The Tribune

By INIGO NAUGHTY ZENICAZELAYA

According to the newly elected Free National movement (FNM) government, ‘It’s The People’s Time!’

Now that we have settled into ‘The People’s Time’, based on commentaries I’ve heard and read online I’m convinced the coming term will be either an era of great achievement or miserable contradiction. Or (most likely) something in between.

On Wednesday, Governor-General Dame Marguerite Pindling brought the curtain down on the past election season. As usual, she looked elegant, and her elocution during ‘The Speech from the Throne’ (in her new quasi-British accent that would make Queen Elizabeth proud) was practically flawless. But the real attention grabber was that long list of things “my government” is mandated to accomplish.

It was interesting to watch the faces of recently-elected politicians while Dame Marguerite riddled off campaign promise after campaign promise. By the time she was done, I don’t know if their once smiling faces were covered in sweat because of the scorching sun, all that bowing, or from the weight of the gravity of their task. (By contrast, the former Deputy Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis and former minister Glenys Hanna Martin were smiling and grinning throughout.)

It’s not hard to imagine all the lofty ideas a simple campaign slogan like ‘It’s The People’s Time’ has conjured in the minds of Bahamians everywhere. In short, Bahamians expect the FNM to end public service corruption, curb crime, turn the economy around and decrease unemployment.

And that’s in the first year.

Before the end of their first term (and they come knocking on doors again), ‘the people’ want elected politicians to ensure energy reform and clean air, but they also want those millions from aragonite mining and oil drilling.

Bahamians want police officers to be more visible, but they had better stay out of our personal space and emails. They want education reform and a respectable national grade average, but some aren’t sold on mandating three-year-olds attend ‘germsy’ schools at that age. Also, according to ‘the people’ on social media, every school student needs a personal tablet or computer.

Bahamians want job creation numbers to go up while unemployment goes down (unlike the last administration that effortlessly managed the reverse.)

Bahamians want food security, but without shady deals with foreign interests, which means no Cabinet Ministers setting up their own get-rich quick operation and importing foreign fisherman to ‘fishout’ our waters.

The ‘people’ want National Health Insurance but with a proper plan to pay for it, but don’t think about hitting us with another tax or raising VAT. If ‘cook-outs’ for medical expenses are still happening five years from now, no doubt ‘the people’ will be ‘dead mad’.

If the International Bazaar still looks the same in Freeport, the FNM will have failed the people. If the dump is still poisoning our air every few weeks, the FNM will have failed the people. If summer ‘load shedding’ is still a thing, the FNM will have failed the people.

I could go on all day but I think you get the drift.

And I know this may sound like a tall order to those in the government but just think what the people have given you to work with; a super majority in Parliament and a chastened Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Opposition. The Democratic National Alliance is a non-factor. VAT brings in close to a billion dollars a year. Best of all, the population is hopeful, willing to work hard and will cut you some temporary slack to clean up whatever mess you have met.

But, as the older, wiser Bahamians say, ‘whoa be tide me Lord Jesus’ if all you have to show for it is a bucket of excuses at the end of five years.

You have all the ‘experts’ heading their respective ministries. You have great power and the great expectations that come along with it. If it’s really ‘The People’s Time’, do yourselves a favour - don’t mess it up. Because if you do, five years can come at you real fast - just ask the PLP.

• Inigo ‘Naughty’ Zenicazelaya is the resident stand-up comic at Jokers Wild Comedy Club at the Atlantis, Paradise Island, resort and presents ‘Mischief and Mayhem in da AM’ from 6am to 10am, Monday to Friday, and ‘The Press Box’ sports talk show on Sunday from 10am to 1pm on KISS FM 96.1. He also writes a sports column in The Tribune on Tuesday. Comments and questions to naughty@tribunemedia.net

-- Secondary piece --

use photo of Ranard Henfield this week in parliamentary ceremonies

headline

Henfield’s Parliamentary march is out of step

Every civilised society needs great activists and decent politicians. Though the roles of the two can sometimes intersect, they are definitely distinct. Former President Barack Obama comes to mind as a good organiser, turned politician, turned activist again. I can appreciate that he never tried to confuse the two roles.

The talk of the town this week was We March founder Ranard Eric Henfield’s decision to toss his ‘Activist’ hat aside to don a new one that reads ‘Senator’.

Not surprisingly, there were great debates on social media and the talk show airwaves about whether this decision by Henfield represented a selfish, ‘sell-out’ move or the natural progression of someone wanting to make a difference.

At the moment, I’m on the fence as to whether Henfield has been disingenuous with the thousands of Bahamians who supported the We March movement - yours truly included. I believe Henfield is a good person who has done great things as an activist in the past. He has already contributed much to Carmichael, and perhaps feels the next best thing is to have ‘a seat at the table’ in Parliament.

This is where Henfield and I disagree.

As a politician - which he now is, no matter what he says - he is now under a new kind of political pressure. His loud ‘activist’ voice must now become a whisper (remember, there’s no screaming at ‘the table’). And these same political forces will demand compromise - activists confront, politicians compromise.

The worst part for Henfield is in holding onto the mantle of We March while sitting in Parliament, he looks bad. There is nothing he can do in the Senate ‘for the people’ he could not do more effectively leading the most successful grassroots organisation in a generation. A ‘seat at the table’ has not given him more power, but rather handcuffed his ability to turn over the table.

At least with any credibility. Despite his protestations, Henfield is not ‘independent.’ Such fantasies are child’s play.

Those admonishing the many followers of We March and other activist groups that joined forces with the movement to ‘get over it’ or ‘march fa yasself’ are oblivious to what it takes to build a coalition We March was able to bring together under one umbrella. Henfield didn’t do it alone, but by not handing the reins over to a competent successor he alone appears to be using We March as his personal political bargaining chip.

Did he ‘cut a deal’ to ‘Roc wit Doc’ right before the election and peddle his influence with his supporters in exchange for a ‘lil senate appointment?’ We may never know. What we do know is more activists and less politicians are needed these days.

It was Frederick Douglass who once said, “Power concedes nothing without demand.” With a decimated opposition and We March effectively put on a leash, it’s best to wish Mr Henfield good luck in the Senate and move on. No matter who stands with us or decides, alternatively, to have a seat, Bahamians must always continue to demand the best for our country and ourselves.