NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The late great and deeply lamented, Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling, our first Prime Minister, was a master political operator and strategist, bar none. He had the ability to bring together diversified groupings of individuals and hone them into an unbeatable political force for decades. It was precisely because of this uncommon trait that the modern Bahamas has emerged.
Back in the period of the 1960’s into the 1980’s those were heady days for the movers; players and shakers in the then political world existing here at home. There were ‘strong’ personalities in the political arena. Men like: the late Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield; the late Sir Randol Fawkes; Sir Carlton Francis; the late Jimmy Shepherd ; Basil Nichols; Edmund Moxey; Loftus Roker and countless others.
Sir Lynden, however, was able to best them all and emerge as Premier then Prime Minister.. The rest is history and we now have the indomitable Most Honorable Philip ‘Brave’ Davis, KC, MP as our Prime Minister. I have long held that Brave is akin to Joshua of old. In my considered opinion , he is the one who will lead the nation, finally, over the proverbial Jordan and into The Promised Land.
It has been Three months since the general elections. Parliament has met. A cabinet has been appointed and the second consecutive Davis administration is in place. Public service in The Bahamas has evolved into a growth industry whereby a successful politician and/or their stooges are able to amass ‘power’ and a measure of ‘wealth’ BUT are most of them even checking for their enabling constituents?
Sir Lynden had a habit of calling and invoking strategic conclaves or gatherings of his cabinet colleagues, et al, every so often to read them the Riot Act and to ensure that they were all sown with the party’s agenda. One of the more famous one was down in Las Palmas, Andros another was at Small Hope Bay, also over in Andros.
I fear that there is a handful of current cabinet ministers who may be out of depth within their respective ministries due to inexperience; arrogance and sheer ineptitude. This is not an indictment but a warning shot across the bow of SS PLP. Bad or incompetent ‘actors’ could be detrimental.to taking the nation where we, as a people, need to go.
Already a sense of arrogance and dismissive attitudes are enveloping a few prominent persons and will end up causing alienation from the PLP brand if we are not careful. Communication skills by ministers and permanent secretaries must be improved or just shut the hell up. It has always been better for one to stay quiet if he/she has nothing sensible to say.
There are ministries which are under performing, not always due to the substantive minister but often due to the ‘politics’ of some civil servants which might be contrary to that of the incumbent administration at any given time. Then, of course, a few ministers might be so lazy that they allow the PS , et al, to actually run the ministry AND to implement policy matters to their personal liking. Some ministers may well need to ‘grow’ some backbones.
And so, I strongly recommend to the Prime Minister that he convene a timely cabinet retreat either over in Andros or Cat Island to flesh out and fine tune the way forward for the rest of this year. The legacy of PM Davis, which is just beginning to be cemented is much too important in Bahamian annals to ‘allow’ any serious damage to the same. Nevertheless, in all things, to God be the glory..
