The Tribune

By LARRY SMITH

IN 2003, I worked at The Nassau Guardian. I clearly recall the extended political honeymoon given to Perry Christie’s new government. Why, even young Michael Halkitis at the Finance Ministry called to offer friendly access.

The “Fresh Wind” that blew the PLP into office in May 2002 was a relief of sorts to those who had tired of Hubert Ingraham’s bull-nosed governance style over the previous decade.

Based on Mr Christie’s soothing words - plus the fact that he had yet to be tested as a national leader - voters felt it was time to give the supposedly rehabilitated PLP another chance. So they did - in a landslide.

But by 2004, the Christie administration was slipping into its now familiar ways - indecisiveness, looking the other way, glib talk, shameless propaganda, scandals and an utter lack of accountability.

So despite the PLP having ridden a wave of goodwill into office, and despite the global economic boom, a resurgent Hubert Ingraham managed to edge them out in 2007.

No landslide this time, though. The PLP held 18 seats to the FNM’s 23, and despite the traditional finger-pointing by the new government, Christie and Co presented a formidable opposition from day one.

Their attacks on the government and inducements to voters became ever more exaggerated as the clock ticked down to the 2012 election.

Perhaps the ultimate example of destructive politicking was the PLP’s placement of large billboards all over New Providence advertising the country’s murder rate, and blaming it all on the FNM.

This utterly cynical strategy worked. And although receiving only a plurality of the total vote (due to a third party challenge), Mr Christie was returned to office with 29 seats to the FNM’s nine. And Hubert Ingraham exited stage left.

The leadership transition that had been pending in both major parties had finally occurred in one, with the FNM mantle falling to a politically inexperienced physician named Hubert Minnis.

There followed two years of aggressive, over-the-top accusations and preening rhetoric by Mr Christie and his ministers, who lost no opportunity to impugn the FNM.

This included dramatic calls for public inquiries into the former government’s actions—particularly the sale of BTC—but none were ever held. It was all showboating.

Meanwhile, the PLP’s own pending leadership transition was suspended indefinitely after an uber-confident Mr Christie decided to take the party into the next general election and beyond.

If his leadership had been a fraction of what he cracked it up to be, this might not have been an existential issue. But he wasted all the goodwill from his 2012 win by arrogantly disrespecting public opinion—a grievous sin.

The result was an unprecedented rejection of the PLP at the polls. In a truly stunning outcome, the party of Pindling gained barely more than a third of the vote, and Mr Christie himself lost his seat after 40 years in parliament.

So angry was the electorate with Mr Christie and his Cabinet that Hubert Minnis, the political novice who had been removed as opposition leader by his own MPs, had only to sit small and wait for his inevitable anointment as prime minister.

It wasn’t oratory or tactics that won the day. Nor was there any special affinity for the FNM brand. Rather, It was the fervent hope of most Bahamians that Dr Minnis would somehow break from the past and take genuine action to save the country from looting and pillaging.

Reform is urgent. The revelations of PLP cynicism and malfeasance now entering the public domain are shocking. Much more so than the revolving-door accusations made following previous elections.

For example, there seems to have been a clear pattern of awarding huge contracts and over-paid jobs to selected cronies, with no transparency and a complete disregard for fiscal responsibility.

Over $400,000 a year paid by the Ministry of Tourism for cultural advice. Millions in shop rent forgiven for a well-connected tenant at the airport. Millions to foreign firms for advertising government projects.

The perception of many is that these crony contracts are alleged fronts to launder public funds for high-ranking political figures. In other words, a suggestion of a way to siphon off taxpayer dollars for the personal benefit of the political elite.

We also hear of investigations into missing funds at multiple government agencies, as well as forensic audits and departmental reviews.

Unfortunately, this information is coming out in drips and drabs (as they say), and in many cases it is incomplete or lacking documentation. This gives the PLP leeway to confuse the issues and muddy the waters - something they are well-practised at.

The PLP position is that board members and other officials of the former government who have been accused of impropriety must be staunchly defended as “respected Bahamian men and women”. Nothing to see here—move along.

