There are two major deliberate distractions which are being played out in The Bahamas by the Christie administration. One is the ballyhooed referendum on wagering and a national lottery, and the other is the patently bogus attempt by the gold rush to retrieve an additional two percent of the shares in BTC.
With over 110 admitted alleged homicides in 2012 and with unemployment continuing to hover around 14 percent in New Providence and some 25 percent in Grand Bahama, brother Christie and crew are between a rock and a very hard place.
Petty crimes are out of control and there seems to be no realistic “cure” for massive unemployment and under-employment, certainly not in the major population centers.
Affordable building lots and homes on New Providence are now far beyond the reach of the average individual.
As a result the demographic and societal pressures are off the chart.
The masses are obliged to inhabit the traditional inner city areas with the attendant results.
Governments, by and large, are unable or unwilling to address these very simple problems.
Those individuals who form them are prone to bombastic and sensational talk and promises during electoral campaigns, but once elected they seem to become devoid of common sense and or the will- power to implement those bogus and pie in the sky promises.
I am now more than persuaded that the vast majority of our politicians could care less about the holistic well-being of our people.
They profess “Christianity” and the need to uplift every Bahamian but they are joking. Photo opportunities, occasions to make grandiose and verbose speeches and the get rich in five years syndrome are the order of the day.
The upcoming referendum and the claw back of the majority of shares in BTC are crafted and designed to distract the attention of Bahamians from the above issues.
We are a peaceful loving people and our politicians should thank God on a daily basis that is how we are.
In any other nation, especially when one looks at Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba, there may well have been public disorder and social unrest.
Why is the gold rush pushing, post haste, this referendum? What are the real benefits apart from legally recognizing, regulating and taxing the so-called numbers houses?
Mind you, I have absolutely no problem with this and it should have been done by prior administrations.
It has been estimated that it will cost taxpayers over $1 million to conduct the referendum.
Will we be reimbursed by the numbers bosses?
Are their politicians and their cronies being paid to lobby the cause?
One would have thought that the proposed regulations and taxation regime would have been put out into the public domain by now.
Yet, not a single word from anyone in authority about this. Distractions and smoke screens are the political order of the day, and the beat goes on.
I will vote yes to both flawed questions despite my better judgment about the process and the absolute disdain with which we have collectively been treated by the powers that be.
They strut around like tin gods, iron men and goddesses but have failed to remember that their predecessors in office over the years used to act and behave the same way.
Where are they now? As it was then, so will it be as we go forward.
It is a good thing that we have an individual like Philip Brave Davis in place as deputy prime minister and minister of works. He is a calm-headed and well prepared individual to hold high office.
Brave, a seasoned barrister-at-law and a humble person, obviously is the Dauphin prince.
Of course, there are some within the PLP who believe that he is not the “right” man for the job which he will, God willing, eventually hold, but it is my considered opinion that he is, in fact, the right man for the highest office in the land.
With him, what you see is what you get without all of the rhetoric and false piety.
A highly successful businessman, he has the right stuff and understands economics and finance, unlike the run-of-the-mill politician.
It has been alleged that government officials and senior civil servants are unable to access the prime minister on a timely basis, yet he is able to find the time to meet with foreign entertainers and other plastic individuals.
Photo opportunities and posturing will not cut it.
He can even find the time to ride around with former foreign clients but refuses to meet with those who were instrumental in his return to high office?
Ingratitude and dismissive behavior will badly maul his legacy, such as it might turn out to be.
Being prime minister and having to remind oneself of that fact, daily, is a clear sign in my opinion, of self delusion.
The smoke screens and distractions will last a bit longer, beloved fellow citizens, friends and enemies, but joy will come in the proverbial morning.
To God then, in all things, be the glory.
By: Ortland H. Bodie Jr.
