability they Voted for?

by Larry Smith

In 2003 I worked at the Nassau Guardian. I clearly recall the extended political honeymoon given to Perry Christie’s new government. Why, even young Michael Halkitis at the Finance Ministry called to offer friendly access.

 

The “Fresh Wind” that blew the PLP into office in May 2002 was a relief of sorts to those who had tired of Hubert Ingraham’s bull-nosed governance style over the previous decade.

 

Based on Christie’s soothing words - plus the fact that he had yet to be tested as a national leader - voters felt it was time to give the supposedly rehabilitated PLP another chance. So they did - in a landslide.

 

But by 2004 the Christie administration was slipping into its now familiar ways - indecisiveness, looking the other way, glib talk, shameless propaganda, scandals. and an utter lack of accountability.

 

So despite the PLP having ridden a wave of goodwill into office, and despite the global economic boom, a resurgent Hubert Ingraham was able to edge them out in 2007.

 

No landslide this time, though. The PLP held 18 seats to the FNM’s 23, and despite the traditional finger-pointing by the new government, Christie and Co put up a formidable opposition from day one. 

 

Their attacks on the government and inducements to voters became ever more exaggerated as the clock ticked down to the 2012 election.

 

Perhaps the ultimate example of the PLP’s destructive politicking was the placement of large billboards all over New Providence advertising the country’s murder rate, and blaming it all on the FNM.

 

This cynical strategy worked. And although receiving only a plurality of the total vote (due to a third party challenge), Christie was returned to office with 29 seats to the FNM’s nine. And Hubert Ingraham exited stage left.

 

The leadership transition that had been pending in both major parties had finally occurred in one, with the FNM mantle falling to a politically inexperienced physician named Hubert Minnis.

 

The Way Forward for Bahamian Politics

by Larry Smith

After thanking Perry Christie, the Progressive Liberal Party and his erstwhile constituents in Fort Charlotte for their support, Alfred Sears attempted to define “the way forward” for his party and the country.

 

In his first post-election commentary last week, Sears claimed it is the FNM, rather than the PLP, which today seeks to implement a “progressive and liberal political and social agenda”.

 

He said many of the reforms promised in the FNM's recent Throne Speech had been proposed before by the PLP, as well as by Sears himself in his recent bid to replace Christie as PLP leader.

 

Sears called on the party to “rebuild and rebrand” itself, arguing that it had to provide a real vision for the future rather than just act as a forceful opposition.

 

He said the party had to commit itself to honest governance, sustainable development, equal opportunity, and protection of our civil rights and freedoms.

 

“Over the past 44 years, the perception of the PLP has shifted to a party more aligned with foreign interests over Bahamians, a lack of national vision, weak leadership, corruption and scandals,” Sears said.

 

But the problem is that the party remains under the control of a geriatric mafia - men who were large and in charge from the time I started my first job in the early 1970s. They continue to pull the strings, despite being badly out of touch with modern realities.

 

Exuma Fyre Festival—"Possibly The Worst Event Of All Time"

by Larry Smith

Some may recall a parody celebration called Festivus from the 1990s American sitcom, Seinfeld. It included a feast, feats of strength, and the labeling of ordinary events as miracles. Festivus was entirely made up by the father of one of the show's scriptwriters.

 

Although not a perfect analogy, Festivus reminds me of the Fyre Festival. This cleverly concocted event was set for Exuma at the end of April. But it crashed spectacularly - stranding hundreds and spawning a public relations nightmare for the Bahamas.

 

The wave of bad publicity included stories by major British, American and Canadian newspapers, magazines and broadcasters. Headlines included such gems as: Rich Kids of Instagram Meet Hunger Games, Festival Crumbles in Bahamas, and Reports of Chaos in Bahamas.

 

Hundreds of visitors (no-one seems to know the exact number) descended on the island of Great Exuma for what was billed as “a transformative experience over two successive weekends on a remote private island once owned by (Colombian drug lord) Pablo Escobar featuring the best in food, art, music and adventure.”

 

But as one account put it, "the cultural event of the decade" became "a disaster of criminal negligence” involving absurd privilege, unscrupulous business and exploitation.

 

The Dump, the Solar Power Bottleneck, and Freedom of Information

by Larry Smith

Faced by another toxic fire at the Harrold Road dump as a general election nears, the government has swung into action with an express ‘request for proposals’ to fix the problem.

 

The original dump was transformed into a sanitary landfill in the late 90s, with financing and guidance from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). But equipment and management failures over time spawned an environmental disaster, surrounded by housing estates.

