bahamianpride
05-23-07, - 11:08 AM
Now that the circus is gone
http://www.thenassauguardian.com/editorial/310831351482597.php
Now that the smoke has cleared and a new government is being formed, the real concerns of the country must be addressed. While the matters discussed during the campaign are no doubt important - jobs, health insurance, character, family island development - they are by no means the critical issues facing the people of The Bahamas today. Even among front-line politicians, it would not be difficult to get agreement that the critical issues facing us today must be Nationhood, Education, Constitutional Reform and the Built Environment.
Sir Arthur Foulkes, in an article several months ago, explained clearly the difference between a country and a nation: A country exists when people agree to share a space. A nation exists when they agree to share a dream. (Forgive my liberal paraphrase.) To accomplish this latter purpose, there must be a sharing of meaningful collective experiences (like wars, natural disasters and mass celebration of meaningful accomplishment), and there must be the development of a common perception of identity. One of the jobs of a government is to facilitate exposure to the expressions of common purpose and common identity, which it does largely through its cultural programs. It is a mistake for governments to view cultural activity as "cultural". It is a fundamental part of the job of Nation-building, and requires the commensurate attention and resources of the administration.
Secondly, there is the need to address the education of the Bahamian people. Like our more "industrialized" friends, we have lost our way in education. There is no clear purpose for schooling, even in the obsolete "industrial" sense, and our top performers are failing in life at a surprising rate. Clearly there is an opportunity for us to lead the rest of the region as well as serve ourselves by redefining for this 21st century, this Information Age, what we are preparing our children for. Unfortunately, this is not just a "good idea", it is a must. Our present system does little to prepare them for their world, and without our urgent attention to this matter, we will fall constantly further behind the rest of the world.
Thirdly, it has been obvious to politicians for decades that our Constitution needs to be "fixed". By that I mean that with the best of intentions, the writers of the original document could not have addressed every concern we would ever have about the way we operate as a country. That is why there is a mechanism for change. Unfortunately we have approached the document as sacred, and refused to make the changes we know must be made to function properly. There are at least three examples of the need for reform that spring to mind.
The first relates to our governmental structure. The Bahamas operates effectively a single-level government, perhaps the only one in the world. This single-level dynamic removes the concept of political checks-and-balances altogether, and makes the size of the Opposition, among other things, moot. The present so-called Local Government is ineffective first because it is not self-determinant and secondly because it does not exist for more than two thirds of the population. Our structure does not offer us the opportunity to serve the Bahamian people effectively, and must be corrected.
The second "correction" relates to the hiring of members of the government. It is just plain insane to continue to hire political administrators and offer them five year contracts that cannot be terminated, regardless of performance of their job. None of the persons elected would hire a secretary without a clear understanding that if the job is not being performed to their satisfaction, the employment will be terminated. Yet they continue to encourage the Bahamian people to let them have a job without a mechanism for firing. A re-call clause is an urgent matter, as it is the only way the Bahamian public can say its administrators are its employees.
The third change may or may not require Constitutional reform, but it has certainly been addressed as though it does. Because all funds given to Government must go to the Public Treasury, governments (PLP and FNM) have gotten into the habit of asking private (often foreign) developers to do government's work - build schools and clinics, repair roads etc - a request that transforms the developer from the community's business partner to its benefactor, a condition that has repeatedly led to social problems in connection with large projects. Government must amend the law, so that a payment or contribution by a developer meant for government use in connection with a particular community can be earmarked as such, and government, through local government mechanisms, can perform government's role.
The third major issue to be addressed is the built environment. A nation's legacy is recorded in its built environment. This is especially true in its urban centers, where the records of historical and technological achievement are recorded in monuments, public spaces and buildings. How we address the planning of our communities and our urban centers affects more than just the ease with which we navigate through our streets, it contributes to the nation's vision for its future and to the identity shared by its members. The government's responsibility must be to protect the built heritage, preserve national keep-sakes and encourage the development of approaches to development that respect the traditions and the natural environment while encouraging a participation in global trends in innovation. In this respect, the most urgent need is the development of the shared vision that would drive the framing of planning initiatives throughout the country.
When I mentioned these issues to a friend, he smiled and advised me that these issues would never get anyone elected! He was probably right. They are not the generators of grand emotional responses we are accustomed to as the reason to vote for someone. But they are, if you will, the infrastructure that is needed for those emotive issues to have meaning. After all, what good are 10,000 new jobs for people whose education dooms them to exclusion from the wealth-creation opportunities of their own country? What good is a traffic solution through a town that does not celebrate its people? What good is a family island development plan that is forced by the Constitution to constantly re-create a plantation dynamic? And how beneficial is it to have ethical people in government if there is no program - from cradle to grave - for the deepening of National Identity?
The circus has left town. There is urgent business to be done for the Bahamian people. This is where our new government must be told to begin.
