FNM Version 3.0
By Ian G. Strachan
The Free National Movement will be pursuing its fourth non-consecutive term in office in 2012. They have ruled during truly turbulent times. The world has been rocked by financial crises, triggered in no small measure by the reckless actions of Wall Street financiers, the cavalier war of an incompetent Cowboy-President and the greed of oil magnates.
We are a small island state, a vulnerable jurisdiction more often changed by events too large for us to control than changed by our own will. Ingraham has had the unenviable task of steering the ship of state during a global storm that has brought disaster to bigger, older, wealthier nations. Is he getting the credit due him or will his achievements be considered inconsequential due to the times? Has he blown golden opportunities or made the most of a bad situation?
Our job as voters is to determine whether the FNM did their best to keep the nation on a good footing and whether their best was good enough. Record murder rates, record unemployment and an unchanging record of academic underachievement seem to be the highlights of the FNM Version 3.0.
But before we write the FNM off, let us acknowledge that Ingraham and Co. have not just been twiddling their thumbs while the nation goes to hell in a hand basket. They have actually gotten quite a lot done. Let’s take an inventory of the last 4 years.
Unemployment Benefit
Facing a dire job market the FNM offered short term relief to thousands who contributed to National Insurance but found themselves out of work. In order to receive the support you had to register with the Ministry of Labour who could then determine if there was indeed work you were qualified to do. Although this move seems to have resulted in an increase in everybody’s National Insurance contribution, I think it was the right thing to do. (And it happened early, not late in their term of office). Over 20,000 Bahamians received support and this benefit is now a permanent facet of NIB’s services.
Straw Market
One of the embarrassing facts about the PLP’s term in office is that they failed to erect a new Straw Market in their 5 years in office. The FNM built it with time to spare. There seems to be a court battle looming regarding the project so the ultimate cost is still undetermined. Nonetheless, the FNM got it done.
National Stadium
This is another PLP project that they couldn’t get done. It has been done under the FNM. We can certainly question the merit of such a project and the ultimate cost to the Bahamian taxpayer given that costly infrastructural work is necessary to provide power, telecommunications and water to the facility, but the fact remains, the FNM got it done.
New Airport Terminal
Another feather in the cap of the FNM. Yes, NAD was started under the PLP’s but that’s the way of politics. Besides, I hear this airport expansion has been on the drawing board since Ingraham’s first term. (No doubt while the PLP complain about foreigners running things they will hope we forget they handed the management of the airport over to Canadians.)
Saunders Beach
Despite all the spittle and hot breath expelled as a result of this project, it went ahead and is now complete. The beach hasn’t disappeared and the new parking lot, playground, benches and sea grape trees are being enjoyed by citizens. I miss the Casuarinas, but they don’t produce sweet purple fruit.
Traffic
I will give credit where it is due. The decision to make Baillou Hill Road one way north of Robinson Road has improved the flow of traffic during the morning peak hours. The purchase of a new fleet of police motorcycles was timely and has also enabled the police to have a much better and badly needed presence on the streets. The enforcement of the seat belt law (which the PLP failed to do although they passed the law) has improved public safety. The new highway leading from Saunders Beach to Tonique Williams Darling, has also provided a useful alternative to north-south travelers. The new intersection at East Street South and Cowpen Road was a necessary adjustment to the population growth in that district. And it was sensibly designed to allow a constant left turn, heading east from East Street. Small adjustments like the one made at the intersection of Prospect Ridge and JFK have also improved traffic flow and at minimal cost to taxpayers. And those of us who take the time to stop screaming, can see where the road work is going: the five lanes at the Marathon-Robinson Road intersection, the double lanes on East Street north of Soldier Road, the widened, more attractive Robinson Road corridor, all suggest that the main avenues of the city will be enhanced and as far as possible are being refashioned to accommodate growth. (Those are the positives).
Saving Mayaguana
The PLP cut a deal with the I-Group that gave 9,999 acres of land to a hotel/real estate development on an island with less than 500 people. The developers were promising to build the largest airstrip in the world. The Bahamian government was apparently an equal owner—whatever that means. I don’t care. The deal was sheer madness in my opinion—we don’t need anchor projects that drop anchors on our heads. The FNM re-negotiated the deal, cutting the project’s allotment in half.
