There is a certain degree of impatience among Cabinet Ministers as the government faces the daunting challenges of delivering on Progressive Liberal Party promises in the present economic climate, according to Prime Minister Perry Christie, whose administration came to office nine months and one day ago.
“There’s impatience on the part of the voting public,” Mr. Christie said in an interview with the Bahama Journal. “There’s impatience on the part of Members of Parliament. There’s impatience on the part of Ministers.
“But I happen to be the chief executive of the nation and I have to be realistic and sensible and I believe I have laid the infrastructure for transformation of our country.”
Some Members of Parliament have said that they face increasing levels of frustration and impatience among “jittery” constituents who expected the government to deliver sooner on key campaign promises.
But Mr. Christie indicated that there are certain realities that are slowing the implementation of some of his plans.
“I must be the one to absorb the impatience and to be encouraging to people, to say that these things we are doing are so necessary to the future of our country,” he said.
Mr. Christie said budgetary constraints and shortfalls in revenue collection mean that he has to act even more cautiously as prime minister in carrying out his duties.
He said that the prospect of war in the Middle East could have a profound impact on the local economy and his government is “exercising fiscal prudence.”
“We have been faced with the prospect of a slowing down of the economy, of the need to borrow substantial sums of money and, in fact, a construction industry that is not as dynamic as it has been previously,” the prime minister told the Bahama Journal. “And so, therefore, unemployment is a significant factor. The level of anxiety and frustration on the part of persons have not decreased and, in fact, may have increased and so, therefore, the challenge for our government is even more profound than it has been. “It is important for us to focus on the way ahead and to ensure that all of the applications that we have that are job creating applications are processed in a minimum period of time. I have expressed dissatisfaction at our rate of processing.”
Although he has been roundly criticized by detractors and accused of “foot dragging”, Mr. Christie said he is “a man of incredible action.”
“When I do act, you will see why I waited and you will see the basis of the changes I make,” he said.
It was last year around this time that the prime minister was leading an opposition campaign for voters to reject a change to the constitution that would have eliminated discriminatory language against women. This year, his challenges are a little more intense as the prospect of war threatens to derail some of his plans for economic stimulation.
But Mr. Christie said he believes that in the weeks and months ahead, more of the changes he hopes to affect will silence those who doubt.
Despite the uncertainty facing the economy and his government, the prime minister said he hopes that this year will be one in which he can change the minds of all who lack faith in his ability.
He said the hallmark of his first nine months in office was putting in place a new form of governance, one that provides for consultation and transparency.
Although he has been criticized by some people for trying to “over consult”, Mr. Christie said the appointment of boards and commissions have allowed him to tap into a high level of expertise which would allow him to make more sound decisions.
“I have created what I consider to be a resource bank for the Government of the Bahamas by involving hundreds of Bahamian professionals, whites, blacks, FNMs and PLPs where I’m able to access them for ideas which are being implemented. That’s the process that I’m trying to encourage in this country,” he said.
Mr. Christie said he plans to advocate change to the constitution that would “facilitate an incoming government bringing in that kind of expertise with it in some form.”
The first of his commissions that is expected to report this month is the Prison Reform Commission.
By Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
