On the Budget Debate 2007
Nassau, The Bahamas
Wednesday 6th June, 2007
 

Mr. Speaker, I would like to at the start pay respect to a woman of great distinction and a leader of the region who passed away.  She has a connection with The Bahamas but is a pioneer for women in the field of politics in the region.  I speak of Dame Lois Browne Evans, the founder of the PLP, the Progressive Labour Party in Bermuda; our sister party.  She was a former Leader of the Opposition in Bermuda and when the PLP won office in Bermuda in 1998, she served as Attorney General.  Dame Lois died last week and was buried in a state funeral in Bermuda yesterday.

Dame Lois was a law school contemporary of the father of our nation Sir Lynden O. Pindling.  He and she worked together on the blueprint for the founding of the Progressive Labour Party in Bermuda.  At one time, the PLP in The Bahamas and PLP in Bermuda used to attend each others conventions and speak on each others platforms. She was a progressive nationalist and was instrumental in the defeat of the UBP in Bermuda and brought majority rule to Bermuda.  I wish record our sadness at her passing and express these condolences into the public record of the House of Assembly of The Bahamas.

Mr. Speaker, it was my honour to have served with all my colleagues in the Cabinet of The Bahamas.  I had no real idea the privileges that are extended to Ministers of the Government in this small nation until I got the job.  But I always saw it as simply that: a job.  It was good job.  The pay was inadequate and the benefits not appropriate.  Politics prevented that from being corrected, and maybe the young turks will solve that problem in their time, but it was not a vocation.  It was not messianic.  I never thought I or any Minister was the font of all knowledge.

What I did expect, however, was that I would have met in place a public service that was professional and would follow the lawful instructions given them, and would act in a neutral manner toward their new political authority.  I left office with a clear understanding of the gap between my expectations in that regard and the reality.  I came to office preaching public sector reform.  I left office preaching the same thing.  I looked in the heads relating to the Department of the Public Service and note that at 911931 there is still the line item that I put there four years or so ago for $100,000 for public sector reform.

The reform effort had only limited success because there was a fight between the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service Department about who was to lead the effort.  In the end Finance won, and for reasons that mystify me, we have not gotten to where we should have gotten in that time.

But I want to say that there some public servants, and public servant leaders who understand the system.  There was a group of persons who formed a team who worked to conclude some landmark agreements in the public service: an agreement with The Bahamas Public Services Union which gave an enforceable industrial agreement for the first time in the history of that union.  There was similar landmark agreement with the Bahamas Union of Teachers: for the first time in the history of the country they got an enforceable industrial agreement.  The agreements sought to decentralize civil service decision making, and make permanent secretaries more like CEOs and responsible or the conduct of the affairs of their Departments.  This was a reform that was resisted to the very bitter end, and I am not sure where it is headed.  I would suggest that the Government must continue the effort toward public sector reform.

We tried to inculcate during our time a new culture in the public service: one that was not atavistic or tribal; one that was consultative and collegial.  This was broadly rejected by the public service and the public as the right approach.  I remain convinced that this is the preferable approach.  I am deeply concerned at the  reports from a number of public servants many of whom heard the words of the leader of honourable members opposite during the campaign that he believed public servants ought to be free to participate politically which in fact most of them are anyway; and the action of the government once they came into office.

I would simply at this juncture remind the government that the public service is now governed by an industrial agreement, and it also is governed by the general public law including the employment act.  Many of the instances that have been reported to me amount to constructive dismissals, where public servants of senior standing have been sent into Elba, into offices with nothing to do or with nowhere to sit.  Last week a number of them from the Ministry that was dismantled had to be sent home for four days because they showed up at a Ministry and the Permanent secretary knew nothing about them coming.

Compare this to the approach that we took when we came to office and found that 300 people had been hired in 2002 on short-term three-month contracts, and when their contracts were up we heard their petitions and took them into the service on a full time basis.  That is a government that cares about people.

