Dear Editor,
I welcome the comments attributed to the Hon. Prime Minister, Philip ‘Brave’ Davis, KC, MP, made the other evening at a massive PLP rally on Charles Saunders Highway, regarding the timely delivery of services and formal responses by the civil service bureaucracy. He was absolutely correct in stating that, oftentimes, civil servants do treat Bahamians like dirt—especially when it comes to applications for Crown Land and legal matters with the Office of the Attorney General. The snail-paced inefficiency that reigns within the civil service is both pathetic and mind-boggling.
As a Business Consultant, I am often called upon to assist various Bahamians in navigating the burdensome maze of accessing government services such as NIB claims, settlements of awards against particular ministries or agencies, gratuities owed to the estates of deceased individuals, and, of course, financial compensation for privately-owned land that was compulsorily acquired by the government for public purposes.
The average Bahamian is forced to endure all sorts of delays, excuses, and the outright loss of applications and/or files. This is dead wrong and has severely hindered the economic development and progress of tens of thousands of Bahamians. I personally know of an elderly lady who lives in the Cow Pen Road area. She has been living on land—originally Crown Land—since the 1950s. She applied for a grant in the early 1960s. She raised five children, who are now in their 50s, and yet to this very day, she is still being asked by the Crown Land Department to “update” her application!
There is another Bahamian—a white one—who applied for a Crown Grant/Lease for a small cay in the Exuma chain. For the past ten years, he and his family have been offering a “swim with the pigs” experience without incident. And yet, after three successive administrations—Ingraham, Christie, and Minnis—he has still not received a definitive response from the relevant Permanent Secretary.
I fear he may have been deliberately placed in “the dance” by civil servants—the very ones the Prime Minister referenced. If the Davis Administration is serious about securing a second consecutive term, it must ramp up the delivery of services and urgently address the concerns of ordinary Bahamians. This inefficient modus operandi has existed under all administrations and continues to pose a real threat to the economic advancement of the people.
This, obviously, must change—and immediately. The Prime Minister, God bless his soul, does not need to cry or wring his hands. He is the Prime Minister. He does (or should) control the civil service. All he needs to do, in my view, is continue to crack the whip as we move forward.
If the bureaucracy continues to stifle the legitimate expectations and requests of the unwashed masses, the “New Day” PLP could very well see its current majority wiped out—or substantially reduced. There is no time to waste.
To God, then, in all things, be the glory.
Ortland H. Bodie, Jr.
Business Consultant & Talk Show Host
