Our
Bahamas has literally decayed over the past 25 years. Instead of being a prosperous, peaceful,
loving, tranquil and clean country we have turn into a country of criminals and
gangsters coupled with a culture of corruption. There is no law, order and
discipline in this country known as the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. We have become a nation of beggars and “what
ya ga do for me” type people. We have
sunken to such a low that it has become the norm and/or commonplace to see “Murder”
as the headlines. Where is our Bahamas?
Most
recently our country has experienced corruption, cronyism and conflict to no
end! Again this seems to now become the norm and the leaders of the day act on
the Bahamians passive nature and hence corruption, cronyism and conflict
continue to mushroom.
This
week the junior attorney general alluded to the fact that there is systemic
corruption in government, past and present, and suggested how corrupted persons
can be legally dealt with. We have not heard a word from the leader of our
country in response agreeing or disagreeing to the Minister’s most valid
suggestion. Indeed this is the same Prime Minister who in 2002 touted the
introduction of a Code of Ethics that never materialized. But that is not
surprising for our Prime Minister. He has yet to answer the Bahamian people on
the issue regarding the Letter of intent.
The Prime Minister has not answered the Bahamian people regarding
disclosure, pursuant to the Public Disclosure Act, of his colleagues, inclusive
of himself. There has been not a single
word from this Prime Minister on the interference of justice by one of his
cabinet ministers. This same Prime Minister seems to condone the Deputy Prime
Minister misleading Parliament on BAMSI. And has failed to reprimand a sitting
MP who publically bragged about abusing women. The Prime Minister has not
answered to date whether he or any of his other PLP colleagues have interest and
benefited by way of contracts and leases, directly or indirectly from Baha
Mar. Further, the Prime Minister remains
silent as a lamb as to whether he knew of the attorney generals indirect
involvement in Baha Mar PRIOR TO appointing her as chief negotiator on behalf
of the government. The silence by the Prime Minister indeed remains deafening. I
guess we cannot expect anything more from a Prime Minister that said he did not
have a horse in the race regarding the Gaming Referendum!
It
is interesting to note Bishop Drexel Gomez’s comments this week regarding
persons going into politics broke as the day is long and coming out rich (and
leaving the country broke). These are sentiments I have echoed for quite some
time. It amazes me that persons upon entering government with a minuscule net
worth become millionaires five years later. It simply doesn’t add up! An
exercise should be undertaken to look at existing members and indeed former and
present Prime Ministers’ net worth when they first entered the political arena
and compare it to what their net worth is today.
We
find ourselves as a country without vision. We are stagnated and seem to be
moving backwards. In his book, The
Principles and Power of Vision, Dr. Myles Munroe stated, “a visionless life is
a poverty-stricken existence”. We seem to be poverty stricken compared to what
the Bahamas use to be. Where is our
Bahamas?
Transparency
and accountability in government seems to be non-existent. The blatant disrespect for the Bahamian
people by the leaders of this country boarders on arrogance. And we as a people
allow it!
The
Democratic National Alliance recognizes that our system of governance is not
working in the best interest of the Bahamian people. The DNA understands that
the system is in need of reform to ensure the inalienable right of the Bahamian
people to be participants in the governance of their country. To restore the people’s faith in governance
the DNA proposes to put in place the necessary checks and balances and the
types of reform, which will make government more participatory, more
transparent and more accountable to the people to whom we seek to serve.
As
your government the DNA will:
Ensure
that there is an Independent Attorney General;
Implement
a proper Freedom of Information Act and Whistle Blowers Act;
Amend
the Constitution to limit the Powers of the Prime Minister to safeguard against
the abuse of power;
Enact
legislation to limit the length of service of the Prime Minister to two terms only;
Enact
legislation to create a fixed date for national and local elections;
Strengthen
and enforce the Public Disclosure Act to require disclosure up to five years
after leaving office;
Amend
the constitution by way of referendum to allow for the creation of a recall
system for non-performing Members of Parliament;
Create
and enforce a Code of Conduct Act for Public Officials;
Introduce
Local Government to New Providence;
Establish
the Office of the Ombudsman.
Last
week Bishop Drexel Gomez challenged the Bahamian people and stated, “I think
that there is no question that the next generation of Bahamians would have to
insist that there is change. People who offer themselves for political service
must offer themselves to serve and not to be served.”
The
DNA has offered to serve.
Branville McCartney
DNA Leader