Ceiba Magazine 2017

2017

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CEIBA Magazine

In this

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Cover Photo Credit: Dante Carrer “A Woman’s Tongue”Artwork provided by: Carla Campbell

A Message from the Editor Welcome to the second issue of Ceiba Magazine.

The Ceiba or silk cotton tree is a powerful symbol for me. Just experiencing the tree up close is humbling.

It’s roots stand up out of the ground, taller than most men. Despite the fiercest hurricanes they stand, the largest living thing on dry land here on these flat limestone rocks. They blossom in March, green pods opening to release fluffy fiber light enough to carry a seed on a waft of air.

wars on Nassau’s streets.

Now we fight to live healthily in the face of lifestyles that doom us to obesity and cancer. Now we fight for The silk cotton tree outlasts us all. It represents for r e s p o n s i b l e me a spiritual grounding, an anchor to this place I governance of call home. our resources, our tax dollars, To fight for a place you must first love it and it is easy our economy. to love a place that produces silk cotton trees. This And we fight Bahamas is a place I love, down to the roots. A place for our right to I want to fight for. live as equals despite our differences.

Most of our ancestors came here in chains. For them this was a place of forced exile and bondage. But Ceiba Magazine faithfully tells the Bahamian story. in time it became home, their sacred earth, all they Because stories have value and power. Stories give us knew, and the place they loved. strength, give us hope and make us wiser. So please read on. And I hope you find what you need to keep Now in my generation, almost two centuries removed on fighting. from forced servitude, this place which is our inheritance is imperiled. Now we fight to save our sons from Dr. Ian Strachan

Politics Why the FNM won the 2017 General Election Phil Galanis

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The Day After The Day After Nicolette Bethel

Page 9

Five Things I’ve Learned Since Politics Zhivargo Laing

Page 12

Economy

The Bahamas’ Billion Dollar Debt Pattern Neil Hartnell

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Empty Promises: The Second-Home Rental Industry Alexia Tolas

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Inspiration

I Got out of Dialysis and it Wasn’t on a Gurney Noelle Khalila Nicolls

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Owning the Name ‘Christian’ When Christians Embarrass You Latasha Strachan

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World

Benefits Politics in Jamaica: A Cautionary Tale Obika Gray

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Big Ju Cecil Newry

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Life

WHY THE FNM WON THE 2017 GENERAL ELECTION PHILIP C. GALANIS

First published in The Nassau Guardian May 29-June 26, 2017

The general election of 2017 is history, and the Free National Movement (FNM) has handily vanquished the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP). We believe that the 2017 election will be studied by political pundits, students of politics and change analysts for many years to come.

Notwithstanding the assertions by some in the PLP that too much time should not be devoted to analyzing what went wrong, we strongly believe that anyone who does not learn from their mistakes is bound to repeat them.

Hence, serious, sober and soul-searching scrutiny is absolutely essential. Furthermore, a prospective review of this election, without its historical context, will not afford future generations of Bahamians an essential frame of reference within which these elections took place.

FNM won the general election because it was perceived by the majority of Bahamians as the lesser of two evils. It was not so much because of any great love or admiration for the FNM. Nor was it so much because of any deep and abiding faith in Hubert Minnis’ ability to lead the country. There were many who were not impressed by either choice, and the DNA was not even factored into many persons’ consciousness as a viable alternative.

Across the length and breadth of this country, very many strong, long-standing PLP supporters, and an even more significant number of undecided voters, had completely lost faith in the Christie administration, including some of Christie’s ministers who did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, without any kind of sanction whatsoever from their leader.

Why did the FNM win the general election of 2017? Akin to that reality was the prevalent sentiment that The simple but factual truth of the matter is that the the country could not withstand another five years 4

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of a Christie administration. Door after door, house after house, and voter after voter, PLP candidates were accosted by voters who maintained: “I really like you as a candidate, and I believe that you would be a good representative in Parliament, but if I vote for you, that would be a vote for Mr. Christie, and that is something that I cannot bring myself to do. So, I’m sorry, but this time I cannot support the PLP.” Hence, in very large numbers, so said, so done.

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candidates to address many of the problems that were created and left unresolved by the FNM. That never happened.

