The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

It’s easy to see why politicians love sports champions and celebrities. But all too often we are left wondering if the affection is reciprocated.

One of the rituals of being Governor General or Prime Minister is the protocol of the courtesy call. The GG or the PM receives the invited guests for what the press calls a “photo opportunity”.

Previous generations of Bahamians are familiar with the term “church clothes”. To dress up in your finest threads is a mark of respect for the place you are going to and for the people you will meet when you get there.

Outside of the actual church there are few occasions more deserving of church clothes than an invitation to attend Her Excellency at Government House or a visit to the Office of the Prime Minister.

Today there seems to be no difference between church clothes and street clothes and presumably anything goes when you are a star.

The same people who would automatically wear a jacket or a cocktail gown to go and pay for a meal at Graycliff restaurant, seemingly think nothing of moseying down to the Prime Minister’s Office in T-shirt and blue jeans to call on the Prime Minister.

Where are the manners? Where’s the self-respect? Better still, where is the chief of protocol for the Prime Minister when these people show up?

An invitation from the Prime Minister’s Office must contain guidance on what the expected dress code is. There must be some discretion in enforcing that code as sometimes suit and tie or even smart casual wear could place hardship or expense on an invitee.

Recently basketball superstar Buddy Hield, a man who has done us all proud, went calling on the Prime Minister making a fashion statement that might best be described as hipster chic. Jeans, T-shirt and what looked like a shirt tied around his waist.

The Prime Minister was most gracious to receive him, of course, and the two hammed it up for the cameras. Mr. Hield runs local basketball camps for kids and for that he is to be highly commended.

But he should have been turned away at OPM in those clothes. He certainly wouldn’t show up at the White House like that so why disrespect his own Executive Office?

Again, the receptors in the lobby of OPM should stop being star-struck for a moment and stick to a sensible protocol for people who can afford to dress appropriately.

What is appropriate depends on the occasion and the person. School children in uniform is not only appropriate but highly photogenic. Senior citizens however they are dressed have earned the Prime Minister’s respect and should be allowed access as they come. But few of them would show up looking like gaulin.

I don’t advocate that the PM’s protocol officers become fashion police. You didn’t have to always agree with the fashion choices of the late Frank Hanna, but you had to agree that the man had class and style in whatever he turned up in. But blue jeans, T-shirts, tennis shoes and flip-flops should be on the no-go list.

The ultimate people’s house sits atop Mount Fitzwilliam and they seem to have gotten their act together on a dress code to enter the property for direct or indirect encounters with the Governor General.

Once TV and newspaper audiences get used to seeing people in yard clothes accepted at Government House or OPM they will think that is the norm. Let’s not reduce our standards to meet today’s laissez-faire attitudes and dress code. Let’s maintain high standards in the highest offices in the land.

And just for a laugh try to imagine the stern lecture that would have befallen the unfortunate soul in blue jeans who might have crossed the path of the late Canon William Thompson in an official receiving line at Government House or OPM. Lord help him.

THE GRADUATE

Nassau,

August 2, 2017.