The Tribune

FRED MITCHELL, former Foreign Affairs/Immigration Minister, now a member of the Senate, is already tired of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis “talking down” the economy. However, Mr Mitchell failed to suggest what part of the economy after his government’s dismal five years administration could honestly be “talked up”.

It is about time that the Bahamian people were told the truth. They are now of age and it is time they were told the state of their economy to prepare them for the belt-tightening that will be required of them — in fact of all of us, Messrs Mitchell and Brave Davis included — to return this country to the fiscal health it once enjoyed.

According to Mr Mitchell, “this is a rich country. This is not a poor country. But everything that comes out of their mouths is woe is me…doom and gloom.”

Mr Mitchell, this could be a rich country, but to be what the country should be the Bahamian people – those with skills and those without skills — will have to work hard to contribute their best — be it much or little — to repair the damage that they have now inherited and to which they have contributed.

Mr Mitchell and his small group should be thankful that they lost the election, because had they won they could not have delivered what their election rhetoric had promised.

It would have been interesting to have seen in the face of victory what would have happened when it was discovered that they could not deliver on their promises. They should be thankful that they have been relieved of that burden. And unless they have worthwhile suggestions to make in the rebuilding of a broken nation, they and their chairman, Bradley Roberts, would be well advised to hold their peace.

Today, The Bahamas is ranked as the eighth most expensive place in the world to live.

According to the World Bank “the major challenges to investment in the country include the high cost and uncertain reliability of electricity, high unemployment combined with a limited pool of skilled labour, high labour costs and low rates of productivity, cumbersome and sometimes opaque administrative requirements, and an escalating crime rate.

In addition, the reservation of certain sectors of the economy for Bahamians only acts as a non-tariff trade barrier to certain foreign investments that do not fit clearly within the National Investment Policy. The Bahamas remains the only country in the Western Hemisphere that is not a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO)”.

The civil service, for example, needs serious examination. This is not to say that they do not have efficient and skilled staff, but the department is over staffed with persons, many of whom are there as a favour to an MP.

The public complain almost daily about the inefficiency, and indifference of many of them. We recall some time back when the Minister in charge of Bahamasair jokingly remarked that his department was almost like a charity.

He just could not say “no” if a member of his constituency asked for a job even though the applicant had no qualifications. They were hired, and the Bahamian tax payers paid their wages.

Apparently, the PLP saw nothing wrong with that. The civil service became the dumping ground for many of the unskilled.

Not only was it unfair to members of the public that had to suffer their indifference, but it was unfair to those qualified members of the civil service, who could not get raises because what would have gone towards their raises was being paid to those who should not have been on the staff. This is going to be a difficult problem, but for the sake of efficiency, government is going to have to correct it.

The World Bank went on to say that “companies report that the approval process for foreign direct investment (FDI) and work permits can be cumbersome and time-consuming and that, in some cases, applications have lingered for years. Large FDI projects require approval by the National Economic Council, which includes members of the Cabinet of The Bahamas.

This provides opportunities for Bahamian businesses with competing interests to lobby Cabinet members to delay review or approval of FDI applications.

The government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas (GCOB or the Government) asserts, however, that the majority of foreign investment applications are processed quickly and without significant issues.

“The Government maintains an online list of tender notices for projects; some companies, however, have complained that not all potential government contracts, particularly those not financed through international financing institutions, are put out for tender, and it is difficult to obtain information on the status of bids.”

Much has to be done to correct our fiscal problems and so we suggest that Mr Mitchell stop wailing about the “doom and gloom” and try to make a valuable contribution as Bahamians attempt to pull their country back from the brink and return it to the fiscal health that it could eventually enjoy,

But to do this Bahamians have to be told the truth. One can only correct problems if they fully understand what those problems are.