During our time we passed a bill to allow for the bridging of service, for correcting certain injustices for Beach Wardens.  We reversed decisions that had deprived rehired public servants of their pension including the Financial Secretary and I hope that is not one of the decisions that has been reversed.  We made a similar decision for prison officers who had retired and deserved to get their pensions.  I hope that has not been reversed.  We were to move to allow retired Permanent Secretaries to get equal access to the special provisions that were passed to allow some Permanent Secretaries of junior rank to retire under the FNM with the full benefits and others had to suffer disadvantages.  Sadly that required legislation and we ran out of time to do it.  We think that the government should address that issue.  We made a decision with regard to the Civil Aviation Department to provide a special allowance per annum of $12,000 as a certification allowance.  That allowance should have been paid but to the best of my knowledge information and belief it has not and it should be paid.

There is a category of police officers that were told by the FNM administration prior to 2002 that they were transferred to the Road Traffic Department.  We were advised by a public servant who later turned out to be an opposition politician that they ought to be fired.  It turns out that this advice for many reasons was suspect.  We made a decision that their legal claim against the government should be settled and those who wished to come back should be allowed back on fresh terms.  I hope that is not a decision that has also been reversed.

So the PLP supported the development of the public service.  I look forward to the government’s continued support of Public Service Week, and the repeat of the annual singing competition that I started as Minister just this year.  It builds on a principle started by Roosevelt Finlayson called Festival In The Work Place, and is designed to encourage better productivity by adding cultural elements into the execution of our jobs.

I would also draw the House’s attention to head 5 for the Public Service at line 575200 Insurance for Law Enforcement officers.  The item shows a six million dollar increase.  The PLP decided that and made the arrangements for a comprehensive health insurance policy which will hopefully eliminate the need for officers to have to pay in advance for their medical care, and this is particularly necessary in situations where officers face long term illnesses and a long term need for medical care.  The former Deputy Prime Minister and myself worked extra hard to ensure that this was done for officers.  It not only applied to the Police but also to the Defence Force, the Road Traffic officers who work the roads, the Immigration and Customs Officers, the Prison Officers.  I am happy to see that this initiative has not been reversed or cancelled.

I think it is important to express our grave concern at these reports that contracts validly and lawfully entered into by one government are being cancelled or reversed by another government.  It seems a favourite preoccupation for Bahamians to call one another thieves when there is absolutely no evidence of it.  Perhaps one day we will get out of it.  But in this society nothing sticks like calling someone a thief, that and the word corruption are used too loosely and cannot be justified but  the reputations of honest citizens and businessmen, craftsmen and contractors are being sullied by loose political talk.  It appears anything will be done to win.

I am also happy to see that there is line item 014300 in the Budget in head 5 for Operation Second Chance.  I am particularly proud of this programme and it should have been larger than it was.  The Public Service suffered because of a bad decision by the Free National Movement after 2001 to place a moratorium on hiring in the public service.  It is clear that moratoriums are bad public policy, and the skills gap, the personnel gaps in the service suffered because that decision was not changed until late in 2006.  But I wish all those who are a part of the Operation Second Chance programme the best in their endeavours.  I have seen how these minimum wage jobs have positively affected the lives of many young people who without the requisite academic qualifications would not have gotten a chance at all.  They now have a chance to work for one of the best if not the best employer in the country: the public service.  I am concerned at reports that many of these people have been abused on their jobs and threatened since the change in government.  I would urge them to resist the temptation to strike back.  If you have a valid letter of appointment then you have a valid appointment and no threat can change that.  It is incumbent upon those who are making the threats to cease and desist.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recommend to the Bahamian public to go to their favourite stores and purchase a copy of The Last King of Scotland. It is an interesting allegory for what has just happened here in The Bahamas in 2007.  The Ugandan people thought they were welcoming a savior but instead they embraced a monster.  In the words of the Bahamian song: “Look what you could get when you’re tired of what you gat!”

The budget which we are being asked to support today really speaks well to the work of the last Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.  It boasts of surpluses and of financial discipline but what it does not say is that the surpluses of which it can boast are only possible because of the fiscal discipline imposed by the last Prime Minister.  We tried to tell the country that all the indicators were good.  The Bahamian people had a good life under the PLP and it was the PLP’s work that will give us a good life over the next fiscal year.

