The Tribune

WE DO not think there is anyone on either side of the political divide who would not agree that Bahamians should be first in their own country. However, as the country grows, Bahamians need more than their nationality as a qualification — they themselves have to be highly skilled. They also — and this is where many of them fail — need a sound work ethic.

Because our country, as well as our population, is small, there will always be a shortage of Bahamian talent in many fields. Even larger countries experience the need to draw skilled persons from outside their borders. That is why over the years there are major shifts in populations. As the native population becomes more sophisticated, more ambitious and better educated, their sights are set on the coat-and-tie desk jobs as they aim for the executive board rooms. They leave the menial posts behind — the jobs that for years their parents had filled, and, if the island had remained stagnant, they too would have continued the tradition. However, unless those menial tasks were done, society could no longer function smoothly. Even the executives in the boardroom would be shaken by the absence of the labourer below.

We have often quoted our dentist, the late Dr Cleveland Eneas, for whom this was a vexing problem. Half a century ago, he could foresee the difficulties that a growing society would face when Haitians would be called on to do the labouring jobs – jobs that Bahamians even then thought were beneath them.

Who is going to clean my car, mow my lawn, and trim my hedges, Dr Eneas often asked as he developed his philosophical dissertation on the shifting sands of societies. “Who is going to take that burden off me so that I can go to my clinic and concentrate on my patients?” he would ask.

He saw the necessity of the hardworking Haitian in our society, but he could also foresee the future problems that would grow out of that need. If one studies history, it will be seen that this problem is not unique to the Bahamas. After the uneasy growing pains of the middle passage, the outsider is eventually assimilated into the foreign land and a stronger nation is the result. This is what is happening in the Bahamas today, we are now headed towards our middle passage of assimilation and growth towards a new Bahamas.

The PLP would like Bahamians to believe that it was they who introduced Bahamianisation. This concept came long before the PLP were in office. Bahamianisation was introduced by the UBP and supported by The Tribune.

We recall the day when The Tribune applied for a permit for its first foreign staff member. The industry was growing and the machinery was getting more complicated — it was equipment that no Bahamian had seen before. And so we needed to apply for permission to employ a foreign technician.

The late Sir Roland Symonette, the Bahamas’ first premier, as a member of the Immigration board, came around to our offices himself to discuss the matter. A sound businessman, he saw the need, and gave permission on the spot. From then on, an informal call to Stuart Hall, then the Immigration officer, would continue the permit and business had no worries. This did not mean that Bahamians were not taken in as understudies, because we all realised that one day the foreigner would also want to move on. It did not make sound business sense not to train Bahamians. And in those crime and drug-free days, Bahamians were keen to learn.

Those were the days when businessmen administered the government and they understood the business needs of a country that relied on outside investment — not drug money — to maintain a growing economy. In those days, there was full employment.

Then came the PLP. Bahamianisation became the political catchword. It would be enforced quietly behind the scenes as many persons were bullied into silence. For 25 years of the Pindling years, it was a living hell for The Tribune that refused to be cowed. In many areas, it hindered growth. It certainly closed our journalism school when the permit of the training officer was not renewed. As a consequence all training of young journalists stopped. We could not put out a newspaper – where most of the copy of the staff in those days had to be rewritten – and run a training programme at the same time. As a consequence, journalism in this country suffered, because it was at The Tribune that most young journalists were trained.

And so we agree with all those who maintain that Bahamians should be the first considered on the job line. However, it is irresponsible for Bahamians to be encouraged — as they were in the Pindling era — to believe that the job was theirs as of right because they were Bahamian. No further effort was needed, particulary if the applicant belonged to the party of Pindling.

Today, Bahamians need jobs, and they are entitled to be the first on the line to fill those jobs provided they are qualified to fill them. Otherwise they are not entitled to even be considered. Nor should they expect to be.

Young people today are destroying their futures by accumulating a criminal record instead of using their time to qualify for a trade or profession.

Unless a very exceptional case can be proven, no office door will open to a person who is a graduate of HM Prison, Fox Hill.