In fact, many of the newly elected members were sidestepped and side-lined. In addition, Christie publicly announced that he would only serve a few years of his term as prime minister, and that, before the end of the term, he would hand over the leadership of the PLP to a successor. Proclaiming to be the “bridge to the future”, So disgusted, disappointed and disaffected were some after nearly 20 years of leadership of the PLP, he would voters that a “spoiled ballot” movement emerged willingly begin that future by passing the baton to a new from several prominent University of The Bahamas party leader. professors. For the first time in Bahamian history, the right to vote, which was fought so hard for by the In 2012, Bahamians believed those promises and Peoples’ Party, the PLP, the Suffragettes and others was decided to give Christie his final opportunity to govern questioned by a large number of undecideds, who, up after five years in opposition. to election day, were uncertain about how they would vote because of the meager choices before them.

The Gaming Referendum Shortly after coming to office in 2012, the government In the final analysis, however, voters decided that it was decided to take the bold step of legalizing the domestic their civic duty to vote the PLP out of office and to gaming industry. Although this was a noble objective, its retire not only Christie, but all but two of his Cabinet practical application was fraught with problems. colleagues.

First, Prime Minister Christie indicated that, in the We will examine how a government that five years upcoming referendum to address this, he “had no horse earlier had taken office in a landslide victory in terms of in the race,” and that he would abide by the wishes of the number of Parliamentary seats so quickly fell from the electorate in a referendum that was held in January grace with the electorate.

2013. That was a fatal mistake.

PLP Promises of 2012 In its 2012 general election campaign, the PLP’s platform proffered a plethora of promises to the Bahamian people. The PLP promised that it was poised to govern on day one. It pledged to significantly reduce the level of crime that had plagued the society under the FNM’s preceding term in office, promising to reduce the record number of murders. In contrast, for the next three years after being elected, the murder rate achieved a higher record than in each of the preceding years under the FNM.

The Prime Minister, who was also the Minister of Finance, could have explained that, if the country allowed this illegal activity to continue, The Bahamas could have faced the negative effects of being blacklisted. This would happen because of the inherent risk of allowing the potential for money laundering or terrorist financing that might result from an unregulated, predominantly cash-based industry, which was estimated to annually generate as much as $400 million. Bahamians would have understood that such an unregulated, cash-based industry would not place the country in a positive light among the community of nations.

The PLP promised that it would create 10,000 jobs in record time. The PLP promised that, unlike its The Prime Minister and Minister of Finance could predecessor in office, it would put Bahamians first. The also have reasonably argued that considerable taxes party would also mobilize and utilize its young, new and gaming fees would be raised to defray public 5

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expenditures. This was especially understandable because of the anemic condition of the country’s public finances that the PLP inherited. But to maintain that he “had no horse in the race” was a blatant abdication of responsibility by the Christie administration.

To add insult to injury, once the people voted down the legalization of this industry in the referendum, for the Christie administration to proceed with regularizing this industry was considered to be a slap in the face of the voters. There is no doubt that very early in his administration, Christie spent a lot of his political capital on a proposition that was considered overwhelmingly unacceptable by the electorate.

There was a general sense that the government was prepared to extend certain privileges and concessions to foreigners that it withheld from Bahamians. A combination of these factors led many to believe that “putting Bahamians first” was nothing more than an empty political campaign promise.

BAMSI Early in the last administration, the government sought to proactively address the important issue of food security by establishing the Bahamas Agricultural and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI).

This was an important and progressive initiative by the Ultimately, the results of the first referendum early in government for at least two reasons. Firstly, it decisively his term dealt a devastating blow to the trust that the addressed the need to reduce the country’s dependence electorate placed in the Christie administration. on $1 billion of food imports annually, an unsustainable long-term proposition. The government’s objective was to ultimately reduce our food import bill by 50 percent.