What is disturbing though is the vengeance with which this has all started.  We were promised during the campaign that someone had changed.  But there has been no change just viciousness, vengeance and fear everywhere.   Just ask the people of the former Ministry of Financial Services and Investments.  The Ministry has been dismantled.  The staff have been scattered to the four winds, some of them with nowhere to sit.  This was a Ministry that was created to assist in the research and development and promotion of the second most important sector in our economy.  You would have thought that like a Ministry of Tourism such a ministry would have been essential to the growth and well being of The Bahamas but no it has been dismantled.  It is curious that there has not been one word from the sector in its defence.  Not a word.

It serves us right for depending on the good will of people who had no goodwill in for us.  Perhaps we have learned a lesson.

Mr. Speaker since the elections, there are complaints that the Royal Bahamas Police Force is now so polarized there are people wondering whether it can ever be an effective machine to fight crime again.  There is the spectre or accusation of selective prosecutions; there is the perception amongst some that every police officer is an FNM, and these days when PLPs see a police officer coming they wonder if they can or will ever get justice from them.  That is the state of affairs.

A great deal of time and effort was put into the reorganization of the Force.  Crime was a major issue for the country and the then Prime Minister the Rt. Honourable Member for Farm Road and Centreville was concerned that the public would soon be clamouring for the Government to bring in foreign policemen.  Indeed today Mr. Speaker there are British police offers in active service at the senior ranks in Trinidad and Tobago, the Assistant Commissioner for Crime is British in Jamaica, and more recently the top posts of the police force in St. Lucia were taken over by British officers.  The government was concerned that this was direction we were headed here.  One man and his team had been in charge of crime for too long and there needed to be change, a new focus brought to the issue.   But we are learning that all of that is endangered now and may have gone out of the window.  The government must be extremely careful that its actions to win votes do not undermine the confidence in the disciplined forces, until this public has lost all confidence in the police force as an entity.

I had the difficult task just before the general election to explain to the Royal Bahamas Defence force the nature of the salary increases that they were to receive.  I was a member of the National Security Council and in that capacity I visited the Force with the then Attorney General.  I said at the time that the PLP administration did not want to be seen to be making purely political decisions for the Force.  The best way to proceed then was by way of blueprint so that any administration that came along could follow that blueprint.  The study done by a Canadian defence expert was concluded last year and made recommendations on staffing, on salaries and on equipment, all of which were well in train before we left office.  I commend the approach to this administration.  I see they have announced that there will be an expenditure of some 50 million dollars to equip the Defence force although I do not see it in the estimates, but never mind that is what we pledged to do, and so the government is at least continuing to do what they ought to support the Defence Force.

But I shall never forget that meeting when one of the officers raised his hand and said I understand what you have said and I agree with you but you think you can’t throw us out one 300 dollars before the election?  Interesting!  It is unfortunately symptomatic of the culture which now appears to be endemic in our country, and one is loathe to criticize it for fear of political reprisal, while at the same time realizing that it cannot stand.

In fact, Mr. Speaker my personal view is that like in some other systems governments should be prohibited by law from acting on certain requests of a monetary nature within a certain striking distance of elections.  That of course has constitutional implications but it is a matter which the pundits and think tanks ought to be looking at since it is clear that there needs to be further reforms in our electoral processes.

There is no reason for the disciplined forces of this country to complain about anything that the PLP did.  The largest promotions in the history of the country.  The radical improvements in the state of the prison and the increases in salaries.  The work at reform of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.  The Police Force provided with modern equipment and unparalleled investment.  The Police Staff Association had open access to Ministers of the government to deal with all of their issues.  But what was happening is an insidious attempt to bribe the disciplined forces to ensure that their votes were secure.  That has led to the division of the Forces in a manner that has completely undermined discipline and may in fact ruin the confidence and trust which the public has in these Forces.  You have to be very careful what you wrought.

