If first impressions are lasting impressions, The Bahamas has a lot to worry about as regards the rundown conditions at the Nassau International Airport. This port of entry welcomes millions of tourists and therefore is the face The Bahamas shows to the world. What is interesting about this factoid is that the hundreds of people who are paid to keep the facility in some reasonable state of repair are either tired, nasty or under-resourced.
Regardless of what turns out to be the truth, the inescapable conclusion is that the National International Airport is on the verge of becoming a shame and a disgrace. Having not kept pace with best practices in the world, that facility is rundown, beat up and teetering on the edge of collapse. Similar pictures of dereliction and nastiness are to be found in other locations, both public and private throughout The Bahamas.
Having grown accustomed to the idea that properties should be given the minimum attention, hordes of janitors, janitresses and other maintenance people are allowed to get away with doing the minimum. As a result, deterioration sets in and the public itself becomes complicit in the mess, specifically when outrage is displaced by apathy.
We are particularly incensed by these issues because we know the value of keeping things decent and in order. We know, too, that the environment in which people live and work play a large role in shaping the quality of community life and by extension the nature of development itself. When government, for example, is perceived as being lazy, indolent and care free, it sends a message to the community at large. For example, when the Ministry of Health tries to encourage the community to take pride in keeping the environment ‘clean, pristine and green’, its work is contradicted by other offices which have been allowed to disintegrate, sometimes to the point where they are condemned.
In what seems an almost surreal tableau, any number of Bahamians today complain about what they say is the general shabbiness and uncleanliness which pervade many of this nation’s public properties, particularly public buildings.
On occasion these critics bemoan the general unsightliness and nastiness pervading many of this nation’s densely populated urban centers. While much of this criticism is absolutely warranted, critics go wrong when they argue that there is some easy solution or magic panacea to this vexing issue.
It is true that public and private properties are often allowed to run down and sometimes collapse. Reference need only be made to the fact that the government itself continues to use buildings condemned by one of its own agencies, the Ministry of Works.
This irony underscores a problem which has bedevilled successive Bahamian governments. As we have previously indicated, the roots of this problem go back to what is a peculiar Bahamian trait, namely the desire to have new things but to make only limited accounting provision for depreciation and maintenance. When, for example, a wooden home is built, little attention is given in the budget breakdown for the high costs of maintenance. As a direct consequence of this neglect, once beautiful homes quickly sink into squalor.
Another more serious example of this kind of delinquency is to be seen in rental accommodations owned by government which became such an affront to decency that the government was eventually shamed into making a number of cosmetic changes. While these examples are bad enough, they tell only part of a bigger story of neglect and dereliction.
Indeed, when reference is made to the more general attitude which seems to pervade most of our nation, there is compelling evidence to support a conclusion that Bahamians have been allowed to adopt an ‘anything goes attitude’ to town planning, with practically everyone being allowed to get away with doing anything. Unfortunately and regrettably, public officials themselves often turn a blind eye – often for a fee – to allow people to flout laws put in place to protect the environment, both built and natural.
Ultimately, Bahamians will have no one to blame but themselves if the word gets out that their country is unsafe, unclean and poorly maintained.
The good news is that with only a little effort, everyone can make a real and positive difference. But, too, the government must itself lead where it wishes others to follow.
Editorial, The Bahama Journal