Bahamar
This project has finally been properly financed and work has begun in earnest, on the FNM’s watch. It doesn’t matter that it was a project that was birthed during the PLP’s term in office. So was Ginn, right? The FNM are in charge now and they are taking the credit for oversight of a deal that’s actually executable. Bahamar is the only true hope either Christie or Ingraham can foresee in terms of placing 6-8,000 Bahamians in good paying, permanent jobs. The problem is those jobs are years away from materializing, so whoever wins this election will be credited with the huge bite out of unemployment that Bahamar will deliver. I give Ingraham credit for insisting that PLPs endorse the China Eximbank deal. I also give him credit for not allowing the thousands of Chinese laborers into the country until after the election. He has out strategized Christie again in these cases.
BTC Privatisation
Here again, is a thorn in the PLP’s side. They were late again. And here again, the FNM got a deal done with time to spare. Time for Bahamian tempers to cool. Time for handsome packages to be handed out. Remember when the fight was to save 300 jobs? Well last I heard 450 had asked for packages. So now the fight is to get one of these golden parachutes off Air BTC. What a farce. The issue is still whether private BTC is better than public BTC and I think that before Irene many were feeling that the former was shaping up to be the case. However you slice it, the sale of BTC gave our strapped government a much needed cash injection—and hey, wouldn’t you know, civil servants will get some lump sums and increments.
Port Move and Bay Street
Another promised PLP project executed instead by the FNM (you notice the pattern here?). History will judge whether the port was actually moved far enough away to truly affect down town traffic positively, but what was achieved was an opportunity for Bahamians to invest in something that was previously the exclusive right of a few families. Will it ultimately be cheaper than the Clifton alternative? The job’s not done yet, so again, the jury is still out. Bay Street still has a long, long way to go to achieve the vision conveyed in the EDAW Report. (Where’s the promised esplanade, for instance and the new green spaces and residential units?) But at least the House of Assembly has gotten a face lift. It’s a start. A slow start.
Prescription Drug Plan
Very late in Christie’s term a national health insurance plan was unveiled. It met with stiff opposition from the medical profession. The FNM implemented a National Prescription Drug Plan in 2010 through NIB. According to the NPDP website, 1 in 3 Bahamians suffers from a chronic non-communicable disease. Although it’s not perfect and although I’m not sure how sustainable it is, I believe it has done much good.
Space doesn’t allow me to expand on other initiatives by the FNM, such as the completion of new courts, new pieces of legislation, the hiring of new judges, the training programmes they have funded and are funding, the infrastructural investment in new water mains in a place where up to 50 percent of the water was escaping through old pipes, the Self Starter Programme, reforms made to Customs and other efforts. None of these initiatives are problem-free but they speak to the government’s attempts to address weaknesses in our systems and institutions and to empower Bahamians on some level.
Perhaps the most crucial feature of Ingraham’s term was what he didn’t decide to do to reduce our debt. I’m referring to a non-decision which may have saved us from even greater unrest and even more suffering: he did not cut civil service salaries, or worse yet, initiate a large scale redundancy exercise (most reasonable people feel our civil service is bloated and ineffective). This decision saved a good chunk of the Bahamian middle class and prevented a more serious economic collapse. BTC and ZNS were the target of the FNMs downsizing efforts, not janitresses, teachers, policemen, clerks, secretaries and bureaucrats all across the civil service.
The FNM did put a freeze on salary increases but it could have been much much worse. And FNM MPs and Ministers took a pay cut to send the message that sacrifices had to be made by all. (A fraction of what they might be making in kick backs, some might cynically assert). But the fact remains, austerity under the FNM was barely austerity. No one will thank them for it but they will know that whatever they got wrong, they didn’t drive the population into the streets screaming because they couldn’t buy bread.
Ingraham’s government has been busy indeed. The question remains, has the FNM done enough to earn another five years in office? Have any of these initiatives positively affected average Bahamians in ways they can appreciate or are even aware of?
Next week we’ll look at the flip side of the FNM version 3.0: their miscues, outright blunders and missed opportunities.
Sep 19, 2011
