The Progressive Liberal Party government hindered technological development when first in power, charged former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.
They did this because they were afraid primarily for reasons of confidentiality, the Member of Parliament for North Abaco said Wednesday in the House of Assembly.
If e-commerce is to be a viable economic activity in The Bahamas, it needs a vibrant and innovative business sector, and a critical element is a highly skilled and educated labour force, he said.
“The technologies in a successful electronic commerce environment are regrettably biased against low-skilled and poorly educated labour,” he said.
He said that it was the Freedom National Movement’s recognition of this reality that drove its policies on education and training.
Moving The Bahamas toward a digital economy, he said, required preparing the entire society to move in that direction, and approach e-commerce in a holistic manner.
The Government, he said, must remain committed, as was the FNM to the transformation of The Bahamas into an information-based society and our economy into a digital economy, so that all Bahamians would be able to embrace the opportunities of electronic commerce and information technology.
Mr. Ingraham said that the reason The Bahamas is left behind in e-commerce and e-government, is because it is behind in enacting legislation to regulate electronic commerce.
He said Prime Minister Perry Christie had no basis on which to criticise the FNM government when he said that the party left the bill in question to “collect dust.”
By Vanessa C. Rolle, The Nassau Guardian