 

As well as failing to implement and sustain the IDB’s fully funded plans, successive governments have routinely ignored numerous integrated waste management proposals from Bahamian and foreign experts over the past 20-odd years.

 

Now, in a rush to impress voters, bids have been requested for the “remediation and management” of the dump. The request was issued April 10 and proposals must be submitted by April 26 - an unheard of time-frame for such a big project.

 

It is understood that bids are being submitted, but for some strange reason the government has sought to keep all details under a cloak of secrecy. Bidders are under a gag order not to talk to the press.

 

And no information on the terms and conditions is provided in the RFP notice other than the basic requirements - a $10,000 non-refundable fee and a signed non-disclosure agreement.

 

Normally, a non-disclosure agreement seeks to protect proprietary information provided by bidders. British procurement law, for example, requires contracting parties to protect elements of tenders which bidders have “reasonably designated” as confidential. 

 

But keeping a lid on the actual terms of reference for a public project is inexplicable. It should be obvious to everyone that transparency is indispensable for a sound public procurement process—to everyone but our cabinet ministers, that is.

 

Details of the government’s previous failed effort to fix the dump (when Renew Bahamas was given a contract in 2013 outside of an existing RFP process) were also kept secret, despite numerous public demands over several years. Renew walked off the job last year and we are still no wiser about the terms of their contract.

 

I daresay that disclosing the terms for managing a public dump would not qualify for a top-secret classification anywhere but in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.

 

Update on Solar

In December, this column revealed that the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) was working with Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) to set up a licensing and regulatory system for renewable energy.

 

This comes right at the end of the government’s term - meaning that another five years has gone by without any appreciable progress on fossil fuel reduction, energy efficiency, or the use of renewables.

 

Renewable energy provisions in the 2015 Electricity Act cover self-generation by homes and businesses (using solar panels or wind turbines, for example) together with grid interconnection and utility billing credits (known as net metering).

 

The law also provides for utility-scale renewable energy generation, based on power purchase agreements to be negotiated between BPL and third party providers.

 

But everything has been on hold, ostensibly until URCA, BPL and the Ministry of Works sort things out. In fact, progress has been continuously delayed and obstructed - despite the fact that solar in particular is a mature and cost-effective technology with many benefits for the environment and the economy. 

 

In spite of all this stonewalling, there are already hundreds of residential and small business solar photovoltaic installations around the country - including those operated by cabinet ministers. But less costly grid-tied facilities (which don’t require batteries) and net metering were not allowed until recently. 

 

The rationale for this was that grid-tied systems are unsafe and would endanger BEC workers. But in fact, they were allowed for certain government officials and government projects. Apparently, when installed on government projects and ministers' homes they became mysteriously safe, but when installed by the general public they were unsafe.

 

As I reported, URCA’s preliminary consultation document in December called for publication of a final document in January followed by a period of public consultation ending March 31. A final document was never published and it is unclear whether any submissions were received in response to the public consultation.

 

But BPL launched its small-scale self-generation programme a month ago without any fanfare (the details can be found on its website). And according to URCA’s newly appointed director for the electricity sector - ex-BEC manager Shevonn Cambridge - the details are still being finalised.

 

“The relevant agencies (iURCA, MOW, & BPL) are working to finalize the safety, technical and commercial terms.,” he told me. “At this stage it is considered to be in a beta-testing mode, with wide-scale publication projected to commence in mid-May.”

 

Why a technology that has been in use for over three decades around the world needs beta testing here is beyond me - as well as most experts I talk to. It is even more inexplicable when we consider that BPL is managed by Southern Power, which has years of experience installing megawatt solar plants in the US. 

 

And the bad news is that the owners of all currently inspected and installed renewable systems will now have to get one of the few local three-phase electricians to sign off on another application and then go through another lengthy inspection process to be compliant with the new regulations.

 

This is primarily for safety reasons, and secondarily for records management with regard to the component of the national energy demand being met by renewables, Cambridge said. “The inspection of off-grid systems will be facilitated by URCA and the Ministry of Works where applicable.”

 

Existing systems were inspected according to the 2015 Canadian Electrical Code, which is applied in the Bahamas. And since all solar systems were inspected by current Ministry of Works electrical inspectors, what could possibly have changed to require new inspections (other than for record-keeping)? This will only create a bureaucratic bottleneck for the renewables sector.

 

Asked how long the inspection process can be expected to take, Cambridge was philosophical: “The maximum time frame should not be more than two months from receipt of a properly completed application. It should be noted, however, that due to the volume anticipated within the initial period, this timeframe may be exceeded. URCA will closely monitor progress to ensure that applications are processed as quickly as possible.”

