Before the general elections of May 2002 that brought them to power, some leaders of the party and their propagandists were busy campaigning against what they called a sell-out to foreign investors by the FNM government. They played heavily – and dangerously – to the xenophobia in the Bahamian psyche.
They were particularly critical of the concessions granted by the FNM to get the development of the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island. One of them rather disingenuously included the cost of government investment in infrastructure as part of the concession package.
Yet ever since the elections the Prime Minister and his colleagues have been shamelessly celebrating the fruition of developments launched or planned by the FNM and offering additional concessions to progress these same projects.
This antipathy of some PLP leaders towards development of the country through the encouragement of foreign investment played a major role in the fracture which led to the formation of the FNM back in the early Seventies.
When the PLP came to power in 1967 there was a solid consensus for amending the agreement which created the nation’s second city. The exclusion of Bahamians from the social and economic mainstream of a foreign enclave was simply intolerable as was the surrender of governmental control over immigration and other administrative functions.
The progressives in the party recognised the great potential of Freeport to provide much-needed employment and professional and commercial opportunities for tens of thousands of Bahamians and the effect this would have on relieving the population pressure on New Providence.
They believed that the necessary changes could be made without destroying the economy of Freeport. But the city was brought to its knees and this led to a slowdown in the economic fortunes of the country that was to last for many years.
Those who supported the breaking of Freeport talked about how the development was too big, too rapid for The Bahamas. Proposals for developments in other islands were given short shrift.
Since the elections the PLP government has been talking out of the good side of its mouth about laying out a thick red carpet for investors. But out of the other side the governing party has occasionally lapsed into its old anti-foreign rhetoric.
It was not unreasonable to expect that the ranks of the xenophobes, pseudo-nationalists and quack economists might have thinned out considerably in the intervening years.
After all, right next door they have the example of investment-starved Haiti with many square miles of once-lush land now extensively denuded, an annual per capita income of $480, a life expectancy of 50 years and thousands seeking a better life in foreign lands.
They have the example, too, of Japan, one of the most developed countries on the planet still competing for foreign investment with no less a person than Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi himself starring in a television commercial aimed at European investors.
The lesson should be clear. Without investment The Bahamas would remain undeveloped and unable to meet the aspirations of its people for prosperity and a good standard of living. Without investment there would be poverty and deprivation and, ultimately, social and political upheaval.
Prime foreign investment in the development of the tourism sector in Abaco, Mr Christie talked about the need to protect and preserve The Bahamas for future generations of Bahamians and added: “We must therefore, avoid development of our country moving faster and going further than our country’s and our people’s capacity to absorb such developments.”
Is that why plans for the billion-dollar redevelopment of Cable Beach have fallen apart? Because some of his colleagues believe the country is developing too fast, that our people do not have the capacity to handle it, and so we can afford to play crazy and slow it down? Well, The Bahamas is nowhere near its limit for absorbing development, especially in the Family Islands where some communities are dying for the lack of economic activity to sustain healthy population growth.
Of course, development brings new infrastructural and social challenges, new problems. But that is why we have a government: to build airports, roads and bridges; to educate and prepare our people so they can take advantage of the opportunities and deal with the problems. After all, the problems of poverty are far worse.
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The Bahamas has been blessed in many ways. These islands are advantageously positioned near the North American continent with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other.
But the greatest blessing of all is the spectacularly beautiful and rich natural environment which makes The Bahamas one of the best places in the world to live.
Our geography and climate have been conducive to the development of an enviable service economy with tourism as its centrepiece and other areas yet to be developed. We have been favoured also with the potential for agricultural development and even greater potential for fisheries and mariculture.
These are the treasures we should develop on the basis of environmental sustainability and this is not incompatible with reasonably clean light industrial development.
But while our government is dragging its feet in these areas it seems hell-bent on delivering these islands into the hands of the energy giants, some of whom are well-known in other parts for their callous disregard for the environment, their insatiable greed and their corruptive influence.
We have already been committed to drilling for oil in environmentally sensitive areas and if oil is found in economic quantities we will be locked into pumping it out regardless of the risks.
We will not be able to tell the companies involved, not to mention their government, that after spending millions in exploration they cannot take out what they find. The most convincing argument about the environmental risks at that stage will not move them.
Now we are told that one of the projects to process natural gas in The Bahamas and pipe it to Florida is likely to be approved in a matter of weeks. Also, two more such projects are likely to be approved as well.
This is the height of madness and no way to preserve our patrimony for future generations of Bahamians. The PLP government is gambling with the long-range future of this country and its incomparable natural beauty and rich marine resources.
No doubt pipelines from Ocean Cay and from Grand Bahama will be approved by the Americans even though Florida Governor Jeb Bush is concerned about using his state to supply gas to other eastern states. “I’m not sure that’s a great deal for us,” says Mr Bush. If it is not a great deal for Florida it must be a rotten deal for The Bahamas.
We will be risking our natural heritage to pipe gas to Florida and we will be exposing ourselves to serious security threats as well since both the oil and gas installations will represent tempting targets for international terrorists.
We do not have the capacity fully to assess the ecological risks and we certainly do not have the capacity to protect the oil rigs, the gas plants, the underwater pipelines and miles of overland pipeliness. We will have to rely on the security apparatus of the United States and that will have profound implications.
Future generations of Bahamians will liken us to the dog who let go the bone in its mouth to snap at its reflection in the water. By that time cleaner sources of energy will have been developed but the damage will have been done. Silly dog, silly us.
Sir Arthur Foulkes
