The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

A real Bahamian, I am sick and tired of seeing and hearing our politicians adopt bogus stances towards alleged corruption by the party in power when the other side is in opposition. It is dead wrong and it is an overt insult to the collective intelligence of the unwashed masses.

Most right-thinking Bahamians are more than aware that today’s politics are totally different than back in the previous decades. In that era politics was all about public service. Today, it seems, it is all about what material acquisitions may be made or gathered by the incumbent party; it’s leadership and the acolytes.

There are now five accepted ways in which a person with little or no means may get unrealistic wealth in a relatively short period of time: wholesale drug dealer; the pulpit; politics; web shop operator and/or a liquor store. I consider myself “a man of the people” despite my “golden spoon” upbringing and career path. As such, I interact and mix with the unwashed masses on a daily basis, especially within the inner city areas of New Providence.

We have two dominant political parties in the nation. The balance of power alternates like clock-work. They both come into office singing hosannas and dishing out very thick, shaving cream for want of a better word. The mantra of the Christie-led PLP was ‘‘We believe in Bahamians”. The Minnis-led FNM shouted from the roof tops: “ It’s the People’s Time”. The problem with both of these meaningless political cliches is that they are deceptive.

The PLP was almost wiped out during the 2017 general elections due to a number of factors. The stark lack of accountability and transparency within the then Christie-led “free for all” regime were staggering. A then minister tried to snag lucrative contracts down at Baha Mar by his public admissions. A next minister, et al, had secured leases for several stores down there.

It has been revealed by assorted reports by the Auditor General and his highly competent staff that there were contracts being awarded without following established protocols and financial requirements.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars apparently walked straight out of the Post Office Bank during the watch of Glenys Hanna Martin. Mind you, this is not to suggest in any way that she, as Minister of Aviation and Transport would have been directly responsible but under the so-called Westminster system she should have been held accountable from a purely political standpoint. The “investigations”, years later, are still ongoing. One glaring case was presented to the courts but no one has heard a single word since of the status much less the outcome.

A known PLP operative/hanger-on allegedly issued a cheque to the Post Office Savings bank one day for some big money. A few days later, that individual withdrew the face value of that cheque and walked away with big bucks. He was never charged, as far as I am aware and he’s still to be seen around town living the life of Riley. As far as I understand, he is also a fugitive from the justice system of the USA, where he allegedly jumped bail and returned to The Bahamas!

Decades ago, a sitting PLP MP, the late Wilbert Moss, actually was criminally prosecuted straight to Fox Hill, under Sir Lynden’s watch. In more recent times, a former FNM candidate for Fox Hill, my good friend former Senator Fred Ramsey was charged and convicted on bribery charges but, because if his advanced years and medical condition, he was spared serving time in Fox Hill. So far, no adherent to any other fringe political groupings have been accused or charged of any crime.

Accountability and transparency should always be the order of the day in public life. We are talking about propelling many hungry bellied individuals into high office where they are placed “in charge” of millions of dollars. 65 per cent of them never successfully started and managed a for profit business. Very few of them ever had more than B$1,000 in his/her bank account, if they had one. Access to sudden and large amounts of cash have ruined or enriched countless Bahamians, especially in politics. When one’s party comes into power, the light bulbs go on, big time. When one’s party loses at the polls you are almost able to feel the dejection and fears of eventual public prosecution.

In office, the cronies and financial supporters of the successful party are jubilant, not because of a desire to help the unwashed masses, but to gain access to the public purse. Once at the political trough all hell breaks lose as adherents jockey for the biggest slice of bread of the biggest soup bowl.

A recent report by the unquestionable and completely independent Auditor General, Terrance Bastian, my Androsian cousin, made some findings relative to a contract awarded by the Ministry of Youth; Sports & Culture during the Christie regime. More than a million dollars were expended but, according to the report, no one has been able to see the actual contract or even a copy. There appeared, according to the report, no paper trail as to whether or not the terms and conditions of the same were fulfilled.

No names of individuals have been called, yet there is a choir of “defenders”. The former minister weighed in on this report while protesting that: “It ain’t me’!!” Some politicians who know better, have sought to attack the integrity of the Auditor General, which they never questioned when the sized 18 shoes were on the other foot. Duplicity is at work here. The former minister also used some choice language and bragged about being a “black” man with monies. How ridiculous!

The race card has no place in our nation today and I cry shame on the minister for dragging this long dead boggy man out of the crypt. Let the chips fall where they may, to quote the much beloved former Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham, even if he made some missteps. He never, publicly, tolerated alleged or possible corruption. Mind you, I am not suggesting that there would have been none under his watch, but he did not play.

ORTLAND H. BODIE, Jr.

Nassau,

April 14, 2019.