Bahamas Election 2007 reflections

By John Farmer.

We have heard a lot of comment over that past few days on the reason for the defeat of the PLP at the polls on May 2nd.

I believe it was for a singular reason - the PLP is still our father’s PLP.

In May 2002, the new PLP administration started brightly, with PM Christie promising a code of ethics with which to guide his party’s conduct in office. It did not take long for the PLP to resume its’ original persona, with victimisation, nepotism, corruption, bribery, deceit and secretive governance the order of the day. Not to mention their abhorrent attempt to undermine the independence of the judiciary, and their attempts, once again, to usurp the will of the people at the ballot box.

Mr. Christie’s so-called failure of leadership can be laid at the foot of his being unwilling or unable to enforce the own code of ethics. There is no point in itemising again the litany of scandal and corruption that haunted his administration. Had he cracked down on the miscreants in the first instance, the PLP would no doubt still be in power. In hindsight I am sure he realises the political fallout from doing so then would have been far more palatable than the electoral defeat he now contemplates.

The Bahamian people, in their infinite wisdom, have for the third time repudiated their father’s PLP. I wonder when the leaders of the PLP will ‘get’ it? I wonder when they will return to the root philosophy of their party and embrace that, rather than viewing their time in power as a chance for self-aggrandizement and accumulation of riches at the expense of the electorate?

Why is it that every election run while the PLP is in office is marred by reports of electoral fraud? What kind of leadership contracts to purchase forty one THOUSAND ballots for ‘training’? Who do they think they are kidding? Do they really think that we as an electorate are that stupid, and if so how far did that contempt for our collective intelligence weigh in their defeat?

How could ZNS, on the 11 O’Clock news on the night of May 3rd, after Mr. Christie had, for the SECOND time, conceded the election, continued to state that the results were still unofficial and reporting the rumours of a PLP win as a possibility? To say that it is irresponsible journalism is an understatement; one is left wondering if indeed ZNS even knows what the word ‘journalism’ means. It is far past time to shut down that bastion of partisan politics; the government does not need anything further than radio for its purpose and I for one am fed up with subsidising a political mouth organ that I do not even watch.

While we can take pride in the way we conducted a peaceful election and changed the party in power for the third time since independence, it is time for an incoming administration to appoint a commission of inquiry into the irregularities of the past election. Offenders should be prosecuted and gaoled, and rules put in place to purify the process. We need to demonstrate that, as a people, we will NOT tolerate the corruption of our electoral process, and those who attempt to do so will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Unless and until we show that we will not tolerate such shenanigans, there are those persons who will allow the siren song of power to corrupt their basic decency.

Finally, congratulations are due to those hardworking individuals that stood by the ballot boxes overnight and stood their ground during a tense day of recounts. They are the real heroes of the election. We the people owe them a debt of gratitude for an exhausting battle well fought and won.

Let us now hope the incoming administration does justice to their efforts.