The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

IT MATTERS who wins the upcoming election, but it really does not matter in terms of what a government has to do when elected.

Right now, we have a lot of "union activity" and I guess that a lot of promises are being made behind the scenes; and a lot of those "things" can happen if that government is prepared to borrow more money.

The deficit will be at such a level when the bills for the present infrastructural development come due that most government employees will have to stand very still as the government that they have elected makes its move on the budget issue.

The elephant in the room has always been where 70 per cent of the annual budget is actually spent.

What is it going to take for Bahamians, the middle to upper-class Bahamians especially, to understand that we do not have a real economy?

We may see ourselves as a "developing country" but too much of that middle to upper class paycheck is coming out of the public treasury and maybe we do not understand or we just want what we want; but everyone cannot live the life of an MP. There are public servants who make much more than MPs make but that is another story.

Is there anyone out there in their right minds who is still under the impression that there is going to be another BaTelCo, that would be allowed to do what it did; especially in the area of compensations? It will never happen again. We are less than two years from the protective cover being taken off the communications industry and those "privateers" chomping at the bit will leave no stone unturned, resulting in a further downsizing of "BaTelCo".

This is a time for all and sundry at BaTelCo to be evaluating what is ahead. The recent oversubscription of the APD offer is an indication of how much Bahamians want to be involved in what is going on in this country and I am not sure that some vying for political office took note of that.

This is not about giving Bahamians a chance, a significant part of the electorate is already on the move; it is only those among us who are unclear of their job description who are having a problem in seeing what is ahead. There are many questions that need to be answered, but not too many of us are taking the time to articulate what it is we really want to see.

All we know is someone is doing this and someone else is doing that and some of us like it and some of us don't, and we refuse to let our complacence, naivety or preferences take us any further in the discussion.

Admittedly we are in the midst of something that all governments, past and present, should have had an ongoing interest in getting completed, but that did not happen.

What is happening now is one governments attempt to do something before the economy takes off, and the amount of tourist arrivals and the employment figures in the north, indicate that it is happening. We have a choice to make.

The upcoming election will not change the requirements that are ahead; they are almost mandatory. The question we need to answer is hard and it goes against everything some of us want to see happen.

With the amount of activity and developments going on in this nation and the amount of money being spent - who do we want to manage that? This is no time for games. Maybe that is why I have such a strong dislike for those politicians whose only weapon is the lowest common denominator.

EDWARD HUTCHESON

Nassau,

March 8, 2012.