Putting Bahamians First During the 2012 campaign, the PLP promised that it Secondly, BAMSI sought to diversify the Bahamian would put Bahamians first. Very early in its term, the economy and to augment its decades-long dependence PLP government repeatedly looked abroad to foreign on the twin pillars of tourism and financial services by consultants to advise it on policy issues. In many cases, increasing the country’s output of both agriculture and those same highly paid foreign consultants availed marine products. themselves of the expertise of local professionals to inform the former of positions regarding national issues. Notwithstanding the positives of this initiative, BAMSI quickly gathered negative press, initially precipitated by Consultants presented these recommendations to a major fire in January 2015 at the male dormitories on the government as their own ideas. The insatiable the BAMSI campus and then by questions that were infatuation for foreign consultants and the practice of never adequately answered by the government on the relying on their advice demonstrated the government’s project cost and the adequacy of the insurance of the lack of confidence in its own highly educated, well- damaged dormitories. informed, local professionals and was deeply resented

by Bahamians who were, in many cases, adequately Despite repeated promises to provide an accounting of equipped to advise the government on national the true cost of BAMSI, which was initially pegged at $23 issues. This practice continued to erode the trust that million as of October 2014 by former Prime Minister citizens placed in the government’s promise of putting Christie, as well as questions on the loss resulting from Bahamians first. the fire, a final comprehensive accounting of the actual funds that were spent on this investment was never There were other examples of this, where the provided. This deafening silence contributed to the government delayed decisions that adversely affected narrative of the government’s lack of transparency on Bahamian businesses while simultaneously rapidly this and other matters. responding to requests by foreign investors. This enraged many Bahamians who repeatedly witnessed Ministerial Interference in the Judiciary the red carpet being rolled out for foreigners while In March 2015, then Minister V. Alfred Gray admitted Bahamians’ proposals suffocated in red tape. that he had a conversation with a Mayaguana Island 6

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Politics

administrator (a magistrate) about a judicial matter. conceived proposal.

Gray, the former member of Parliament for MICAL, admitted that he told the local magistrate that the latter Gray’s letter was leaked and published in The Nassau could release, on bail, a man convicted of a crime.

Guardian and The Bahamas Embassy in China also produced a draft summary of the proposal for discussion The administrator confirmed that he released a convict purposes. The draft report called for the creation of up to outright, and not on bail, “after an order came forth”. 100 partnerships with “the government of the People’s The administrator detailed the conversations and Republic of China or its substantial representatives”. reported that he freed the convicted person after the second conversation he had with Gray.

In return for $2.1 billion in working capital, including equipment and expertise over a 10-year period, China In response, then Prime Minister Christie said: “As a would lease up to 20,000 acres of Crown Land and all result of this development, Minister Gray has invited the joint venture companies would receive commercial me to relieve him of his ministerial responsibility for fishing licenses. local government pending the outcome of the police investigation. In all circumstances, I consider that this However, Bahamian law prohibits foreigners or foreignis the correct thing to do.” However, Gray remained as owned vessels from engaging in commercial fishing Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources. within our territorial waters. Accordingly, when this proposal was disclosed, a public firestorm erupted.

There were continuing nagging questions: Had Gray Gray vigorously downplayed the deal, describing the obstructed justice? Should the matter have been referred news reports as “utterly false”. He then backpedaled, to the police? Should the Christie have fired Gray as a admitting that he had authorized a discussion, but also Cabinet minister? affirmed that there was nothing before Cabinet for approval. In November, he confirmed that the proposal There was a general feeling that allowing Gray to remain was still on the table and hoped the Chinese would not a Cabinet minister brought our system of governance be deterred by widespread public criticism. into disrepute and that the prime minister should have defended the constitution instead of protecting his The proposal was ‘dead in the water’ from its inception colleague, regardless of his transgressions. and the government’s prevarication further eroded the public trust in a government that was prepared to By allowing Gray to remain, the public inferred that even consider such a plan. The government’s damaged the prime minister concluded that it was acceptable for credibility continued its downward spiral because of members of the executive to contact judicial officers this proposal. concerning matters in which they were involved.

Prime Minister Christie’s weakness in this matter The Rubis Debacle further diminished the public’s trust in him standing up The government’s credibility further deteriorated for right. because of its handling of an oil spill from a Rubis gas station in the Marathon constituency, then represented in Parliament by Jerome Fitzgerald.

