The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Public Services Union President John Pinder yesterday announced his endorsement of the Bahamas National Citizen’s Council’s proposal to government of a 25-year development plan that would theoretically raise $100bn from the World Bank towards the development of the country’s economy.

The $100bn would be generated from utilising the country’s natural resources - mainly aragonite - and would be placed in a sovereign trust fund that would “fund future economic development, infrastructural and human development”.

At a press conference at the BPSU Hall on Wulff Road, Mr Pinder joined with BNCC Chairman Andrew Stewart and BNCC Trustee Wesley Campbell in their formal proposal of a plan that would “free the nation from 41 years of mismanagement of its fiscal and natural resources” by successive governments.

However, Mr Pinder said if current political parties refuse to buy into it, he and the BNCC would form their own party “if need be” to further their endeavour.

“We are not satisfied that the government is doing all it can to bring some sort of economic relief for Bahamian people,” Mr Pinder said. “With value added tax (VAT) staring us in the face come 2015, we recognise that more persons will be pushed below the poverty line, and those who are at the poverty line will certainly suffer that much more. We believe that if the government will seriously consider aragonite and the other natural resources – oil, salt – we believe there will be sufficient revenues coming from those natural resources, that there will be no need for VAT.

“We’re hoping that the government will also look at this plan with the expectation of bringing some financial relief to our citizens. If not it will force us to do what is necessary to take control of the government, and cause there to be the new kind of governance in our country that will speak the economic freedom for Bahamians.”

Last month, a full page advertisement of the BNCC’s 25-year plan was published in this newspaper, detailing a prospectus on developmental objectives in pursuing a “new economic agenda.”

It proposed the establishment of both a wealth trust fund and a national sovereign trust fund.

The wealth fund would supposedly draw down $100bn against sovereign collateral assets, while 20 per cent of the wealth fund’s assets would be mandated towards the sovereign fund annually.

From that sovereign fund, $1.5bn would be distributed evenly to each Bahamian household, meaning a Bahamian household could receive between $75,000 to $100,000 annually if implemented. Additionally, while functioning under the plan, minimum wage in the country would be “pegged at $350 per week.”

The plan proposes $2bn worth of mortgage relief, as well as universal health care and retirement benefits. Additionally, while functioning under the plan, 1,500 millionaires would be produced locally, poverty would be eliminated, the middle class would be stabilised, and the national grade point average would become a B+, the plan says.

The crafters of the plan argue that it will be so successful if implemented, that VAT and web shop regulation would be reversed.

According to Mr Campbell, the government is not doing enough with the country’s natural resources to “put our country at the level where it ought to be.”