|
From:TheBahamasWeekly.com Bahamian Politics
After the hard fought battles for Majority Rule, Independence and the right for Bahamian women to vote, the citizens of our beautiful Bahamaland – our parents and grand-parents – stood poised ready to reap the benefits of their hard work. After years of being denied access, and opportunity, Bahamians were finally first in line. Our forefathers believed in the dream of what this country could be when Bahamians were allowed to control their own narrative. Sadly, after one Premier, three Prime Ministers and more than forty years of self governance, we the inheritors of that dream have little to show for the hard work of our country’s founding fathers and mothers. In our current Bahamian democracy, Cabinet Ministers have become known for wheeling and dealing for their own gain. Back room deals and under the table payments are usually followed by announcements about a hand full of minor jobs designed to keep us all just content enough to control and maniupulate. Sadly, our democracy under the control and leadership of the Progressive Liberal Party and later the Free National Movement has failed us. This reality, though grim is not without a silver lining. My fellow Bahamians, we as a people are at a most interesting point in our country’s history. Despite the ineptitude of our leaders we are a more educated and therefore more self-aware citizenry. Now, more than EVER BAHAMIANS ARE PAYING ATTENTION! Taking note of the global changes around us and developing informed opinions about the ISSUES which will impact us NOW and into the future. And that ladies and gentlemen is the pendulum upon which the outcome of the next election will SWING. Election 2017 will come down to the issues, the issues which threaten the existence and success of our very way of life: Good Governance, the Safety of our nation and the empowerment of our people.
As the next government of the Bahamas, the DNA understands that in order for our country to succeed, we must reverse years of endemic corruption which has crippled our society; opting instead for accountable, transparent governance driven by policies which benefit ALL Bahamians. That said, the DNA is immediately committed to spreading the base of power. As a country, we must begin the conversation of reexamining our current systems of government. It has become clear that the current Westminster System of governance can no longer adequately serve the country’s ever evolving needs. Instead, the DNA proposes a move to a Republic style of governance, where governance is truly held by the people and where Bahamians will have the opportunity to choose the individuals to represent their interests at every level of government. The DNA also proposes limiting the powers of the Prime Minister under the law. Doing so prevents any one individual from imposing his or her personal will on the Bahamian people, while imposing a two term limit for the Prime Minister breaks the cycle of career politicians. Fixed Election dates, and static constituency boundaries will put an end to the practice of gerrymandering and strengthen our still fragile democracy. Add to that, plans for a recall system grounded in legislation which would mandate a Code of Conduct from all elected or government appointed officials and we can create a system of governance which is not only truly participatory but one which discourages the current culture of corruption. A style of governance which ensures that the Power of the People is always greater than the People in Power.
Yes! The empowerment of Bahamians MUST be the goal of any good government! We already know that the Bahamas is rich with natural resources, from Agriculture and Fisheries to Aragonite, and Oil. What is missing are systems which enable Talented and Educated Bahamians to take full advantage of those resources. We must move away from a model which secures prosperity for a select few families and instead give the next generation of people the opportunity to become real contributors to this country’s development. This must start with real investment in the education of our people. Enhanced Education and Learning opportunities which take into consideration all the different ways that our people LEARN is the ONLY way to go. Our public school curriculums must be adjusted to go beyond the current Reading Writing and Arithmetic. It must also include accurate lessons on our civic history and detailed lessons on our country’s constitution, while incorporating the skills and training which will ready our students to take on the global environment around them. A DNA government will remove the impediments to the Bahamian Dream of land ownership. By creating a National Land Bureau the country’s most valuable physical asset – its land – can be evenly distributed among qualified Bahamians with a view to encouraging stability and the entrepreneurial spirit. As an organization, the DNA is filled with brilliant and successful business minds. Men and women who started off as small business owners in their own right, who understand the frustrations of entrepreneurs and who can create the kind of policies which facilitate a true ease in doing business. While the government continues to squander its opportunity at food security through its mismanagement of BAMSI, the DNA proposes a model where there the government does not compete with local growers, instead offering the support needed for commercial farmers and fishermen to improve their work through the introduction of international financing and new technologies which in turn can create an environment ripe for the manufacture and export of food items. Imagine a facility to process and can Eleuthera pineapples or the export of organically grown and locally produced coconut water. My fellow Bahamians with real vision and a roadmap for execution, these dreams can easily become reality. My fellow Bahamians, for years now you’ve heard the DNA talk about the responsibility of the government to keep its people safe! It a task which the government continues to fail at! And I’ll tell you why! IT’S BECAUSE THE FISH ROTS FROM THE HEAD DOWN! How can a government which has skirted the law at every turn expect its citizens to be law abiding. How can Members of Parliament, who failed to comply with the laws on public disclosure, complain about young men and women who show a lack of respect for the law. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN THAT IS LEARNED BEHAVIOR!
