The relationship between money and power is invariably intricate and intimate. Nowhere is this truth as telling as it is in the realm of politics. While any number of political aspirants might wish to project the idea that they are motivated by their desire for public service, the fact of the matter is that when politicians win, they and their supporters also expect to ‘win’.
In the instance of both the Progressive Liberal Party and its nemesis the Free National Movement, there is no gainsaying the conclusion that they have this past year spent between them millions of dollars. This money was expended on political campaigns which were excessively gaudy, extremely well-choreographed and lavishly profligate.
Both parties apparently felt that they had nothing to lose and everything to gain from spending so lavishly on their campaigns. We recount these facts as prelude to our contention that big money has played on extraordinarily large role in funding this nation’s best organized political entities.
Many thoughtful observers of the national political scene say that there is a pressing need for campaign finance reform. Indeed, Prime Minister, the Hon. Perry G. Christie has, on a number of occasions, expressed the view that he is both distressed and appalled by the role ‘big money’ has traditionally played in Bahamian politics.
There is the extrapolation from the prime minister’s views, that he is in full support of a radical restructuring of the way political parties and individuals fund their efforts. More ominously, the Free National Movement is on record suggesting that narco dollars might have been insinuated into the funding of the Progressive Liberal Party’s successful election campaign. Prime Minister Christie is adamant in his conclusion that his party was not funded from the proceeds of crime.
On the other side of the political street – as it were – the Free National Movement was also accused of being funded by certain unnamed donors. We find this exchange between the two major parties most revealing and extremely disturbing.
The truth of the matter is that money does talk. It is true too that big money can be expected to ‘talk big’. Translated, no one should be surprised when large donors to political parties expect dividends on their investments.
What compounds this matter of the often illicit relationship between money and power is the nagging suspicion that deals are struck by politicians on the make. When the day for payback comes, the public interest is itself vitiated and undermined. Again, what makes this matter of money even more troubling is that it is often used to create and embellish a notion that the electorate is in charge.
The picture is obviously more complex than that. When millions of dollars can be secretly pumped into electoral contests, extreme questions arise concerning the integrity of the entire democratic project.
We note, too, that this problem is one which pervades politics worldwide. In the United States , for example, campaign finance reform is one of that nation’s perennial problems. To their credit they have done something about it.
In The Bahamas, on the other hand, little has been done about the matter. Indeed, the record shows that the problem has gone from bad to worst, with the Progressive Liberal Party and its Free National Movement counterpart apparently locked in a bidding frenzy to see which side could get most bang for the buck.
In this regard, any number of Free National Movement supporters say that their party lost the general elections because the PLP was able to outspend them.
While we have no desire to get into the ‘whys and wherefores’ of the last general elections and the question of who paid what for anything, we are today reinforced in our view that there is an urgent need for real campaign finance reform.
Apart from the question of what role money should be allowed to play in Bahamian politics, there is the pressing issue concerning the broader and more important issues of transparency, accountability and responsibility. The elementary and undeniable fact of the matter is that the public interest cannot and will not ever be best served if money moguls can between them curry favour with political aspirants and political parties.
The public should be able to know who has paid what to whom.
The way ahead for this country is for its political leaders to so conduct themselves that no one could expect favours in return for money contributions or any other consideration.
If such were to become principled policy in The Bahamas, there would be an ensuing liberating effect on the entire political process. Debate would be more honest and genuine leadership would be given an opportunity to have its voice heard. For the moment, the voice of big money continues to drown out others, including some which have a genuine contribution to make to this nation’s economic, social and political growth and development.
Editorial, The Bahama Journal