I had to laugh when I heard one of the members of this new Cabinet say that they were going to give updates to the Bahamian people on what they were doing.  I wonder what difference that will make because in my experience I used every opportunity to tell people what I was doing, what their money was being spent on to keep them informed.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a website.  I looked at it the other day.  The web site does not even say that the Minister has moved with his permanent secretary and decamped to the Goodman’s Bay Corporate Centre.  The public has not been adequately informed that Foreign Trade has now been taken away from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and been put in the Office of the Prime Minister; yesterday we were told that the Minister of State now has it. And he has completely now backed away from the words that he wrote in his famous book: Who Moved My Conch?  He pronounced with great definition that the FNM does not propose to join the Caribbean Single Market and Economy.  One supposes that the isolationist will now be happy that he had repudiated his own words.  The Minister also said in the same breath that the Government proposes to join the World Trade Organization.  I agree but the only thing is the WTO structures are going to be more so for all sectors of this economy than the regional agreement would have been, and there still needs to be great public education on what all of this will mean for the economy.  The PLP clearly supports the signing on to the Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union.

The PLP made a decision to cerate a Department of Foreign trade. This was because foreign trade and foreign trade agreements would become increasingly important in the forward movement of our economy.  The first of the issues is of course the Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union which should be signed before the end of the year.  I was reading in one section of the press some comments by people I can only describe as pompous and idle blowhards who had no idea what they were talking about and the risks that this economy was going to face if they signed on to the EPAs.

That is why I asked when I started this part of my intervention by asking if sharing information would make any difference since these two fellows whose comments I read showed how woefully ignorant they are of information that is available in plain sight.  It seems to me that the both of them have this habit of simply saying things for the newspapers to print as part of a marketing exercise for themselves and to make themselves look and sound intelligent.  But I like the line from Shakespeare: “Sound and fury signifying nothing.”

In my view, The Bahamas has no choice but to integrate itself into the world economy to reap the larger benefits of all of the money that is there to get and to make.  But it is not an all or nothing game.  There has to be a way to be able to integrate more fully into the world economy and at the same time protect our interests.  But the people from the sector who we asked to help and assist in the research and development, their answer or comment is always let’s hold the line even when it is clear that holding the line is no longer going to be practical or feasible.

The Government must then make full disclosure on what has happened to the Department of Foreign Trade.  We agreed that Ambassador Leonard Archer would head the unit.  We agreed to hire at least six economists into the unit so that the country could get up to speed on where it is we are headed.  We agreed on the lease of premises.  Presumably all of that has now been scrapped.

We put the Department of Foreign Trade into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because it allowed both the MFA and the Trade Ministry to speak with one voice.   This is the case in most Caricom countries, and Foreign Ministers in their travel abroad could make the decisions in foreign trade as well.  Now all of that is scuttled.

Of course I also had to laugh when the story appeared in the press saying that the now foreign minister left to represent The Bahamas at the OAS general assembly in Panama.  Travel I see.  What does a Foreign Minister do but travel?  I had to put up with more ignorance and stupidity from the other side on this issue than enough.  In a couple of weeks they will be grinning up like Cheshire cats in Washington for the meeting with U.S. President George Bush and other Caribbean Heads, and for the U.S. Secretary of State's meeting with all Caricom Foreign Ministers.  They will have to travel.  This meeting with Caricom Heads and Caricom Foreign Minister is important for The Bahamas and the region.  The relations with the United States must be a continuing conversation and I think that as the Free Trade Agreement comes an ever closer reality with the United States, replacing the Caribbean Basin Initiative, it will be incumbent on Caribbean governments to negotiate access for its citizens into the United States with a minimum of hassles.  I have advocated visa free access for Bahamians into the United States.  Before I left office I had asked for the Ministry to do a study of a possible investment treaty with the United States which would allow Bahamian entrepreneurs to be able to invest in the United States, have access to its markets both albur and capital, all for the benefit of Bahamians and The Bahamas.  I hope that this new administration will follow up on that as well.

The PLP planned in the budget cycle to open an embassy that would service both the needs of the European Union and that of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that is headquartered in Geneva.  What does the Government have to say about that?  Is that still on the table?

