The Tribune

By MALCOLM STRACHAN

IT was a pleasure travelling around Nassau on Friday. Wherever I went, people were wearing the colours of the nation.

Whether it was official Countdown to 50 shirts or simply representing in black, aquamarine or gold in some other fashion, it was a real lift as we look forward to our anniversary celebration.

Picking out February 24 – 24/2 – as 242 day was a clever idea, and especially this year it sets the tone nicely as we lean towards our golden jubilee.

Elsewhere, there are a lot of other things going on that should give us pride in our nation. Particular credit this year to the organisers of the year of Bahamian theatre who are bringing us a Bahamian play every month throughout the year, for example. And I’m sure there will be plenty of other moments in the countdown to give us pride.

When we celebrate together, we show our strength. When we fall into petty politics, however, it seems we show our weakness.

There was an unseemly dispute last week when former Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes was moved to call out Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis for inaccurate comments in the House.

Mr Davis repeated a story previously told by PLP chairman Fred Mitchell back in 2014 that the FNM, all the way back in 1972 at the independence conference in London, packed up and headed home early. The suggestion has been in the past, reinforced by Mr Davis’ comments, that the FNM didn’t bother with putting in the effort over independence.

Mr Davis said: “They left; Christmas was coming. They signed off and said Sir Lynden whatever y’all say… and they came back home, that’s all part of the record.”

Sir Arthur was forthright in response: “It’s (false), it’s unfortunate I don’t know who told him that. But obviously, somebody told him that and he repeated it.”

He added: “From what other reporters told me, he repeated the same thing that Fred Mitchell said that we left before the conference finished. That is not true. We left the same day, but it was hours after the conference finished. We were there for the end of the conference.”

Sir Arthur should know – he was there.

But at a time when we ought to be celebrating what brings our nation together, this is the kind of politics that seeks to divide instead.

The narrative being pushed here is pretty clear – the PLP trying to take the credit for independence rather than the efforts of all who contributed being recognised. It’s just a line to push for the party’s base – saying look, the FNM didn’t want independence, you have the PLP to thank for that, the FNM didn’t even stay to the end of the event. It undermines the efforts of people who should be recognised for contributing to the founding of our nation. That’s not to emphasis the FNM over the PLP in return, either – but let us celebrate what actually happened rather than trying to carve a narrative out of something from 50 years ago to benefit one party’s idea of itself over the other.

This is also the kind of squabble that sees us spending time talking about something other than our future. Never mind what happened 50 years ago, what are today’s statesmen doing to advance our nation?

In the spirit of those founding fathers, who forever changed our nation, what are the ambitious targets being set by those who govern us, or who would govern us, today?

It certainly isn’t empowering citizens through the Freedom of Information Act, which seems to have stalled so badly that it probably needs to go back to the garage for repairs.

Back in January, the press secretary said the government was still committed to the act, which he said was “in the process of being launched”.

And yet, no sign of any date for full implementation. The Information Commissioner said last September people could start making requests “soon”, yet his definition of soon does not seem to match up to ours. Perhaps that is the same “soon” that they keep saying about the end of road works in Village Road that were due to be finished back in September too.

Maybe it is the same “soon” that we hear about the seemingly endless consultation going on over marital rape legislation. It seems every time that gets closer, the government finds another churchman who suddenly needs to give his opinion on the matter, as if the subject hasn’t been under broad discussion for a long enough time that everyone has had the opportunity to speak who has wanted to speak.

Could our anniversary year be marked by giving married women the same rights as unmarried women to seek legal action if they are raped? Compared to founding a nation, that seems a far less difficult hurdle to clear and yet here we are, trying to avoid upsetting anyone who will tell their congregation to vote for the other side.

Creating the nation did take both sides – and there is part of the lesson. A united approach to issues such as marital rape legislation would take us forward, rather than the sniping politics of opportunism.

The same could be said of issues surrounding equality with citizenship – but we know what happened there, with a referendum beset by political factions and scaremongering over what would be the consequences of giving people the same rights as one another, be they a man or a woman.

Sometimes, it is worth taking a step back and looking at the political scene and asking if we were in the position of seeking independence today, how would the current crop of politicians deliver in comparison with those who actually achieved the task.

That can actually be measured in terms of the legislation that is passed or enacted that takes our nation forward.

Will our anniversary year see any kind of revolution in our rights, our access, in government transparency, in accountability?

We are an independent nation – our challenge now is to constantly improve our nation’s governance. Keeping our eye on that task should be the goal – not bickering about which party did what 50 years ago.