Please allow me to express my opinion on a topic that has been widely misused and abused in recent time.
Many persons are loosely throwing around the phrase “Hubert the Dictator”. Every time I hear someone use this phrase it angers me, as nothing can be further from the truth.
Before I jump to Mr. Ingraham’s defense, let us look at Merriam-Webster’s dictionary definition of what a dictator is: a : a person granted absolute emergency power. b : one holding complete autocratic control. c : one ruling absolutely and often oppressively.
It also gives the following example of a dictator: the dictator had a fierce stranglehold on the country, keeping its people in poverty and ignorance.
Now that we have examined what a dictator is, can we truly say that this defines Hubert Alexander Ingraham?
If it is true that a person should be judged by his actions, let us now look at his actions. After coming to office in August of 1992, one of the first orders of business was to free up the airways that was controlled by the previous government for political purposes.
I recall the first private radio station going on air was 100 JAMZ. Next, residents throughout The Bahamas were given access to cable television thereby gaining access to worldwide information. It would seem that a dictator would want to keep its citizenry in darkness thereby allowing him to keep control of the masses.
It was under Hubert Ingraham’s leadership that Local Government became a reality, giving local residents of the Family Islands an opportunity to have a voice in matters of importance to them.
Mr. Ingraham saw to it that certain policies enacted under the previous administration which were designed to give control to politicians were removed.
These are only a few of the things he did to deepen democracy.
Now where people may take issue with Mr. Ingraham is perhaps is his style of leadership. If we say he ran a tight ship, that may be a better choice of words than to say he was a dictator. Given the present leader’s apparent hands off approach to leadership which allows those under him to do pretty much as they see fit, often in detriment to their party, one can appreciate why Mr. Ingraham chose to keep a tight rein on things.
However, this does not make him a dictator by any stretch of the imagination; an authoritarian perhaps, but not a dictator.
As a right thinking Bahamian, I say Hubert Alexander Ingraham has been the biggest ally to democracy in Bahamian political history.
By: Ervin Missick