I have also spoken in another forum about the need for a new building for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  I said earlier that the Ministry’s offices have now moved but there needs to be two things; an appropriate protocol house for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and I think that now that Buena Vista is owned by the government, that should be repaired and refurbished to be that.  We also looked at St. Agnes Rectory for that purpose as well.  A protocol house would have a place for government officials to host small conferences, receptions for foreign visitors and to put up foreign visitors when they come to The Bahaman instead of a hotel.  The prime minister would be able to host similar events in the absence of a home for the Prime Minister.  Incidentally it is time for that to be done as well.

Mr. Speaker, I will be watching for the implementation of the digital passport project.  I have looked in the heads for development under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and I find that the allocations have been made.  I am advised that the project is going well.

I wish to thank all of those involved in its implementation.  I look forward to more secure border management in dealing with the issuances of visas.  I hope that the Minister continues with my plans to revamp and change all the personnel in the existing visa section of the Ministry in light of the new security procedures that will be needed for the issuance of a more secure document.

Mr. Speaker, the Government announced that the Bahamas National trust is to receive a significant increase in grant funding from the Government.  I am a national trust member and I have been since 1989 or before.  I have tried to influence public policy and to influence the trust as member and I speak now as one to be more accountable and relevant to Bahamian society as a whole and not special interests.  I think that this was accomplished during our term in office.  It should be clear to the public that this grant was matter that had been promised by the former Prime Minister long before this for this budget and so the grant is not a surprise.  Further, the public should be reminded that it was the PLP administration that bought land from the National Trust in Harbour Island that would have gone into private hands, because the Trust was in dire financial straits having spent its endowment on operational expenses.  That land is now in the public domain and is available for the people of The Bahamas and Harbour Island, hopefully in perpetuity.  We hope that this is not something the new government will reverse.

I have had the honor of representing the people of the Fox Hill constituency for five years and I have been associated with the people of the Fox Hill Village for a life time.  I hope that the Government will continue its assistance and support of the Fox Hill Festival, which is the nation’s premier and only authentic African cultural festival that has been going on continuously since the abolition of slavery in 1834.  This year is extra special because it marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.  I trust that because the people of Fox Hill chose a PLP to be their representative that this does not mean that the support which we have gotten in the past from the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Culture will not be forthcoming.

I shall be making the appropriate communications to the various ministries in support of the requests of the Fox Hill Festival Committee.

In connection with Fox Hill, I trust also that there will continue to be the commitment to the upgrading and expansion of the Sandilands Primary School, a school that is 162 years old, land for which was left by Judge Robert Sandilands who was one the original settlers in the area.  The last Minister of Education had agreed at my request to the acquisition of land adjacent to the school to expand the school playground and for the construction of a new classroom block with a teachers lounge and library.  The facilities at the school today are under severe pressure and need to be upgraded.  I hope that the present administration does not reverse that commitment.

Further, Mr. Speaker, I have noticed since the Government changed a marked deterioration in the upkeep of the public parks in fox hill.  The Minister responsible for the department of Environmental Health would do well to get his skates on and make sure that these public parks are adequately cleaned and trimmed and that there is proper maintenance of the parks in the Fox Hill constituency.

I believe also that there is a need to work to develop the ocean hole park in Fox Hill into a national park.  Had I been in the government, I would have supported the public acquisition of the land for its development and to work with the Ministry of Tourism on a heritage site that would cause there to be increased economic activity in Fox Hill.  I am still committed to this but one is not sure that the other half has a commitment to the heritage of the African village of Fox Hill.

I will continue to work to the best of my ability for all the people of the Fox Hill constituency and I thank them for their continued support.

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition has asked me to shadow the Foreign Ministry and the Public Service, I trust that in discharging public responsibilities that I can expect the fullest cooperation from the Minister and his staff with regard to the public aspects of their work, and I shall be calling from time to time to follow up on various matters.  I would expect the same openness that I provided in my time in office.  Further, Mr. Speaker I would wish to have some kind of policy statement with regard to this Government’s view about its relations with our neighbors including the United States, Cuba, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Haiti and Caricom.  In addition, its view of its relationship with the Commonwealth and in particular relations with African countries and its interest in promoting the interest of the good relations with the African Diaspora.

Thank you Mr. Speaker.