...has the Free National Movement (FNM) done enough to earn another five years in office?

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

thenassauguardian

Caribbean Blog International

Downtown Nassau straw vendors want government assistance following damage to the temporary straw market by Hurricane Irene

Vendors want govt assistance following damage to temporary market

Vaughnique Toote
Guardian Staff Reporter
toote@nasguard.com

Downtown straw vendors are pleading with the government to provide them with some sort of assistance in the wake of Hurricane Irene, which wrecked the temporary market they have worked in for more than a decade.

Straw vendors were shocked when they visited their workplace Friday morning and discovered that intense winds had blown the roof off.

A number of stalls were damaged as well.

“When I heard on the news that it was destroyed, I was very upset because this is my bread and butter,” said vendor Anne Green.  “I don’t know what the government is going to do, I don’t know if they’re going to assist us.  It’s very bad because I have four children in school and you have your bills.”

Green estimates she will lose about 100 dollars each day the market is closed.

Elaine Williams questioned how long she and her colleagues would be out of work.

“What I’d like to know is how long we have to stay home and if the government will help us,” she said.  “Because it would not be right staying home for weeks with nothing at all.  I need some money to pay my lil’ bills.”

Scores of vendors tried to access the market to check their stalls and see the extent of the damage firsthand.  However, police officers blocked the entrances for safety purposes.

From the outside of the tent, damaged goods could be seen on the ground.

While the majority of straw vendors cleared their stalls before the storm, others left their products in plastic bags on tables in the market.

Vendor Ellen Russell said she lost most of her goods.

“I was on vacation so I left everything.  I just got back on the island late Wednesday and had to prepare my home,” she said.

“I have to replace what I had in there so I don’t have the stuff to sell even when we have a place to sell it in.”

Yesterday Minister of Public Works Neko Grant said the government has not yet decided what will happen to the temporary market.

Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette and his wife Robin took a look at the damage while on a personal tour of the area on Thursday.

“There is some good and some bad,” Symonette said.

“Hopefully it will speed up the completion of the new market.  Also as September comes it is traditionally a slow season for tourism.  So, hopefully we will be able make some adjustments and get towards the new market.”

Like many of her fellow straw vendors, Sharon Carey said she is anxious to hear from government officials on the way forward.  She added she is grateful to God because their situation could have been much worse.

“As I stand here, I can honestly say I am happy, and to God be the glory for the great and marvelous things he has done,” Carey said with a big smile on her face.

“We don’t have a roof, but we have our booths.  We’ll see what the prime minister does, if we get to stay here or we get to go into the new market.”

Aug 27, 2011

thenassauguardian

Caribbean Blog International

Straw vendors need to face reality

It's time for straw vendors to face reality
tribune242 editorial


OVER THE years the politicians - especially PLP politicians -- have mollycoddled straw vendors to the point where they think they are extra special -- and possibly, in some cases, above the law.

In fact they are special -- over the years there have been many hard working, outstanding citizens among them who have produced fine sons and daughters who have become leaders in this country.

However, when it comes to obeying the law and respecting society's rules, they are no more special than any other Bahamian. No matter what they might think, no matter what special concessions they believe the government might owe them for their loyalty, they are not above the law.

As a matter of fact all any government owes its citizens is a duty to create an atmosphere in which they can live, work, play and develop their God-given talents to support themselves and their families. The rest is up to them.

Many of the poor among us believe that because they are poor, the laws should be bent for them. "Man, gimme a break, I's jus a poor man!" This poor man exists under the radar, manipulating the law to the end of his existence. But there is the poor man, who recognises that despite his poverty, he has worth and ability. He rises above his poverty, works hard, develops his talents, aims for the stars and is happy if he reaches the tree tops. At least he has dragged himself up from poverty, and achieved on the right side of society.

However, Mrs Esther Thompson, president of the Straw Business Persons Association -- and a reverend, no less -- on Wednesday urged her members to get their act together, because the war over the straw market "is on." The war is on with whom?

Mrs Thompson, and about a dozen of her followers, were angry at the new rules announced by Works Minister Niko Grant at Wednesday's roof-wetting ceremony for the new straw market.

The object of the rules is to take the new market to a higher standard of excellence from which Bahamian crafted straw work can be sold. Mrs. Thompson seems to think that the vendors have ownership in this new market and are going to run it as they see fit.