But this tone-deaf defensiveness, combined with the apparent reticence of the new government, is only fueling public anger. The rage that swept out the PLP on May 10 has not died. In fact, you can see the bile rising daily on social media.

Perhaps there will be some relief for this pent-up anger at the end of June, when the grace period for parliamentarians to make good on their delinquent public disclosures runs out.

And what about the grand projects launched by the Christie administration that absorbed millions in public funds and were heavily criticised by the FNM in opposition? Well, it seems their funding is being continued by the new administration, even though we have yet to see a proper accounting of what has been spent. This makes no sense to me.

These high-visibility political projects include National Health Insurance, Urban Renewal, the National Training Agency, and especially the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute.

Let’s start with the $23 million-plus spent on BAMSI, which claims to be “revolutionising the agricultural and marine sectors (and) diversifying the economy” from its 800-acre farm on Andros.

At the BAMSI store on East Bay Street recently, we found goat peppers and bananas (which most Bahamians grow in their yard), as well as onions (which we assume came from the produce exchange). This is hardly revolutionary.

The institute also says it provides “academic training and extensive hands-on orientation in crop and livestock production, farm management, environment conservation, agri-business and management of marine resources.”

However, we have no way of judging the validity of this grandiose claim. In other words, how much value are we getting for our money - besides the employment of cronies like Godfrey Eneas.

And consider Agatha Marcelle’s National Training Agency, legislated in 2013. Ms Marcelle was recently replaced as chairman by Theresa Moxey, but we have had no accounting on this initiative either.

The NTA has a multi-million-dollar budget to provide vocational training and job placement. But it is unclear how it differs from the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute. In other words, how are we to judge value for money?

And the entirely non-transparent Urban Renewal programme has long been considered a political slush fund. It is not good enough for the new government to simply swap out the top jobs with its own supporters. We demand a proper accounting.

There is widespread public support for a properly organised national health plan, for very good reasons. But again, lack of transparency and political grandstanding have clouded the issue.

The new health minister (Dr Duane Sands) has done one of the better jobs of accounting for the issues faced by his ministry. And he has the qualifications to guide NHI to a practical result that takes account of private sector concerns. But we need more than just words.

The most interesting development since the election, in my view, was the decision to drop the government’s judicial appeal on the matter of parliamentary privilege.

This case stemmed from former Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald’s tabling of the personal emails of private citizens in Parliament last year. This was done deliberately to deflect attention from the PLP’s Canadian benefactor, Peter Nygard.

The former administration was prepared to go to the max on this, and spend huge sums to overturn a Supreme Court ruling preventing Mr Fitzgerald from doing whatever he wished.

Christie & Co accused their critics of treason and sedition, and even threatened to haul a Supreme Court judge before a parliamentary inquisition. They didn’t care what damage they did to our political system.

This devious and cynical plan was hatched in the Christie Cabinet and fully supported by the former deputy prime minister, Philip Davis, who now - as opposition leader - condemns the Minnis administration for dropping the appeal.

There could be no clearer evidence of the PLP’s inability or unwillingness to heed the message conveyed by their historic defeat on May 10. Davis & Co carry on as usual, showing no remorse, and offering no support for the big changes that are necessary to rescue the country.

One month out from the election, we are still in a very fluid situation. Things could go in different directions. But the public anger currently directed at the PLP should not be taken as a ringing endorsement of the FNM.

As former MP Greg Moss said recently: “(We) no longer have the luxury or patience to afford an extended honeymoon to any political party. There is too much at stake.”

He said people will turn on the FNM in an instant if they do not quickly see meaningful change. I could not agree more.

The bottom line is that Hubert Minnis and his Cabinet have a brief window of opportunity to leverage public anger to fashion the radical reforms that will hold people accountable for their actions.

It has never happened before - not after the UBP were toppled, not after Pindling was turfed out, not after Ingraham. Not ever.

Symbolism is everything in politics, and we are in need of some powerful symbolism now. The voters expect to see big things soon. There can be no more business as usual.

• What do you think? Send comments to lsmith@tribunemedia.net or visit www.bahamapundit.com.