The Chinese Fishing Fiasco In the fall of 2016, The Bahamas government floated The government commissioned an independent report a proposal to give Chinese investors commercial fishing from Black and Veatch International to assess the extent rights in The Bahamas. Then Minister of Agriculture of the damage from the oil spill to constituents living in and Marine Resources, V. Alfred Gray, had authorized the area. The government refused to make this report in writing The Bahamas’ ambassador to China to on the spill public for more than a year. This ignited pursue talks with the Chinese regarding this ill- a national firestorm, with many criticizing former (Continued on page 35) 7

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The Day After

Politics

The Day After NICOLETTE BETHEL

First published May 12, 2017 at nicobethelblogworld.wordpress.com

Elections are over. The Bahamian people have voted, and the vote was historic.

It’s not just that it was the cleanest sweep ever in the history of party politics in our nation. It’s not just that for the first time since 2002 that any governing party has been elected by a simple majority of the electorate (i.e. over 50% of the votes cast). And it’s not even that this was the first election in our history in which the sitting Prime Minister was not only voted out of office, but also lost his own seat. These are all remarkable things in themselves, but they’re not the most remarkable one.

What strikes me most in this election was the independence and the power of the voters.

Several people have commented on the new government, observing, with a measure of truth, that the Pindling era is now over, but I would put it differently. I’d say that the era of the One Leader is over. Because the true victors in this election were not the Free National Movement MPs who will be sworn in and take their positions in our legislature and executive over coming weeks. The true victors on May 10, 2017 were the Bahamian people.

make Baha Mar work to our advantage, eradicate crime and violence. It doesn’t even guarantee that corruption will no longer be part of our political landscape. It gives us time to breathe and take stock, but the causes of our troubles don’t recognize parties in power. They come out of us, and they have to be solved by us.

I’ve said it before: our systems are deeply flawed, and we have to strip them down and rebuild them—not once, but again and again, so that they remain relevant and robust and continue to meet our needs.

What makes me hopeful about the future is not that we changed the government. It’s the way in which we changed it. We didn’t follow the politicians’ lead; they followed the people’s. We called for debates, and Now, stick a pin. I’ve made it pretty clear over the candidates debated. We held town halls and they came. past few months that I don’t regard changing of We, the people, demanded that our politicians respected one political party for another as any guarantee that life us; and those who didn’t were voted away. in The Bahamas will get better (sorry, Red Tsunami). It may feel better for a few weeks or months, but simply What’s historic in this election is that we, the Bahamian changing our leadership will not, and cannot, heal our people, have collectively lost our taste for being dictated nation. Electing a new party to government doesn’t to by the political elite. automatically fix the economy, find young people jobs, 9

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We are all Bahamians, and we all have a place in this land together. We need to start building that new country.

The leaders of the political parties were less important than the issues we wanted addressed by our representatives: issues of accountability, of transparency, of governance, of respect for the citizens in whose place they stand. While there was plenty of leader-bashing going on, it didn’t really seem to be the core of the matter. No. What seemed to be even more important was that we were looking for representatives—people who would take our needs, concerns, and worries with them when they entered the House of Assembly to form OK, my fellow Bahamians. It’s not enough simply to the new government. change prime ministers and parties and faces in the House of Assembly. We have to change the structures too. We Watch this, though. can’t stop rolling now. Let’s begin building the country we want to live in tomorrow, and leave this nation better Our governing structures are not set up to deliver what than we met it. we have so clearly shown that we want. It’s not realistic for us to expect that if we live in a constituency whose representative is called to serve in the cabinet, that Nicolette Bethel was born and raised in Nassau, Bahamas. She person should be meeting the needs of the constituency has lived, studied and worked in the UK and Canada, and served as well as working to solve the very real problems of the as Director of Culture for the Bahamas for five years. She is a nation. It’s even unrealistic for us to expect that backplaywright, poet, fiction writer and anthropologist who spends her benchers can meet the needs of their constituents while life juggling, trying to keep those personae aloft. She is Assistant at the same time they are dealing with critical legislation Professor of Sociology at the University of The Bahamas. She is in the House of Assembly. So even as we’re celebrating, also a theatre producer and director, and is Festival Director of we need to be planning how we use this euphoria to fuel Shakespeare in Paradise. the way we move forward.