 

The good news is that there is finally - after more than a decade of shuffling and jiving - an official regime for small-scale generation of renewable energy in the Bahamas.

 

But according to Cambridge, URCA’s review of BPL’s Utility Scale Renewable Energy plan is still underway and won’t be completed until late this year. Then the regulations will have to be brought into force, followed by a procurement process. 

 

So we are likely to be approaching 2020 before anything concrete can happen at this level - hardly acceptable for an island nation touted as a “world leader” in sustainable energy.

 

The Government and Freedom of Information

 

Official stonewalling is not confined to the renewable energy sector. Both the Ingraham and Christie administrations enacted freedom of information laws at the end of their respective terms, but neither have been brought into force.

 

The cabinet minister responsible for the latest FOI act - Jerome Fiztgerald - has said he expects to appoint an information commissioner soon. But most experts familiar with the law say the appointment process is seriously flawed. It allows the prime minister to select the commissioner after "consultation" with the leader of the opposition.

 

It stands to reason that the information commissioner should be appointed by an independent process, such as the Judicial Services Committee or a parliamentary select committee, with representation from the opposition. 

 

Additionally, civil society representatives should be included in the decision-making process - either though membership on the select committee or by the publication of a short-list of candidates for public feedback.

 

If the current provisions are brought into force, the information commissioner will be a creature of the government, and so will be unlikely to make decisions that are not agreeable to the political directorate.

 

Animal Stories - Pigs, Cattle, Horses and Jackasses

by Larry Smith

A recent spate of animal stories has unexpectedly highlighted the bad governance issues that are harming our country.

Swimming Pigs
First we had the demise of a certain number of the celebrated ‘swimming pigs’ of Big Major Cay in the Exumas.

Despite the various fanciful origin theories offered on Wikipedia, these pigs were actually put on the cay by a Staniel Cay family following hurricanes in the 1990s. And there is a constant ‘turnover' that no-one talks about.

Since there is very little forage or fresh water on the cay for a passel of hogs (as such a grouping is known), the animals began to hang out on the beach begging food from passing boaters. 

And in recent years, the stranded pigs have become a huge tourist attraction, with excursion boats from Nassau and the Exumas charging as much as $400 per head for a day trip. Tour operators have even taken to re-stocking the island with piglets from time to time.

Photos and video of pigs swimming up to boaters in the crystal clear Bahamian sea framed by a white sand beach turn up on social media frequently, and have been featured on news shows and in newspapers across Europe and North America.

It’s good publicity - something the Bahamas rarely gets these days. So when tales surfaced in late February that seven of the 22 swimming pigs had been found dead, there was an immediate uproar. 

How to Resolve the Never-Ending New Providence Landfill Crisis

by Larry Smith

A stunning photo appeared on Facebook over the weekend. Taken from the stern of a small boat speeding away from New Providence, it showed the island entirely shrouded in toxic smoke from the exploding dump.

Other photos taken at night showed a still-raging dump fire when politicians and others were claiming the crisis was all but over.

And there were images of new bush fires burning unimpeded around the dump site, even as the government said it was calling in foreign experts to deal with the problem.

The path to the present crisis at the dump (it is one of many that have occurred over the years), began in the late 1970s, when the government phased out the Big Pond dump on Blue Hill Road and carved out a more remote site in the pine barren off Harrold Road.

A homeowner who has lived near the Harrold Road site since 1976 recalls how the surrounding area developed into a dense residential suburb over the years. Some of these communities had to be evacuated wholesale when the current fire began earlier this month. And it is still not known when they will be able to return.

'Kill the Bill'—Rights Advocates in the Bahamas Oppose Government Surveillance Law

by Larry Smith

‘Kill the Bill’ has become a rallying cry for privacy advocates in the Bahamas ever since the government - without prior notice - tabled a draconian new surveillance law called the Interception of Communications Bill.

This law will let the authorities intercept and store any communication. Other than applying for a warrant, there are no safeguards built in that would cover such issues as attorney-client privilege, the confidential sources of journalists, or the conversations of members of parliament.

The proposal follows on the heels of similar legislation enacted in Britain, Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana and other countries over the last decade or so.

These laws all trace their origin back to the US Patriot Act, passed after the 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington. Among other things, the Patriot Act gave authorities a free hand to conduct mass surveillance and secretly enter homes and businesses. 

Secret search of your home or office is also a feature of our government’s Bill, which was recently withdrawn following an avalanche of criticism. However, the government is not abandoning the law. Rather, it will craft a public relations campaign to help push it through.