It’s another one of the many ways in which the Free National Movement government has failed to put Bahamians first. Their act of liberalizing the restaurant and nightclub entertainment sector of the tourism and services industry has put Bahamian musicians and entrepreneurs into the arena of unfair competition with foreigners.

Progressive Liberal Party MP for Elizabeth, Ryan Pinder and PLP candidate for Killarney Jerome Gomez met veteran entertainers Freddie Munnings Jr. and Cedric Munnings along with new generation entertainer MDeez at Nirvana, a Bahamian-owned restaurant and nightclub to discuss the PLP’s position on the matter.

The Progressive Liberal Party believes in Bahamians and will put them first and to that end proposes to review and amend the Hotel Encouragement Act to require hotels to engage Bahamian entertainment and to utilize Bahamian companies for ground transport and room and tour bookings. Mr. Pinder said that under the Culture and Entertainment Encouragement Act, “we will offer tax concessions to Bahamians for the construction of night clubs, entertainment centers, recording studios and for the importation of instruments and various artistic supplies.”

Freddie Munnings Jr. says that there has been a serious decline in the promotion of local entertainers over the years but added that under the current FNM administration, the Bahamian entertainment industry has been buried.

He welcomes the kind of legislation the PLP proposes where Bahamians would have the same rights and incentives as investors do in any other industry.

“We need an Act for an industry that is worth billions of dollars,” he said. “We want visitors to have a total Bahamian experience.”

Davon Knight who is professionally known as MDeez expressed deep concern about the future of the Bahamian music industry. “As a younger entertainer this is the only job I have; this is the only way I support my family,” he said. “We really need a programme more than ever for me and the future that’s coming up behind me.”

Mr. Pinder told the entertainers that the PLP is different from the FNM. “Can anyone imagine or justify how a Government in the middle of a recession would revise and promote a policy that welcomes unlimited competition for Bahamians in one of our most successful and lucrative and fragile industries?,” he asked. “But then this is a Government that raised taxes in the middle of a recession when governments around the world lowered taxes to stimulate the economy and save jobs.”

Mr. Pinder said that given the FNM’s attitude, it is not surprising that we lag behind our Caribbean competitors in our number one industry, tourism. “We are becoming the laughing stock of the region - with a Tourism Minister bragging about record breaking cruise visitors while we are recording stop over numbers not seen since the mid 1980s,” he said. “The FNM Government has used the global recession as an excuse for this poor performance in our number one industry. Meanwhile, in the same world economy, our competitors such as Jamaica, Cuba and the Dominican Republic enjoy increases in stopover arrivals. The Bahamas has lost its leadership position in the region.”

Jerome Gomez summed it up eloquently. “We have no Bahamian experience and we wonder why tourists are not coming.”

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