Because it can’t all be about marching and protests, though there’s power in collective voices and feet. It can’t always be adversarial, us vs. them, you-for-meor-against-me politics, whether that happens inside or outside the House of Assembly. We need to find ways to build up structures that allow for constructive dissent.

You and I don’t have to share the same opinion in order for us to build our society collectively and inclusively— in fact, it’s better for the collective when we disagree and we have to fight our corners using reason and passion.

Dissent sharpens ideals, and makes people think harder about what they really believe, and the result is better for all.

I for one have no more tolerance for the politics of exclusion, whether the people being excluded are of another race or ethnicity or creed or gender or sexual preference or political affiliation or ability.

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Five Things I’ve Learned Since

POLITICS ZHIVARGO LAING

First Published August 16, 2017 in The Nassau Guardian My time on the frontlines of politics was enormously exciting and instructive. Representing people in both Fort Charlotte and Marco City was an honor, even if challenging at times. Serving as a Cabinet minister in the areas of youth, sports, culture, education, economic development and finance was a unique experience that I shall always cherish. It filled me with both pride and humility to have served my country that way.

I learned many things while I was in politics. I learned that nothing is permanent, except permanent secretaries.

I learned that people don’t vote for you; they vote for themselves through you. I learned that winning is only the start, and that governing is entirely more difficult. I learned that there is nothing romantic about governing and representing people; it is complex, difficult and frustrating. I learned that honor is more important than popularity, and if you have to choose between the two, choose honor. I learned that humility is a virtue. I learned that all politics is local, so no matter how lofty the heights to which you ascend, keep your feet firmly anchored on the ground. I learned that the powerful have feet of clay, so don’t be surprised when they show themselves flawed or frail. I learned that people need leadership and not pandering. And finally, I learned that unity is crucial to effective leadership and governing, but it is quite elusive.

These are all profound lessons, and ones that I will never forget. However, the lessons I have learned since politics are equally or even more profound. There are five that I hold especially dear.

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The first lesson I learned since politics is that knowing who you are apart from what you were is critical. There are some politicians who never seem to adjust to the fact that they are no longer holding the office they once held.

For them, not being a prime minister, minister, senator, member of Parliament, ambassador or committee chairman amounts to not being anything.

They crave the recognition of their former office, so much so that not being referred to as “the former minister” or the like is a real problem. Not having people acknowledge their presence in private or public is offensive for such a soul. Frankly, there should be certain regard for people who served in public life, especially if they served well. But if it does not come, craving it is only coddling suffering and shame. More importantly, it is important to dwell in your present self and live the truth of it. Besides, it is insanity to obsess with what one was; it is simply refreshing to be what you are at present.

The second lesson I learned is that 80 percent of the relationships you had in office were only because you were in office. People pursue their interests and align themselves with those who advance them. Politicians do this and those who are around them do this. There is no malice in this; it is human nature.

However, there are politicians who believe that the relationships they have in office with people represent genuine relationships predicated on wanting nothing.

That is simply naïve. Few relationships in politics are based on wanting nothing. When you are out of office, it will become clear that only about 20 percent of such relationships are authentic. This recognition helps the

politician to appreciate that the scale of his or her network is narrow and that nurturing relationships should be done like mining gold – with care and precision. Authentic relationships in office are precious. Out of office they can be invaluable.

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The fifth lesson I learned is that the people who write your obituary are fraudsters. No one knows the future; and more importantly, no one knows your future. What is more important to your future than any pundit’s prophecy are the choices you make today and the aims you have for the future. What is clear is to preside over your present moment with awareness. Don’t live in your past or in your future, but in your present moment. Make the most of this moment for yourself, your family and your community. Forget the politics of it. If you are out, be out. If you get back in, get in but only then.