Yours,etc.,
Pat Rahming
http://www.thenassauguardian.com/editorial/310831351482597.php
Now that the smoke has cleared and a new government is being formed, the real concerns of the country must be addressed. While the matters discussed during the campaign are no doubt important - jobs, health insurance, character, family island development - they are by no means the critical issues facing the people of The Bahamas today. Even among front-line politicians, it would not be difficult to get agreement that the critical issues facing us today must be Nationhood, Education, Constitutional Reform and the Built Environment.
Sir Arthur Foulkes, in an article several months ago, explained clearly the difference between a country and a nation: A country exists when people agree to share a space. A nation exists when they agree to share a dream. (Forgive my liberal paraphrase.) To accomplish this latter purpose, there must be a sharing of meaningful collective experiences (like wars, natural disasters and mass celebration of meaningful accomplishment), and there must be the development of a common perception of identity. One of the jobs of a government is to facilitate exposure to the expressions of common purpose and common identity, which it does largely through its cultural programs. It is a mistake for governments to view cultural activity as "cultural". It is a fundamental part of the job of Nation-building, and requires the commensurate attention and resources of the administration.
Secondly, there is the need to address the education of the Bahamian people. Like our more "industrialized" friends, we have lost our way in education. There is no clear purpose for schooling, even in the obsolete "industrial" sense, and our top performers are failing in life at a surprising rate. Clearly there is an opportunity for us to lead the rest of the region as well as serve ourselves by redefining for this 21st century, this Information Age, what we are preparing our children for. Unfortunately, this is not just a "good idea", it is a must. Our present system does little to prepare them for their world, and without our urgent attention to this matter, we will fall constantly further behind the rest of the world.
Thirdly, it has been obvious to politicians for decades that our Constitution needs to be "fixed". By that I mean that with the best of intentions, the writers of the original document could not have addressed every concern we would ever have about the way we operate as a country. That is why there is a mechanism for change. Unfortunately we have approached the document as sacred, and refused to make the changes we know must be made to function properly. There are at least three examples of the need for reform that spring to mind.
The first relates to our governmental structure. The Bahamas operates effectively a single-level government, perhaps the only one in the world. This single-level dynamic removes the concept of political checks-and-balances altogether, and makes the size of the Opposition, among other things, moot. The present so-called Local Government is ineffective first because it is not self-determinant and secondly because it does not exist for more than two thirds of the population. Our structure does not offer us the opportunity to serve the Bahamian people effectively, and must be corrected.
The second "correction" relates to the hiring of members of the government. It is just plain insane to continue to hire political administrators and offer them five year contracts that cannot be terminated, regardless of performance of their job. None of the persons elected would hire a secretary without a clear understanding that if the job is not being performed to their satisfaction, the employment will be terminated. Yet they continue to encourage the Bahamian people to let them have a job without a mechanism for firing. A re-call clause is an urgent matter, as it is the only way the Bahamian public can say its administrators are its employees.
The third change may or may not require Constitutional reform, but it has certainly been addressed as though it does. Because all funds given to Government must go to the Public Treasury, governments (PLP and FNM) have gotten into the habit of asking private (often foreign) developers to do government's work - build schools and clinics, repair roads etc - a request that transforms the developer from the community's business partner to its benefactor, a condition that has repeatedly led to social problems in connection with large projects. Government must amend the law, so that a payment or contribution by a developer meant for government use in connection with a particular community can be earmarked as such, and government, through local government mechanisms, can perform government's role.
The third major issue to be addressed is the built environment. A nation's legacy is recorded in its built environment. This is especially true in its urban centers, where the records of historical and technological achievement are recorded in monuments, public spaces and buildings. How we address the planning of our communities and our urban centers affects more than just the ease with which we navigate through our streets, it contributes to the nation's vision for its future and to the identity shared by its members. The government's responsibility must be to protect the built heritage, preserve national keep-sakes and encourage the development of approaches to development that respect the traditions and the natural environment while encouraging a participation in global trends in innovation. In this respect, the most urgent need is the development of the shared vision that would drive the framing of planning initiatives throughout the country.
When I mentioned these issues to a friend, he smiled and advised me that these issues would never get anyone elected! He was probably right. They are not the generators of grand emotional responses we are accustomed to as the reason to vote for someone. But they are, if you will, the infrastructure that is needed for those emotive issues to have meaning. After all, what good are 10,000 new jobs for people whose education dooms them to exclusion from the wealth-creation opportunities of their own country? What good is a traffic solution through a town that does not celebrate its people? What good is a family island development plan that is forced by the Constitution to constantly re-create a plantation dynamic? And how beneficial is it to have ethical people in government if there is no program - from cradle to grave - for the deepening of National Identity?
The circus has left town. There is urgent business to be done for the Bahamian people. This is where our new government must be told to begin.
Yours,etc.,
Pat Rahming