Well, we have some startling news for her. The market is owned by the Bahamian people -- it has been built with taxpayer's money. Straw vendors have no monopoly over it. If they want to pay a small rent and move into a stall, willing to obey all the rules of the market, they will be welcomed. If not, then as free citizens they can find their own outlet from which those who wish can continue to flaunt the law by selling counterfeit merchandise, and risk facing their own day in court. Mr Grant announced that only Bahamian goods will be sold in the market. Counterfeit goods -- for which nine Bahamians were arrested in New York in September -- will be strictly prohibited. Vendor licenses will be restricted to Bahamian citizens, and rental charges will range from $200 to $250 a month; $46 to $58 a week or $6.50 to $8.20 a day -- very modest rents when one considers the high rates paid by other Bay Street businesses.

The new policies and guidelines, said Mr Grant, are expected to assist "in the more effective and efficient management of the new Bay Street straw market."

Mrs Thompson declared the vendors' intention to defy the rules -- she was encouraged by her supporters' lusty cheers. She then made this alarming statement:

"Whatever comes through customs, that is what straw vendors are going to sell," she declared. It would seem that the time spent by nine of her members in the hands of the law in New York has not taught her a lesson. The arrested Bahamian vendors with their counterfeit goods, who could have spent years in a federal prison in the US, got off lightly -- only one of them had to make restitution for her illegal purchases. The others are under various lengths of supervised probation. It is questionable as to whether they will be allowed back in the US. Mrs Thompson's declared position on the matter certainly will not help their cause.

The arrested vendors admitted that they knew that the goods they were purchasing -- Gucci, Prada, Dolce, Gaban, Juicy Couture and others, picked up from New York's flee markets -- were not only counterfeit, but illegal. However, according to their skewered thinking - supported by Mrs Thompson-- once they got them through Nassau Customs and paid duty on them, they were somehow sanitised of their illegality and ready for legal sale in what is meant to be Bay Street's straw market.

Mrs Thompson wants to put the onus on the Customs officer to determine whether vendors' goods are legal. This is most unfair. If the goods are illegal, and the vendors purchased them with the full knowledge of their illegality, then they are the only ones guilty of an illegal act. They cannot compromise an innocent customs officer. We hope no other Bahamian reverend tries to make a fool of the law in this fashion.

Also if these vendors can spend so much money on these New York trips, bringing back garbage bag loads of illegal goods, then surely they can pay the reasonable rents asked by government to help maintain a first class straw market on Bay Street.

November 26, 2010

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International

The Straw Vendors' Association demands the redesign of the new Straw Market ...

Vendors demand market redesign
By TANEKA THOMPSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
tthompson@tribunemedia.net


THE Straw Vendors' Association wants the design of the new Straw Market to be changed to accommodate more retailers in spaces designated for craft-making demonstrations, according to a well-placed source.

The request was made recently, however there is no indication so far that the Government will adjust its plans for the new market.

The $11.3 million project calls for several demonstration booths to be placed in the middle of the market which would showcase artisans creating crafts by hand. It is a feature those close to the design feel will add a form of entertainment and will keep customers in the centre longer, thus increasing business.

These demonstration booths will be larger than the standard three by six booth the straw vendors will occupy, and the association would like them to be replaced with areas where vendors can sell their goods, said the source.

"The vendors are an association, like a union, they want to be able to say to our vendors that we are accommodating as many people as possible (in the new market). They don't care about the design, they only want to be able to say to their vendors that they have maximised the number of people that can be there and that's been their position from day one," said the source.

In December, Ministry of Works' officials revealed the new market will only have space to house about 500 vendors.

The new market will span approximately 34,000 square feet at the ground level, and includes a 4,500 square foot mezzanine level. The ground floor will be open, however the air-conditioned upper level will be closed with space for after-school children's activities.

Attempts to reach association President Telator Strachan last night were unsuccessful.

During an earlier interview with The Tribune she said she felt affronted that tourism officials and the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation are promoting artisans to sell their handmade goods on "prime" spots near docked cruise ships and along Bay Street.

"Another injustice (to vendors) is that BAIC and the Ministry of Tourism have placed these people on Bay Street and on the (Prince George Wharf) dock," she said, questioning why those retailers are allowed to convene on the street when Straw Market vendors are confined to one location.

