The parents in Andros who are protesting for better teachers for their children are right; the people of Eleuthera who want their docks repaired in order to receive freight need relief; the residents of Long Island have long suffered without a good water supply; Exumians and Abaconians deserve better airport facilities and the Nassau International Airport on the Domestic side is a national disgrace. The point made is that all across the Bahamas, a culture of complaint has developed because the infrastructure is not maintained or is dilapidated, and Bahamians lack the level of service they deserve in a country which is comparatively wealthy with others in the region.
Unfortunately, Sol Kerzner is correct in his assessment that the airport is unfit for a tourist destination like the Bahamas. Exumians and Abaconians voice their frustrations everyday about their airport facilities with little hope that they will improve anytime soon. Even in the capital, New Providence, there is evidence everywhere of government’s inefficiency and its inability to respond to the demands of the people.
It is now abundantly clear that the government of the Bahamas simply does not possess the financial capacity to address urgent needs. It finds itself in a position of over-exposure and without the means to raise the necessary funds to address urgent needs.
In a national budget of just over one billion dollars, the Minister of State for Finance tells us that roughly $125 million is left after paying salaries and paying loans. With all of the demands on the public purse from failing government enterprises like Bahamasair, ZNS, among others it is understandable that the government is hard-pressed to give the bloated public service a $24 million increase in salaries. Now, with the raise promised by the previous government, every effort is being made to borrow this money to satisfy public service workers, to make them happy for Christmas.
While the standard of living and per capita income of the Bahamas have undergone fairly impressive increases over the last three decades; and social services such as health and education have expanded, the taxes collected have not been able to cover the rate of growth in the country.
The close proximity to North America, the emphasis on the number one industry, tourism, the cost of labour and the high expectations of Bahamians have all conspired to put pressure on our economic resources and on the quality of governance. Today the government finds itself in the position where it cannot do anything to improve the country’s infrastructure without borrowing. Now short-term solutions to the problems around the Bahamas are elusive, with the feeling of helplessness on the part of some politicians who have tremendous difficulty in delivering on promises.
With an obvious deficiency in planning and a lack of a clearly articulated vision for the ongoing development of the Bahamas, our dependence on the outside world is not only economic. It is also institutional, intellectual and psychological. The way we go about bringing solutions to our problems are reactionary, uncreative, borrowed rather than relevant, reflecting the forms existing in other countries. Authentic and indigenous formulations for our peculiar problems are in short supply. Even the administrative responses to the challenges reflect past practices which have been abandoned in metropolitan countries where they originated.
Speaking with Abaconians this week during a visit to Marsh Harbour, two Bahamian investors expressed their frustrations in their attempts to obtain the necessary governmental approval for their worthy projects. One of them said “it appears that some civil servants give you the run around, apparently hoping that you become disgusted with the process to offer them something.” The other claimed that he would rather leave his millions in the bank than contend with the hassles of dealing with inefficient Ministries in which civil servants and politicians create paper work rather than solutions. Another story is told of a foreign investor who chose the Bahamas over Jamaica for the establishment of a lucrative marine project, but abandoned it in frustration when the file was lost in the office of the Bahamas Investment Authority.
There is an abundance of evidence that the government is not only poor in financial resources, but gives poor service to local and foreign investors who are willing to contribute meaningfully in the Bahamian economy. The country’s economic growth seems stunted by a vicious circle – a slow bureaucracy and an ever-growing economic and cultural dependence on the outside world.
As the country has grown beyond the capacity of the government to provide certain services, the privatization of several entities appear to be the answer to alleviate some fiscal problems. For instance, Bahamasair and Nassau International Airport should be privatized immediately. In the case of the airport bonds should be offered to the public, to construct a proper new facility with an efficient management in place.
Now more than ever before there is a need in the Bahamas for a “new thinking” on governance and the provision of services. Centralized bureaucracy is the quintessential form of old societies. Even as advanced corporations, driven by competition, are desperately trying to dismantle their bureaucracies and invent new forms of management, government agencies must be reformed, reengineered and reinvented to meet the needs of the citizenry.
With powerful changes swirling around us and demanding ever quicker responses, the failure by policy makers to respond effectively would result in the country and its people be left behind in economic despair.
Insight, By Wendall Jones, The Bahama Journal
