The Tribune

By TYLER MCKENZIE

WHEN Brave Davis came to office, he pledged to lift the veil of secrecy in government – instead, he has replaced it with a cloak of darkness.

The lead stories in each of the main newspapers on Thursday were informative, to say the least. Both The Tribune and the Nassau Guardian had main stories talking about the lack of information being given out by the government – incredibly, they were two entirely separate stories.

The Guardian’s lead story focused on the series of questions put by the FNM in a Q&A session in the House of Assembly, repeatedly dodged by the Prime Minister and by the Minister of Energy and Transport, JoBeth Coleby-Davis.

Over at The Tribune’s front page, it was the Freeport licensees wanting actual answers on what the plan is for Freeport after Mr Davis visited Grand Bahama to deliver more rhetoric but no details.

These were not even the only stories about a lack of information or transparency from the government in the week.

Just the day before, The Guardian reported on Mr Davis telling people in Grand Bahama that it was “never fruitful or constructive to have the media engaged in your business”.

Credit the administration with one piece of transparency – they’re telling us to our faces that they are not going to tell us anything.

After the licensees spoke up, who else waded into the debate but the undiplomatic diplomat, Foreign Affairs Minister and self-appointed warrior in the Grand Bahama Port Authority debate Fred Mitchell. Responding both to the licensees and the Port Authority which pledged to “set the record straight” with an event with stakeholders, Mr Mitchell called their statements “unfortunate, ill conceived, misdirected” and said they were “responding in a combative manner to the prime minister’s address to the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce”.

He added that “the statements were so similar that they can be accused as being authored and directed from the same mind and pen”.

Meanwhile, he told the Port Authority that “this is a time for silence, consulting your lawyers and stepping up to the plate and finding the money to make good”.

He didn’t tell the prime minister it was time for silence, who had just spoken to the chamber of commerce. Oh no, just the other side of the debate.

For their part, the licensees association were very polite – starting out by saying it was a privilege to hear from the prime minister in the “first opportunity to do so” since a request back in June of last year.

Indeed, the association simply pointed out that the “discourse lacked critical details on any tangible solutions and remedial action” and that it “failed to establish any forum for the genuine engagement and participation of licensees”. In other words, pretty much, they haven’t been told the way forward and there has been nothing set up for them to give input.

They are not alone.

How about consultation for the Electricity Bill before the House? You would think the Grand Bahama Power Company would have been part of the discussion. Not so! They say the first they heard of it was when it was in the newspapers.

Freedom of Information Bill? Get your binoculars out because it ain’t anywhere in sight.

Parliamentary disclosures? The chairman’s gone quiet and there’s little sign of anyone telling us if Parliamentarians actually followed the law or not. Mr Mitchell even thinks it is a nuisance to be asked.

Fines for companies that have damaged our environment? Somehow that has become a state secret, even as another ship has been stranded on a barge without being removed. Tell us the fines – how can they be a deterrent if no one knows what they are?

Even in a House debate this week, on the Trial By Judge Alone Bill, when FNM MP Adrian Gibson suggested that three judges might be better than one to ensure justice, he got his knuckles rapped by the Minister of National Security, Wayne Munroe, who said Mr Gibson should apologise, as if suggesting extra legal protections during a Parliamentary debate was some terrible offence.

As Maya Angelou said, “when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time”.

Well, this administration is showing us who they are.

They don’t want you in their business. They don’t want you being able to offer an informed opinion. They don’t want you to know if they broke the law. They don’t want to give answers in Parliament.

They’re just not that into you. But just wait until election time. There will be knocking on the door, there will be promises of this, promises of that. There will be rallies and campaign shirts. They will be all into you then. Just remember how they are now.

There’s time to change still. Get that Freedom of Information Act implemented fully. Share the receipts on GBPA so we can agree – or disagree. Tell us which MPs missed the declaration deadline. Answer the questions on BPL. Tell the BPL staff what is coming in their future.

Mr Davis talks about having the media in your business – well, first thing first, it’s not your business, Mr Davis, it’s the country’s business. Secondly, it’s not just the media you’re snubbing – but stakeholders in the future of GBPA or BPL or other entities, and your fellow Parliamentarians in the House.

It’s about time you gave some of them some real answers. Or don’t be surprised when they’re not that into you in the ballot box when the time comes.