"I have nothing against those (new) designs but BAIC and the ministry are advertising them as if they are the only authentic straw products in the Bahamas. They are pitting those people against straw vendors. They are giving them advertising and putting them in prime spots."

Ms Strachan suggested that these new crop of craft sellers be moved to Festival Place or an unused warehouse near Prince George Wharf - a site where the Government had previously suggested the Straw Market vendors relocate.

November 12, 2010

tribune242

Bahamas Blog International

Time for straw vendors to get their house in order

Time for vendors to get their house in order
tribune242 editorial


"SHOWBOATING" on the sidelines is what government is calling the position taken by the PLP in the case of the nine jailed straw vendors in New York. We see it as the PLP playing its usual game -- taking advantage of the ignorance of less fortunate people.

The position is that nine straw vendors went to New York in September on a shopping spree. According to their own admissions they knowingly purchased fake designer goods -- brand named bags and jewellery -- for resale at their market stalls on Bay Street. As they waited at the airport in New York to board their return flight to Nassau, loaded down with shopping bags of illegal goods, they were arrested and charged in a Manhattan court with conspiracy to defraud the US by trafficking in counterfeit merchandise.

Because Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette, who is also Minister of Foreign Affairs, made a public statement to the effect that vendors at home should take note of what had happened to their colleagues and govern themselves accordingly, the PLP are trying to infer that the government had abandoned the straw vendors. They had no intention of helping them, said the PLP, until the PLP got on their case and embarrassed them into action.

This, of course, is not true. The government was not embarrassed by the PLP's senseless haranguing. On learning of the vendors arrest all agents of government moved in to provide whatever help they could. Mr Symonette received a daily report from the Bahamas Consulate in New York, which provided assistance to the vendors and kept their families informed.

Almost immediately the Ministries of Education and Labour and Social Development assisted the families and children left behind in Nassau. The government also engaged legal counsel to represent the vendors.

But apparently that is not enough. The PLP want the government to help them with their bail, find suitable accommodation for them until they go to trial, resolve the bond issue "and see whether -- since this is a government-to-government issue -- to see if we can't through the attorneys seek to get the charges dropped."

Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell and Fort Charlotte MP Alfred Sears, both lawyers, should know that once a matter gets before the courts it ceases to be a government-to-government issue. Nobody can interfere with the judicial process. No one can do it in the Bahamas, nor can anyone do it in New York. It is, therefore, wrong to take advantage of less educated people, and make them believe that somehow governments can negotiate with the courts. Should offenders facing our courts in Nassau and jail time in HM Prison expect the same consideration from their government? These PLP lawyers should know that the symbol of a blindfolded justice sends out the message that all persons are equal before the Law and each gets equal justice -- regardless of who they happen to be. The most the Bahamas government can do is to ensure that the vendors have good legal representation and are judged fairly. The vendors cannot expect more than that - and it is wrong of the PLP to fool them into believing otherwise. The law cannot be bent to accommodate them. As for those still in Nassau, who want to find wiggle room to continue the illicit trade, they should take Mr Symonette's wise advise and get their stalls in order before the police have to come and do it for them.

The PLP should be the last to be crowing when we discover that when the matter of the counterfeit goods should have been settled in 2006, a "senior government official" in the PLP administration instructed a "senior police official" not to raid the vendors' stalls, but let them continue to sell their goods. These instructions came after police raided the warehouse on East Street, allegedly the supplier of the counterfeit goods, and were prepared to move onto the straw market to put a stop to the illegal trade there.

The police's lack of action in stamping out the trade in 2006 led the US government to unfairly conclude that Bahamian police officers were "complicit" in the straw market's counterfeit commerce. From the information we now have the police turned a blind eye to what was going on in the market on instructions in 2006 from a "senior government official."

This is why we find the holier-than-thou position now being taken by the PLP not only farcical, but insincere. If they are so concerned, why don't some of them take up a collection and help pay the bail for the ladies who are now in distress?

They should also go to the straw market and -- despite the famous remarks of one reverend gentlemen that "principles don't put food on the table" -- instruct the ladies that the continued illegal sale of counterfeit goods that once put food on their tables, will now land them in jail.

We recommend to the straw vendors that instead of being lulled into a stupor by PLP words excusing their actions, they should heed the sound advice of Mr Symonette, who said: "As a result of these charges, I highly recommend that Bahamians be guided accordingly."

In other words quickly clean up your act and abide by the law.

October 06, 2010

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International