The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

OPPOSITION Leader Philip Davis yesterday called on the government to clarify its position on the future of the National Development Plan, insisting that the nonpartisan initiative represented the aspirations of the nation.

His call was supported by NDP Secretariat member Gowon Bowe, who when contacted, said "enough time has passed" for policymakers to make a decision on the future of the plan.

"If it's the people's time," Mr Davis said, "tell us what you are going to do with the people's vision. The National Development Plan goes beyond a political party or administration, it speaks to the path for the future, the future of the Bahamas."

He continued: "The work has been done, it is very advanced, we have a 400-page draft that was released. Are we to believe that it will just collect dust on the growing list of projects this administration has cancelled?"

Labelled 'Vision 2040', the NDP focuses on four main policy pillars - the economy, governance, social policy and the environment. It has been heralded as the first effort to plan the Bahamas' development using empirical data and analyses, with input from private sector and civil society organisations.

Setting out a road map, the plan aims to break with the Bahamas' past ad hoc approach to national growth by setting a clear path towards a more sustainable future.

In May, former Minister of State for Investments Khaalis Rolle told Tribune Business "there's no sustainable future without it" as he urged the next government not to interfere with the NDP's crafting.

Mr Rolle, who had ministerial oversight of the plan, stressed that the NDP's structure had been created to keep it free from political contamination regardless of whether administrations changed.

He told Tribune Business the Christie administration had been moving to give the plan full legal effect, with a draft National Development Plan Bill that was ready for Parliament.

Yesterday, Mr Bowe told The Tribune the plan was in "abeyance" as it relates to public relations.

"When you have a change in administration there was a settling of various roles and responsibilities, and the embracing by the new Cabinet," he said.

"We're really in what I would call in that mode of having to re-energise the public understanding.

"When you speak with all key stakeholders in the private sector, on the economic front, the environmentalists in terms of the bill for natural environment, the social programmes like the Crisis Centre, and all the others, are still very much supportive and in full throttle behind getting it ironed out.

"All we really need is the policy makers to have the same enthusiasm, and with that, what is critical is that this was created in a nonpartisan manner. There's a new government but the whole motive behind the plan is to change the course of the country for the next 25 years. So maturity in policymakers should be saying while it was started under previous administration, I can have my input as contributor, as all parties have contribution, but as a policy maker, I should make sure it's promoted, adopted, and followed."

Impetus

Mr Bowe revealed a roving team from the United Nations' Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean ECLAC met with the Secretariat on Tuesday, and commended the plan as it matched or integrated the body's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He said the positive response has provided an impetus to get the NDP work back in the public.

"Sometimes the honeymoon period of being a new administration is still too much clouded by the degradation and chastisement of the previous one," Mr Bowe said.

"The younger generation is saying 'I don't care what was not done in the past, I want to know what is being done now.'

"Highlight deficiency in the past but match it to an outcome, because it doesn't change the course we're moving."