The Tribune

WITH LESS than two weeks until the general election, the outcome remains hard to predict in the absence of any meaningful testing of public opinion in advance by pollsters who are so much a part of the political scenery in America and Europe.

This makes it all the more interesting to look for pointers either from past elections here or from experience elsewhere.

One issue is the rise of populism, defined as an anti-establishment movement. This has been seen as a new phenomenon responsible for the emergence of a real estate mogul as US president at the expense of traditional politicians and, in the United Kingdom, for ‘Brexit’ which represented a victory for eurosceptics who rejected the wishes and advice of the then sitting Conservative government.

Populism has gathered strength because of growing dissatisfaction over globalisation and, in general, with the increasingly flawed performance across-the-board of a discredited political class perceived to be acting for the most part in its own interests rather than those of the people.

The most recent manifestation of this has been the first round of France’s presidential election last week which, for the first time in recent French political history, resulted in representatives of neither of the mainstream established parties - republicans or socialists - moving on to the second round of voting.

There is perhaps no direct parallel in relation to the Bahamas because our two main political parties are so well entrenched that one of them will win on May 10, with the minority Democratic National Alliance succeeding only in splitting the vote. Nonetheless, populism may be a factor in our election because of the current palpable level of public dissatisfaction with our political class and, in particular, with our leaders who seem to have lost the trust of the public at large.

In the past, Members of Parliament were respected and admired as wise and principled individuals who enjoyed disproportionate power in running, it seemed, almost every aspect of daily life in this small country. By contrast, in modern times the new generation of voters, which tends to be more worldly, demanding and less malleable, sees politicians in a more critical light and is less inclined to adhere to traditional party loyalties.

Younger people will not tolerate the arrogance of government ministers who shamelessly indulge in wrongdoing involving corruption and financial malpractice, some of which would earn jail time if committed by ordinary people. To them, it is no longer acceptable that a cosy cartel of politicians should be permitted to ignore convention or break the law with impunity knowing that they will be protected by their colleagues.

As has been pointed out by one Free National Movement (FNM) candidate, there is a culture of slackness, dishonesty and corruption in the Bahamas. Instead of showing an example to the rest of the country, the Progressive Liberal Party government has made matters worse during the last five years by itself becoming mired in endless scandal - both collectively through malfeasance as the ruling authority and as a result of corruption or other wrongdoing by individual ministers.

All this has been well documented and discussed ad nauseam - and, in an ordered, decent and fair-minded society unafraid of victimisation, the most recent transgressions involving two ministers ought to be the final straw. But with weak political leadership in the shape of a Prime Minister who refuses to control his own Cabinet in the face of outrageous behaviour, including indisputable contravention of the ministerial code of conduct, those concerned escape any sanction.

In the lead-up to the election we say yet again that all this has to stop. The people themselves, who by definition constitute the essence of populist movements, demand it. Society as a whole has to change and it should be for our political leaders to show the way by cleaning up their own backyard first. Issues of corruption and integrity are top of the agenda in this election and it is encouraging that the FNM leader, in calling for transparency and honesty in politics, is quoted as saying “we will go very, very hard on corruption”.

In these circumstances, we urge the electorate to vote for change but also to judge parliamentary candidates not only on their capacity and willingness to represent the interests of their constituents but also in relation to their level of integrity and commitment to reject corruption while accepting the need for transparency and accountability. Since there is little ideological difference between the two main parties, this has now become more important than traditional political affiliation.

We believe that new faces must be given a chance to develop a different and honest approach to governance characterised by integrity and accountability to the public who elected them. Without such change, this country will deteriorate into Third World mediocrity, decadence and even lawlessness as the current so-called political elite, with no discernible moral compass, continues to exercise power and influence for its personal benefit and enrichment and with little concern for ordinary people.

From what we are hearing on the street, more and more decent, well-meaning and patriotic Bahamians now believe that they and their country deserve better.