The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY General Wayne Munroe blamed a “drumbeat of cynicism” for helping depress voter turnout during the recent general election, warning in the Senate that years of negative public commentary could drive Bahamians away from the democratic process.

Mr Munroe cautioned against what he called “negative thinking”, saying the country must be careful about the consequences of repeatedly presenting national affairs in bleak terms.

“Negative thinking has been found scientifically to have adverse consequences on how your neural networks are wired, leads to depression, leads to disassociation,” Mr Munroe said. “We must be careful that if nationally adopt negative thinking, then it may manifest itself in a number of ways, and so if you keep seeing the cup as half empty, your mind will approach everything in that fashion, and so I am not surprised about low voter turnout.”

Mr Munroe said that for four and a half years he listened to radio commentary he described as “driven by negativity”, arguing that such commentary could discourage people from participating in public life.

“When it succeeds in its purpose, it behooves us to complain about the consequences of our actions, because if you continue to say things, people will seize them and believe them,” he said. “And if they are told constantly that there’s no purpose in the system, why would you expect them to engage with the system?”

He again noted that voter participation in The Bahamas has not fallen as sharply as in some Caribbean countries, where turnout can drop as low as 40 percent, but warned that sustained cynicism could push the country in that direction.

Mr Munroe also defended the Davis administration’s record, saying the government had made substantial progress on long-standing problems that developed over decades.

He said it was unrealistic to expect systemic problems to be solved within one five-year term, arguing that the administration had completed most of the commitments it made to voters.