I always feel uneasy when I find myself privately cheering on a politician, and when I found myself giving Prime Minister Ingraham a standing ovation this morning, I wondered if I was losing it.
Here's why I lost my composure.
Prime Minister Ingraham is reported in The Tribune of Thursday, February 28, 2008 to have said:
"Fundamental decisions must be made about loss-making public sector enterprises such as Bahamasair, Water and Sewerage Corporation and the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas. At least 20 per cent of the monies borrowed by the Bahamas government under the disguise of capital expenditure will continue to be transferred and pumped into these entities to pay operational expenses, such as salaries, office supplies and gasoline, diesel and whatever other recurrent expenses."
"And then we burden the taxpayers of the Bahamas for 20-30 years to pay that money back. In respect of these items that can't be seen, can't be felt, anything. Just consumed, it disappears. Generations after generations have to pay it back. Fundamental decisions have to be made..."
He reportedly went on to say that the government will be changing the system to budget up-front the exact money that will be allocated for the year, and the entities will have to make do.
Incidentally, almost as an aside, the news item reported that about $162 million have been appropriated over the past 12 years for Bahamasair, Water and Sewerage Corporation and the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas in excess of their normal budgets.
So congratulations Mr. Ingraham for at least broaching this very important subject.
We can only hope that the government has the political will to follow through.
I for one wish them well.
By the way. I've recovered from my emotional outburst now.
