The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Data Commissioner Sharmie Farrington-Austin is calling on Andros to elect her in order to help realise the $1 billion dollar potential that exists for that island.

Speaking to scores of supporters during her independent campaign launch on Sunday, Mrs Farrington-Austin outlined a campaign platform that focuses on economic diversification, scholarship investments, and community development.

On the subject of economic diversification, she stressed the need to maximise on the strategic location and natural resources that exist on the island.

“Andros has all the natural resources it needs to make it a successful and thriving island,” she said.

“Ecotourism remains a viable form of potential revenue particularly for South Androsians. Research shows that South Andros remains largely preserved in its natural state. Bird watching is also an attractive way of attracting visitors and income to South Andros.

“Institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank continue to show economic potential of Andros in this regard.”

In 2014, a $600,000 Inter-American Development Bank project entitled “Ecosystem-based development for Andros island” was engaged by the government to incorporate the island’s natural attractions and resources into a “master-plan”’ that would guide its development.

The project aimed to determine the economic value to the Bahamas of Andros’s various ecosystems, which a previous study by V Hargreaves-Allen, conducted for The Nature Conservancy, estimated at $260 million per year.

The IDB described Andros, with its 2,300 square mile land mass and 10,000-strong population, as “largely undeveloped” with the main economic activities centred on agriculture, tourism, fishing and the government.

The island also possesses the world’s third largest natural barrier reef, “some of the most extensive wetlands in the Caribbean”, and supplied between 25-40 per cent of Nassau’s freshwater needs until the capital switched to reverse osmosis plants.

The IDB noted that its project would help to “plan and guide” the government’s development plans for Andros that would include the Bahamas Agricultural and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI); a deep water port for commercial and cruise shipping; and efforts to revive farming, eco-tourism and sports fishing.

Last May, a non-IDB related venture broke ground that was expected to pump $3.5m into South Andros’s economy within six months and create around 180 jobs.

However, the five-phase Solar Verde Bahamas project - which was to include a marina, retail outlets at Kemp’s Bay and an extension of the Congo Town airport - had stalled into February of this year, causing frustration among local residents and the business community.

Mrs Farrington-Austin on Sunday said that the economy “cannot subsist on a tourism model alone.”

“We must, as Dr Myles Munroe would say, ‘maximise our potential.’ We can diversify our economy by tapping into our billion dollar fishing industry and expanding our agricultural capacity. We can also take ownership of our airspace and we can take dominion of our natural resources,” she stressed.

She also said she pledged $10,000 requested to Captain Shawn Leadon and Simon ‘Bonefish’ Bain to create an education course for teaching youth about fly-fishing and the honouring of bone fishing legends.

Concerning community development, having already established a centre in Cargill Creek, Mrs Farrington-Austin wants to create one in Smith’s Hill, South Andros and an at-risk centre for young women.

She also pledged to work with the responsible authorities to ensure that Andros residents take possession of the land they live on that they have already paid for.

As she unveiled her campaign for South Andros, Mrs Farrington-Austin also called for the serious consideration of the Bahamas operating under a different system of government other than the current Westminster system.

“We need to collectively look at our system of governance. We need to ask ourselves whether the Westminster system is working for a 21st century Bahamas. Do we need a republic? Or do we need a combination of both? I sincerely believe at this juncture that we should take a look at some form of republic model. It is time that we consider voting for our prime minister separate and apart from voting our members of Parliament.”

As it stands now, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago are the only countries in the Caribbean region operated under a republic system.

Jamaica and Barbados have recently considered moving away from operating under a constitutional monarchy system.

Mrs Farrington-Austin said Bahamians “must begin this conversation in a serious way.”

“Under our present system, the prime minister and the leader of the opposition must always be cognisant of the fact that at any moment, the level of confidence they enjoy can shift.

“There is no recall system in place. In my humble view, this leads to insecure and ineffective governance.”

“It is time we change to a system that will work for the people of this country including the great people of Andros.”