The Tribune

TODAY the government armada descended on Abaco in the form of the Cabinet — ministers, permanent secretaries, cabinet staff, with their books, papers and agendas — at a time when Moody’s has downgraded this country’s economy from stable to negative, warning that we have to quickly get our financial house in order.

We believe that the attitude of the Christie government of spending and enlarging, instead of cutting back and saving has so alarmed the international credit rating agency that it moved in early with a warning salvo.

Instead of shrinking his cabinet as did former prime minister Hubert Ingraham when he realised the Treasury needed attention, Mr Christie increased his, claiming the country’s problems warranted it. He, added three parliamentary secretaries, created new ministries and made a case for getting the country further into debt, while he and his soul-mates danced around the seemingly important problem as to who should be driven in the posh Mercedes Benz, originally bought for the prime minister’s office.

Nothing is heard of savings, but just a preening of expensive wings.

No wonder Standard & Poor, a second credit agency, has now come in with the warning that the Bahamas stands a “one in three chance” of its credit rating being further lowered in the next 24 months.

Considering the economic state of the world, and how this country is threatened with being sucked down a black hole into economic oblivion, today’s flaunting of power, with the extra expense that goes with it, is obscene. The PLP government forgets that when this obviously well appointed administrative building for Abaco — one of Mr Ingraham’s many legacies —was being built, the PLP condemned it as a waste of money. Now it appears to be “a thing of beauty” in which they must discuss the people’s business.

If government wanted to have a Cabinet meeting in one of the islands, the equally commodious administrative building — another Ingraham legacy — in Freeport could have easily accommodated them.

But no, it had to be at this time, and it had to be in Abaco, because — unlike Freeport — there is an election, which they have to influence. They probably thought that they were crafty by hiding their electioneering behind a Cabinet meeting so that the Bahamian taxpayers — and not the PLP — would have to foot the bill of today’s very expensive extravaganza.

We wonder how many Bahamians remember long years ago when elections were spread across several days, even weeks. In those days large armadas of supporters moved from one island to the other influencing voters to support their friends on the separate election days. Only those with heavy money bags could afford these forays into the various constituencies to influence the vote. Eventually this practice was abolished and elections were held throughout the islands on one general election day. This was so that each constituency had control of its own destiny and its residents were free to make up their minds in the selection of who they wanted to represent them. The outside pressure groups became a thing of the past.

Abaco must be very important to the PLP that today it had to fly in the whole Christie government, resurrecting the practices of what they would have called the “bad old UBP.” In many of the things that the PLP have done over the years this group makes the UBP look like Sunday-school boys.

The Marsh Harbour administrative building was important to centralise, especially the financial workings of government on Abaco, our one island that is economically sound.

The building had been completed by this year’s election with Finance and the Business Licensing Department already in with the wiring and cable in place and everything ready for the vaults and the Treasury — but the Treasury, the most important department of all, has not moved in.

We have been told that when it came time for the Treasury to move to its rightful place in the building, the move was stopped under this government. If there is any truth to what we have been told, then the reason is scandalous. Bahamians — certainly Abaconians — should demand to know when the Treasury Department will be moved into the central administrative building. If it has been delayed, then why the delay when it is understood that everything is ready for the move? If there is no intention of ever moving the Treasury into the central building, then the public is entitled to an explanation. And we certainly hope that it is not the one that we have been given, especially at a time when government has to start drastically cutting cost and getting its administration centrally located and under control.

However, if the Abaconians have an ounce of pride they should resent the Bahamas government descending upon them in this way. Obviously the government is there, not for Abaco’s balmy air, but to influence the vote.

If Bahamians continue their dependence on politicians then they have not advanced very far from the days of slavery — they have only changed one “massa” for another.