While jobs are being created in the Family Islands too few are becoming available in New Providence.
When the matter of governance in a democracy is taken seriously, those who are called to serve know that it is never about them, but all about the interest of the people. In the ultimate analysis, the formula for staying in power in a democracy is a function of the expressed will of the people. When they are pleased, politicians are able to preen, strut and congratulate themselves for a job well done. Contrariwise, when the people are pushed to the point, where they no longer have confidence in those called to govern, disaffection and distress become the order of the day.
All political parties, factions, and splinter groups in The Bahamas have been obliged to bear the brunt of public disapproval. Indeed, as the history of the two major parties amply demonstrates, when disaffection sets in, the government’s capacity to govern effectively is undermined.
In very recent times, the Free National Movement was so confident about its relationship to the people, that it slowly but surely lost touch with a majority of the electorate. Whether this erosion of support was due to external events, internal confusion or a combination of both is a subject for another day. What is surely true is that the Free National Movement did lose touch with the electorate. After two terms of steady growth and achievement, the party lost its way and was defeated.
One theory about that party’s eclipse, argues that it imploded. At the core of this view is the proposition that contradictions internal to the Free National Movement were vitally important in fuelling public disaffection. Collaterally, it might also be argued that the FNM’s eclipse was aided and abetted by the unflattering comparisons made when the matter of leadership on both sides of the political divide was broached. As the record shows, when asked to choose between FNM party leader Tommy Turnquest and the political veteran Perry G. Christie, the latter was given the nod.
Now the attentive pubic is today reviewing its decision. The one thing the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie still has going for him, is there is no groundswell of opinion calling for him to either resign or call elections. As in all matters political, this can change.
What is clear today is that the so-called and self-styled ‘New’ Progressive Liberal Party is no longer riding high. Its leadership is being challenged, not only by its traditional rivals, but also by a motley coalition of the disaffected, the disillusioned and very many who are in despair. Pride of place in this hierarchy, is held by former Progressive Liberal Party stalwart and Senator, Mr. Edison Key. His claim that the ‘New’ PLP is directionless and leaderless, continues to reverberate throughout the Bahamian body politic.
It is most assuredly the case today, that the PLP’s opposition is busy regaling themselves and other with their ‘I told you so,’ as regards the question of the prime minister’s leadership of PLP party and government. As regards our view of the matter, we have repeatedly counselled this government about what we perceived to be a pronounced tendency towards drift and incoherence. When we had the opportunity to say so, we counselled and cautioned the previous administration about what seemed its drift towards highhandedness, arrogance and autocracy. We are heartened, however, by the fact that the people always have the last say. When they are sufficiently disaffected, they know what to do with leaders who disappoint them. They vote them out.
As we revert, then, to the woes currently besetting the Christie administration, our advice for the prime minister is that he should review his administration’s way of dealing with communications from the people. When questions are asked, answers should be given. When requests are made, they should be responded to on a timely basis. And, for sure, the Prime Minister needs to remind himself, his ministers and his other colleagues that their party’s victory was a function not of money or of magic, but of the will of the Bahamian people.
Editorial, The Bahama Journal
