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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
 The editorial in the Nassau Guardian of Thursday June 6th 2014 entitled “The FNM Deputy should go further” made highly provocative statements about the Prime Minister and leaves no question or doubt in the public’s mind that the Nassau Guardian is unapologetically aligned with Mrs. Loretta Butler Turner, the MP for Long Island and by extension, the Free National Movement.
Further and as of late, there appears to be no insulation between the rabid and extreme anti government rhetoric and the fairness and balance of “hard” news that the Nassau Guardian has taken pride in consistently delivering since 1844. An educated and well informed public is one of the pillars of our democracy and the fourth Estate is tasked with executing this solemn responsibility without fear or favour. But to use a newspaper of record, repute and note as a platform to both get rid of a government and shamelessly promote a political personality as a matter of editorial policy are unacceptable as it’s unethical and bad for democracy.
When news dailies such as the Washington Post and the New York Times endorse a presidential candidate for example, the editorial boards successfully justify its choices with well reasoned arguments based on tried and proven policy initiatives advanced by the candidates or their respective party. When Billy Crystal or Chris Matthews for example takes a political side, they are always able to defend their choices with philosophical arguments within the realms of conservative or liberal ideologies. And they do so consistently. The reader may not agree, but the arguments follow a logical and reasoned path.
This is not the current practice, philosophy or policy of the editorial board of the Nassau Guardian as of late. Their policy of late seems to be this:
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We despise Prime Minister Perry Christie and the PLP Government who could do nothing right and we will consistently craft the public debate to influence public opinion geared to undermine PM Christie’s leadership and to minimize (or ignore) the performance and successes of his government.
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Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham is a sacred cow who could do no wrong as a politician generally, as Prime Minister specifically and is above reproach and criticism.
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Anybody except Dr. Minnis from the FNM is acceptable as leader and Prime Minister.
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We will do any and everything in our mortal power to sanitize, protect and promote Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner.
This apparent editorial policy and practice create a conflict and by extension, journalistic credibility and ethical issues for the editorial board of the Nassau Guardian. What could be their possible reasoning behind excusing PM Ingraham, attacking Dr. Minnis and promoting Butler-Turner when they all sat around the cabinet table between 2007 and 2012 and collectively agreed on ALL of the policies that placed the country in the quandary and crisis that PM Christie inherited in May of 2012?
Further, both Dr. Minnis and Mrs. Butler-Turner shamelessly walked back from every single public policy that they both agreed on as cabinet Ministers – from web shop gaming, stem cell therapy to tax reform in the form of VAT. To date, none of them have articulated an alternative policy on any of the ones they oppose. No policy for reforming the energy sector. No plan for tourism growth. No plan for economic diversification, food security and reducing our $1.0 billion food import bill. No plan for jobs creation. No national youth development plan. No plan for sustained cultural development. No policy to rid the country of shanty towns. Their only plan for crime was to get rid of the Privy Council and hang murder convicts, a plan they were unable to execute while in government for five years, even though they campaigned on hanging murder convicts. Their plan for mortgage relief was to protest in Rawson Square even though the crisis was created under their watch and there is no record of a policy to assist these people. Alas, the FNM leader and Deputy Leader could not agree on that so called “policy” so there was no demonstration in Rawson Square. From the FNM side, there is no policy on nothing. I mean nothing!
In a classic parliamentary moment, the Member for Long Island said that the NTA Act could be achieved with the Apprenticeship Bill. If the member for Long Island truly believed her own rhetoric, then why did she not apply it to the FNM inspired jobs training program that was some $24 million over budget with no accountability of who were trained and in what discipline. The member for South Eleuthera asked her to explain this and today the country still awaits her reply.
That truncated dissertation on the FNM leadership in and out of office brings me to the question of the motivation - the ideological and philosophical foundation upon which this glowing endorsement of Loretta Butler-Turner in the Nassau Guardian’s editorial sits. Come on editor, defend Butler-Turner’s record. What policy solutions to the nation’s ills have she offered to date. I remember her assaulting a fellow parliamentarian. She endorsed the insidious payroll tax as a possible solution to our revenue challenges, a policy the experts claim was one of the worst in reforming our tax system.
In the referenced Nassau Guardian’s editorial was this quote in support of a Butler-Turner candidacy for leadership: “the country is facing serious problems on all fronts. We are on pace for another murder record; unemployment is high; economic growth is low; taxes are going up by a considerable amount; there is a mortgage crisis. Bahamians are looking for the next leader who has the ideas, vision, passion and toughness to get us out of the precarious position we are in. Perry Christie is not that person.”
The record clearly shows that every national crisis the editor listed was either created or worsened while Loretta Butler-Turner sat at the cabinet table for five years in control of the national purse and the nation’s legislative agenda to solve the crises that the editor is now calling on her to solve. Editor, if she lacked the ideas, vision, passion and toughness over the last seven years, then when is she going to start exhibiting these qualities you claim are so necessary to get the country out of its current crisis?
I submit that the only leader who has expressed the ideas, the vision and demonstrated the passion and toughness necessary to get us out of this current crisis is the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie. The record clearly shows that the Christie government has implemented a policy or policies to address every crisis the editor listed the Nassau Guardian editorial
Having bled over 15,000 jobs between 2007 and 2012, the economy added over 3,000 jobs in the first 18 months of Christie’s watch; this is a dramatic turnaround. Although unacceptably high, the trajectory of crime has changed measurably – thanks to the myriad of anti-crime initiatives implemented by the government, but the fight continues. Tourism has rebounded, the economy is growing again and the economy is being diversified to include food security and stronger linkages with tourism. The country was spared the fiscal cliff and there is a policy path from the $500 million budgetary deficits of 2012 to budgetary surpluses by 2017.
Bahamians do want to see, feel and experience a quicker economic turnaround, that’s the case in most countries, but Rome was not built in a day. The only leader who has demonstrated that he could navigate this country out of the dire straits of 2012 through proven leadership is the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie and the PLP government. Unlike the leadership of the FNM, Christie has the record to prove it. Just compare.
Yours etc.;
Alexander Laroda
Disclaimer:
The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his/her
private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of
TheBahamasWeekly.com
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