So how do we go about unlearning that behavior? THE DNA SAYS SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF. Several years ago, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani began implementing what is called the broken window theory in high crime areas of the city. And the broken Window theory – written by George Kelling and James Q Wilson – is simple: that theory suggests that one broken window left unfixed over a long period would eventually lead to more broken windows. In the context of the Bahamas, this simply means that failure to police small, seemingly insignificant crimes, leave the door wide open for larger more serious criminal activity to take place. The truth is, the criminals are watching. They take note of the things we aren’t policing, and they push the boundaries. They see wealthy and prominent people break the law without consequence and simply follow suit. The government’s current crime strategy has hinged purely on increasing police presence and while that is important it is NOT ENOUGH! Tackling the country’s crime problem will also mean eliminating political interference. It will mean taking real steps to address the challenges facing the judiciary through the creation of more courts, creating an independent director of public prosecutions and an independent Attorney General. It will mean addressing the needs of victims of violent crimes and their families and it will mean PUNISHING and or REHABILITATING criminals as their circumstances dictate. My Fellow Bahamians, I have been criticized for my stance on capital punishment. Some say it’s inhumane or barbaric; but honestly, what is MORE BARBARRIC than our young men being gunned down in the streets? WHAT IS MORE BARBARRIC than the stories of our CHILDREN who are abducted, sexually assaulted and left for dead? What is inhumane is having to have to tell a mother that she will never see her child again after allowing him to walk to the corner store. Inhumane is telling a wife that her hardworking husband won’t be coming home from his quick trip to the ATM. I will not apologize for wanting the laws of the country to be carried out and when elected as Prime Minister I will not stop until every family can have some measure of Justice for their losses. Ladies and Gentlemen, My fellow Bahamians, as I said, we are at an interesting time in our country’s history. After the struggle of majority rule and more than 40 years of self-governance, we have found ourselves lost as a people. We have seemingly forgotten the lessons learned from those hard fought victories and now we struggle in our efforts to find the way forward. My fellow Bahamians we have come to the proverbial fork in the road. Before us lies two options. One road is wide, and familiar. We have travelled this road before, each time with different leaders at the helm, but it is a road we know. Though it may be wide, this road has not been easy. On this road there have been potholes, and booby traps in the form of corruption, and government waste and mismanagement. Collectively, we have fallen into the ditches of unemployment and we have been murdered, robbed, raped, and pillaged by bandits. And yet, time after time, we the people, trusting in the promises of our political leaders, believing in their ability to navigate this terrain, have continued down this road time and time again. The second road is less known. It is smaller, and certainly unfamiliar and for many people that unfamiliarity has bred fear. For many of us, the fear of the unknown challenges which may await us are reason enough not to go down that road. But ladies and gentlemen I am here to tell you tonight, that we were not given a spirit of fear but of POWER and of LOVE and of a SOUND MIND! The God that created our beautiful paradise did not intend for us to cower in fear at the criminal element. He did not intend for us to cower in fear at the possibility of new challenges; instead he has made us POWERFUL and Strong enough to face those challenges HEAD ON! My Fellow Bahamians, are you ready to walk down a NEW ROAD! Are you ready to face the challenges of tomorrow with POWER and LOVE! Are you ready to take our Beautiful country to EVEN HIGHER HEIGHTS!? I invite you to join hands with the DNA! In 2017, let’s send a STRONG MESSAGE to the PLP and to the FNM that we will no longer be led into the darkness out of FEAR! But we will walk toward the LIGHTHOUSE of CHANGE. FOR YOUR CHILDREN! FOR MY CHILDREN! FOR OUR FUTURE! GO GREEN IN 2017!
|
