Putting Bahamians First

One egregious example stands out as we reflect on the extent to which one administration after the other has strayed away from any principled support of any notion akin to Bahamianization.

That example involves that blue-ribbon consortium of Bahamian businesses that expressed some interest in buying Cable Bahamas.

As the record shows, they were turned down – cold.

This decision stung many a Bahamian businessman; and to this day, the game of questions-without-answers continues to be the game that some has learned to play so very well.

This is sad, unfortunate and most regrettable.

This is especially relevant in a time such as this where – as a highly dependent [and therefore extremely vulnerable small island developing state] – The Bahamas just so happens to be a country that is extremely vulnerable to any number of external stressors.

This is due to the fact that it imports most of what it consumes and is also dreadfully reliant on only one or two exports for all of the foreign exchange it needs.

But, notwithstanding this dependency and vulnerability, the Bahamas has been able – by luck, pluck and some very good fortune – to carve out for itself a very fruitful niche.

This bonanza is coming to an end; and as things change, some Bahamians now realize that they must now work harder than ever to stay afloat in a highly competitive global economy.

Working harder must come with greater real Bahamian control in all sectors of the national economy – inclusive of tourism, banking, agriculture, manufacturing and in the sale of any number of other services inclusive of education and health related items.

This must be the way forward for today’s Bahamas; and as one day unfolds and yields to another, some Bahamian businessmen and struggling and battling to survive.

Some of them – the more resilient ones – will survive; while some others [the fragile, weak ones] will bite the dust.

Regardless of size or fate-prophesied, it is the small business enterprise that yet stands the greatest chance of providing the most employment in hard economic times like these.

We have a kind of good news-bad news scenario that now looms as a living possibility for an untold number of Bahamians.

The good news we now mention has to do with the reality on the ground where small businesses are employing many and where they are – even now – able to negotiate their way through a maze of socio-economic and political mine-fields.

The bad news is to the effect that some small businesses are failing. And worse yet, no help seem to be on the way anytime soon.

Worse still is the looming reality that practically no one in authority seems to have given much sustained thought to Bahamianization as guiding principle for a country that is still negotiating its way forward with world agencies like the World Trade Organization.

As the Bahamas and its sister territories in the region respond to the exigencies being posed as a direct consequence of the current world economic crisis, some of them are coming to the point where they no longer worship market forces.

Indeed, some leaders now know that effort must be made for them to work together with a view towards each of them becoming more independent and self-reliant.

Indeed, we know of no other country in the region where foreign investors and foreign consultants are as valued as they are in the Bahamas – and by Bahamians themselves [the politicians] who owe their suzerainty to the masses of Bahamian who routinely give them the power to run things.

Cuba is run by Cubans on behalf of the Cuban people. The same principle applies to the way that proud, nationalistic Jamaicans have sought to run their country.

And from all available accounts, this is how things are run in Barbados.

Unlike them, the Bahamas stands out as a place where very many Bahamians – qualified and unqualified alike – are obliged to stand on the outside looking in as choice jobs are doled out to foreigners.

We abhor this state of affairs.

Today, we call on the current administration and it’s Opposition [official and otherwise] to go back to that old landmark – Bahamianization as policy-guiding principle.

In the ultimate analysis, then, whether reference is made to the so-called man in the street or to the businessman in his suite, we are adamant that those who govern should so comport themselves that they are seen to be working with and on behalf of all the Bahamian people.