A REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY

FOX HILL PARADE
25TH SEPTEMBER 2002

My brothers and sisters thank you for coming out this evening.  It is almost five months since the Progressive Liberal Party was returned to office and I became the representative for the Fox Hill area.  It is time for  me to report to you and it is also time for me to have a frank conversation.
 I want first of all to thank you all for your continued support and prayers during the past five months.  The Government has a difficult job and is being pressured from all sides. The political Opposition has finally awakened from their stupor but this is a  good thing because our system requires an active Opposition for good governance.  And the first thing I want to say to all of our supporters and friends and those who did not support us, that none of us in the Government have forgotten that we were in Opposition just five short months ago and what it feels like to be in the Opposition.
 And so the programmes that are unfolding today are guided by that principle and those memories.  At the same time, the country has been caught in a vice grip of international issues some of which were responsible for bringing us to Government and another which now threatens to put our economy back in the doldrums.  It was principally the economy that turned the tide.  There was also a sense that Bahamians had become alienated from their country and that there was no room for Bahamians.  The last administration left a sense of nastiness in the air that they did not care for people and were insensitive to public criticism.  Those are the issues to which the PLP responded and those are the issues that brought us to power.
 Although it may seem a long time ago, you can all remember the frenzy and unnecessary public expense to which this country was put by the last Prime Minister on the referendum to approve certain amendments to the constitution.  Our watchword then was consultation.  We came to office with a specific promise to consult and to be sensitive to public opinion, not to be driven by narrow political considerations and parochialism.   The Prime Minister the Hon. Perry Christie has repeated those themes from the day he took office.  The idea of governance today is driven by the considerations that brought us to office.  We were able to cut across racial, religious and class divisions in The Bahamas and come to office on issues.  We rejected specifically appeals to narrow partisan concerns.
 There is a practical consideration as  well.  One analysis by British consultants to the party shows that 1490 persons voting the other way and the PLP would have lost the election of 2002.  And so what we have to continue to do is to build on the coalition that we have.  This is the new PLP, and it reaches out to all young and old, black and white, rich and poor.  It embraces.  It does not reject.  The country is too small to engage in exercises that would damage families and create enemies for narrow political reasons.
 At the same time however, the political party that is running the Government, the Progressive Liberal Party has a decisive mandate from the people to govern.  And that means that slowly and step-by-step, we are assuming command of the Government.  In time that means that those who have worked assiduously for the Government’s political success will assume the command and control of the organs of Government.  It would be unreasonable to expect that in five short months that command and control would have been accomplished.
 There are several levels of Government.  The one where the first change took place was at the political level.  But politicians have limits.  We are limited by the people who work for us in the public service, their traditions and their rules.
 The best example of this that I can think of was the institutional resistance to the reversal of the air traffic controller’s interdiction and forcible administrative leave.
  We are limited by the law.  We are limited by public decency and human compassion.  We are also driven by a desire to do well and to do the right thing.
 On a personal level, I have tried throughout this constituency to  remain available and accessible.  One of the jobs I have requires frequent travel abroad but throughout it all, we have tried in the constituency office to ensure that it is staffed and manned and that you are able to find me or find someone when you need assistance.  And to those who seek to impugn the reasons for travel one had only to realize that we came to office on a promise to ensure that The Bahamas has an improved visibility in the international community in order to protect jobs at home.  We lost jobs because the FNM administration was missing in action at the necessary international meetings and did not get the job done. We have had several community meetings to consult on developments in the constituency.  The Fox Hill Festival was one of the best ever and it will be expanded next year.
 In a short time, the walking track on the park in Eastwood is expected to be completed and properly done.  There will begin shortly the  removal of derelict vehicles and the clean up of overgrown lots in the constituency.  But I am not pleased that we have not been able to find a continuing system to deal with these vexing community problems.
 The number one issue in the country is finding jobs, however, and providing an effective safety net for our citizens who are unable to find jobs.  A freeze in public service hiring continues, and that freeze is unable to be lifted until the revenue improves.  That means that the situation must be watched carefully so that we don’t use up all of our credit.  But the human suffering because of lack of employment is excruciating.
 The Prime Minister has set the pace on how to deal with national problems with deliberation and prudence.  He enjoys unprecedented support within the PLP and he has the support of the country for his leadership and is unchallenged and unrivalled.  Those who speculate otherwise just have no idea what they are talking about.
 The Minister for Financial Services has been active in trying to bring investment into the country and ensuring that the world knows that this is a place to do business.
 There is also a range of social problems that we face that the Government has been actively working to dealing with.  In Fox Hill the Adolescent Health Centre has been active in working with young men in the community and their families.
The Churches have been active in special programmes for young people.
The Minister for Social Services has been actively working to improve the social safety net in situations where children and old people have been abandoned or unemployment has fractured the family to such an extent that they are unable to survive.
The Minister of Works is actively working to improve infrastructure at affordable cost.
The Minister of Housing has an active programme to house the nation.
Right now the Minister of Trade is in Brussels beginning the negotiations to protect the benefits we get from the European Community.
The Minister of Tourism is in Jamaica now on behalf of the Prime Minister spreading the word on Bahamian tourism.
The Minister of State for Finance is in London trying to protect our financial services sector.
The PLP Minister of Transport has reversed the FNM’s victimization of the air traffic controllers.
The Minister of Youth has an active sports, culture and youth programme that is being aggressively pursued.
So much work is being done.
The Minister of Education is working apace to ensure that schools produce quality education and that we get good results for the money that we spend post secondary education.
We have much more to do but we have much to be proud about what we have accomplished in just settling the country down, removing the sour atmosphere of contention and confrontation in just five short months.  It is a freer air.
 So what is important against the larger job to be done is that we do not have to be anxious as a party to rush to action.  There is much to be said for deliberation.  But we of course must be decisive in taking command of the Government so that the public administration responds and does what we want it to do and what we were elected to do.
 I have already said what I hope to be able to leave as a legacy for The Bahamas.  I wish to have a country that is a liberal democracy, conservative in its spending habits, that truly believes in the freedom of the individual.  It disturbs me how quickly we revert to atavistic behavior in a small society where each is related to the next and where each action is separated by less than the much-promoted six degrees.
  On Tuesday of this week, many Bahamians searched their newspapers for the column of Nicki Kelly.  The column did not appear, and there was no announcement as to why it has not appeared.  And one can safely guess that there is discomfort at The Tribune over her opinions and as a result some flimsy pretext has been used to discontinue her work at the paper.  I would not be surprised if my speculation is correct. What is all the more surprising is that not one single journalist or media outlet seems to have raised her apparent ouster as an issue of fundamental importance to the issue of free expression in the country.  But The Bahamas, all of us, must learn and believe and practice that people have a right to their opinions and their views.  We must also learn to be able to defend our views and not be discombobulated by the views of others.
 I am resolutely committed to this country.  I simply love the place and I love being here.  And the kind country I want to build is a confident, tolerant, wealthy society with an abiding respect for the rule of law and for civility in public life.  It cannot be otherwise, or we shall continue slowly descending into the abyss of degradation.
 The Progressive Liberal Party must lead the way and all of us here must support those efforts of the Leader of our party and let us all move forward.
 Thank you very much indeed.