The Tribune

By Inigo Zenicazelaya

TO date, Bahamians still do not know when our next general election will be held.

We find ourselves in this predicament because there is no fixed election date, and the person responsible for dissolving Parliament and setting the date we will head to the polls seems unconscionably focused on another date in the near future: April 21.

The Curious Case of Baha Mar

Like a groom who has been spurned by his runaway bride not once but twice at the altar, Prime Minister Perry Christie now waits for the latest appointed day to see if he can finally close the deal. By any stretch of the imagination, Baha Mar has been the biggest albatross around Mr Christie’s neck and it seems he’s hoping (praying?) that it will finally open.

This week, flanked by members of his Cabinet, the prime minister made his way to a ceremony at the resort that was supposed to reassure the tens of thousands of Bahamians concerned about our dismal unemployment rate and a ballooning GDP that the behemoth of Cable Beach will “say yes” this time and bring joy and prosperity to all.

The latest wedding invitation (sent exclusively to the groom’s side of the family) has set April 21 as the “big day”. But there’s one big flaw in Mr Christie’s calculation: the Baha Mar he’s dragging down the aisle bears almost no resemblance to the Baha Mar that Bahamians pictured more than half a decade ago.

This Baha Mar, strangely, is supposed to be the largest casino in the Caribbean but less than a month to go before its opening the resort still doesn’t have a casino license. This Baha Mar, with its dowry of thousands and thousands of rooms, is apparently not booking guests right now. And this Baha Mar, though alleged to have been “sold” in December, still has no official owner.

To simplify my analogy, that’s like a notoriously fickle bride promising to finally “commit this time” but with less than a month to go until the ceremony, she still has no dress, no invited guests and no one to walk her down the aisle.

Of course, some may say, all these problems can and will be worked out in short order.

I have no doubt that this current administration, eager to put on a good show, will throw something together. On the designated day, at the designated time, we will get our “soft opening” ceremony with cheers and champagne and guest “fill-ins” to make it all look good enough.

But in the days that will immediately follow the grandiose banquet, Baha Mar will still not have guests; according to the resort’s management team, they are working on their marketing now.

The “word on the street” is that the prime minister is hoping to make a big splash with Baha Mar in order to campaign on fulfilling one of his biggest promises in the last two years. If that is the case, he has put his last few eggs (and legacy) into the wrong basket because though he may be able to say, “I told y’all Baha Mar would open,” very few will feel the economic impact by Election Day.

And with most of the resort still unopened, it will simply not “feel” like something special. It will “feel” like a shotgun wedding.

To add to the intrigue, so desperate is Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald (the “matchmaker” in this analogy) to have the PLP “put a ring on it” that he has called on Free National Movement Leader Dr Hubert Minnis to resign should the resort open as planned.

Why would Dr Minnis do that?

If Fitzgerald can get it wrong with his judgment on the Rubis Oil spill scandal surely every other politician has leeway “for days”.

Besides, the ceremony slated for next month looks more like a Hollywood style “spiritual” union than it does a love affair. In other words, show us the legally binding paperwork. Or as the young people say, “where ya receipts?”

That, in truth, is why no one is overly excited or optimistic about Baha Mar. There was a prenuptial agreement signed, and Bahamians still have no idea what our desperate groom gave away in order to get this far.

In a few weeks we will flock to Cable Beach, smile and snap a few selfies; then we will go home. A few short weeks after that we will head to the polls.

Baha Mar won’t be the only issue that weighs on voters’ minds but it will be a big one. Unfortunately for the prime minister, it will be difficult for a “soft opening” to change “hard heads” made up months (if not years) ago. Biggest “casino in the Caribbean” notwithstanding, counting on Baha Mar to change the narrative around the current administration’s failings looks like a fool’s bet.

Still, here’s hoping the bride’s family picks up the full tab next month (BEC bill included).

My only advice for the groom is to hold onto the rented tux (and the rented guests) a few weeks. I hear “divorce” parties are also a big deal these days.

I will leave you with a quote from Shakespeare that best sums this whole twisted ‘Baha Mar’ love affair up: “Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake - it’s everything except what it is.”