Prime Minister Perry Christie’s statements on the question of a national lottery remind one of someone holding his cards close to his vest. This may be a wise strategy in poker and on a variety of issues.
But on the question of a national lottery and/or legalizing the numbers business it does not serves the public’s right to know more, and to have fundamental questions answered in a forthright manner.
A story in The Nassau Guardian dated August 22, titled, “U.K. consultants to advise on national lottery”, is the latest example of the usually voluble prime minister’s sparse statements on the issue.
The story began: “The government has engaged consultants from the United Kingdom to advise the Ministry of Finance on how a national lottery would be best structured in The Bahamas, Prime Minister Perry Christie said yesterday.”
Who are the consultants? When were they engaged? Who recommended the consultants? What is their brief? How much will they be paid? Will the government share their findings with the public? While the consultants may offer advice on various matters, there are fundamental questions only the government can answer.
One of the more fundamental of these is who will derive the bulk of the proceeds from a lottery and/or legalizing the numbers business? The government does not need a consultant to answer this question. Why is the Christie administration silent on this? And what is the opposition’s position?
Odd statement
In the story Christie was quoted as saying: “‘This [the numbers business] happens to be an area that I have no prior experience with,’ Christie told The Nassau Guardian when asked how a national lottery would work in The Bahamas. “‘I don’t play lotteries and I don’t play web shops and numbers and so forth.'”
This is an odd statement. Many people who don’t play numbers have a working knowledge of the numbers game. Surely if the prime minister thinks a little harder he can stretch his mind and offer some basic thoughts on how the system works.
Curiously, he did offer this advice on a lottery: “‘From the point of view of the lottery, my understanding is there is concern that we don’t have the base, the population base. I then argued that the population base is here because if you’re selling a lottery ticket you have four million tourists or whatever number of tourists which makes it a bigger base.'”
So it seems that Christie has a position on the lottery in terms of its financial viability. Will he now do the same on whether private interests or the public purse will receive the majority of the proceeds from a lottery and/or the legalization of the numbers business?
Christie was also quoted as saying: “‘I happen to have experts who are now being employed to advise me on the process going forward so that upon the vote I would then know what to do.'”
The story noted: “Christie said more details about how the government would structure a national lottery or legalize web shops would be made public in the lead up to the referendum.” Again, will this include how the bulk of the revenue from a lottery will allocated?
An earlier Guardian story reporting on Christie’s communication to the House of Assembly noted: “‘The Government will, however actively encourage the widest possible public discussion of the referendum issues to ensure that all points of view on the issues can be heard, read about, and considered by the electorate before voting,”the prime minister said.
Debates
“‘In this regard, it is anticipated that there will be debates and panel discussions along with published position papers. Also, the media is expected to play a leading role in ensuring that the contending views on the referendum issues are fully and fairly ventilated during the run-up to voting.'”
In this vein, there should be town hall meetings, forums, and print and broadcast stories on the lottery issue including how funds from a lottery will be distributed. This issue must get a full hearing before the referendum.
Programs like Morning Blend with Dwight Strachan, Darold Miller Live, Jeffrey, The Exchange with Dr. Ian Strachan and others should continue to do shows on the lottery with perhaps a dedicated program on the disbursement of revenues from a lottery and/or the legalization of the numbers business.
The daily papers should likewise do some stories on this latter issue. Moreover, what are the editorial positions of the dailies on this issue?
The August 22 Guardian also reported: “The Christie administration has also committed to holding a constitutional referendum to amend clauses that are discriminatory against women and another on oil drilling. Christie said the oil drilling question and constitutional changes may be addressed in the same referendum.”
Is there a need for a referendum on the complex question of oil drilling? Whether or not there is a need for a referendum on drilling, Bahamians need to pay close attention to proposals for drilling, especially environmental concerns and how the proceeds from drilling may be distributed.
On both the question of lotteries and oil drilling, we fill find out whether the Christie administration will put the interests of the mass of Bahamians first or only selected interests.
By: Simon
From the ‘Front Porch’ column
The Nassau Guardian and www.bahamapundit.com
