NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Prime Minister Philip Davis must now put action behind his promise to formally adopt a national development plan, a well-known financial executive said yesterday.
Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive told Eyewitness News, “this cannot be an idle promise”.
“It’s definitely a positive thing that the Prime Minister wants to have it formally adopted,” said Bowe.
During a lecture on the NDP at University of The Bahamas Tuesday night hosted by the Government and Public Policy Institute, Davis said he is committed to formally establishing the National Development Plan.
The NDP is intended to be a comprehensive roadmap for the country’s future, one that would guide policy initiatives and establish mechanisms for monitoring progress.
“Making a comment on such an important initiative is binding, while not binding from a legal standpoint from a moral suasion perspective it becomes binding. His words on the NDP were certainly welcomed. We want to see the action behind the words with a fairly quick announcement over not only the steering committee but also the secretariat. It would be beneficial to see the government leverage the Government and Public Policy Institute of UB,” said Bowe.
He added: “There is a draft and there were a number of findings which had been laid out in the previous State of the Nation report. I would have hoped that the Prime Minister would have been briefed as to where we are now. For me, having been a part of the process, I’m waiting with bated breath. I know that it’s a tremendous amount of work that requires a tremendous amount of resources. This cannot be an idle promise that just fizzles out.”
