The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

HUBERT Minnis’s Government is to be congratulated for considering bringing local government to New Providence. Though, of course, there are more pressing problems, including crime and the debt, which should take precedence, bringing local government to New Providence will deepen our democracy. I wish Senator Ranard Henfield and his National Advisory Committee well.

In seeking to set up local government the Government should give due consideration to making sure the districts represent real communities. There are a number of traditional communities on the island with history and an identity of their own, be they Fox Hill, Grants Town or the newer and fast growing community along Carmichael Road. One such district that should be considered is the North East, centred on the areas in the present constituencies of St Anne’s and Freetown, as well as the old seats of Montagu, Shirlea and the old Yamacraw.

The North-East is a distinct community of mostly residential properties, facing Montagu bay, with distinctive architecture and town planning interests, a deep sense of community, history, with common problems and goals, which would benefit from a Local Government of its own. The area is demographically cosmopolitan, which aside from the west, is unique in New Providence, with a large mix of Bahamians and permanent residents, black and white, Greek and Chinese Bahamians, with many families, including one foreign parent and one Bahamian, or one person of one ethnicity and another of another and many people who claim a diverse background. The area is also, though certainly not exclusively, the principle population centre for the nation’s Anglo-Bahamian community. We love our diversity and would like a local government that was representative of that.

The people in the area also felt disenfranchised and angry when their historical and beloved Montagu was cut in the boundary review before the last election. Many current Government ministers rightly objected to this cut and their arguments for proper representation of people in Parliament are just as valid now when applied to local government as they were then.

When local government comes to New Providence let’s put a North-East District Council on the map.

GARTH BUCKNER

Nassau,

September 19, 2018.