The third lesson I learned is that you never shed your partisan shade when out of office unless you carefully assert your existence separate and apart from your label over time. In a small country, political labels can be a challenge to life after politics. Whether in business or simply living in society, to have been a politician Today, be fully on one side or the about what you other can prove are about, seeking an obstacle to only to produce moving forward the results you p r o d u c t i v e l y. desire. There is However, if one no more powerful is careful not moment for to define life someone who outside of politics was in an office on the basis of than the present life in politics, moment, because it is possible to it is the only real reestablish one’s moment any of us non-political ever have. Politics self over time. It is a unique area does require the of human life. It courage to be is the only place (Photo Courtesy of Bahamas Information Services) honest, fair and where legitimate helpful. It also coercive power requires a willingness not to let blind fidelity to the party dances with the will of people to choose who has that that you support guide your every utterance, conduct or power. Anyone who has been in it knows its virtues and aims. its vices; they know its highs and its lows. When you are in it, it is quite a ride, filled with ups and downs. When The fourth lesson I learned is that value transcends youare out, you are better off staying completely out, political labels. People have their political preferences for even if to observe, comment or advise from a distance. sure, but they have a greater preference for that which helps them achieve the personal aims and objectives. As The lessons I learned in politics have been valuable, but a former politician, if your expertise, skills or ideas are the lessons I learned since are priceless. deemed valuable to people, businesses or organizations, they will seek them out, no matter their politics. It is Zhivargo Laing is a Bahamian economic consultant, author, talk therefore necessary for past, present and future politicians show host and trainer.. to establish a value in the world beyond the politics of their present moment. They must ensure that while they may earn a living while in politics, they can earn a living beyond politics.

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The Bahamas’ Billion Dollar Debt Pattern NEIL HARTNELL

First published in The Tribune on June 6, 2017 under the title “Bahamas Facing Multi-Billion Debt Rise Every Five Years”

Successive governments will continue adding $1 billionplus to the national debt every five years without structural reforms and greater GDP growth, an ex-finance minister saying: “I saw this coming 13 years ago.”

James Smith, also a former Central Bank governor, said he was struck by the similarities in “tone” between the 2017-2018 Budget presentation and the first one produced by the former Christie administration in 20122013.

Both blamed the former government for leaving the Bahamas in a ‘fiscal crisis’, and with unpaid bills totaling nine-figure sums, which Mr Smith argued was evidence of structural deficiencies and the absence of economic growth - not “mismanagement”.

“The speech was almost of the tone you would have heard in 2012,” Mr Smith said of the 2017-2018 Budget presentation. “The incoming government in 2012, I think, said something to the effect of: ‘Look at what they left us with; all these unpaid bills.”

The Christie administration, upon taking office, alleged that its FNM predecessor had left it with $97 million in spending commitments that had to be met, including some $63.14 million in unpaid cheques and wire transfers.

And in unveiling the 2012-2013 Budget, Perry Christie said: “Our room for maneuver is, at least in the shortterm, severely constrained by the dire fiscal situation that

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has been handed to us by the previous administration.”

“The Government’s deficit and debt levels at this time are much worse than we had anticipated. We have been left with sizable, ongoing capital expenditure commitments and a legacy of contracts entered into in the final days of the former administration.”

And: “We also face the carry-over into 2012-2013 of certain recurrent expenditure commitments of the previous administration in respect of the promotions exercise, back pay, salary increases and the payment of insurance benefits.

Fast forward five years, and the similarity in rhetoric and content with the 2017-2018 Budget is striking. K P Turnquest, Minister of Finance, told the House of Assembly that the fiscal situation was “far bleaker than we could ever have imagined. Our predecessors have literally left us with a cupboard that is bare.”

He blamed the previous administration for burdening the new government with $300 million-plus in accounts payables as result of a “backlog” in spending and payments commitments, which required the Minnis administration to borrow some $400 million to cover the ‘hole’.

The similarities between the two Budget presentations were not confined to the rhetoric either, as both blamed the previous administration for saddling them with deficits of around $500 million when they left office.

Mr Smith contends that this was evidence of a multibillion dollar debt pattern that the Bahamas was doomed to repeat every five years without fundamental budgetary and economic reform, disclosing that fears of 15

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Economy

huge annual deficits had prompted him to initiate studies on VAT 13 years ago.

focus on increasing tourist spending given that the sector accounted for two-thirds of the Bahamian economy.

“It tells me, if you look at the historical data, that the Government borrows about 20 per cent of its revenue for capital or otherwise,” he explained, “and the deficit on the recurrent is around $100 million to $200 million.”

“You make more things available for them to spend money on,” he argued. “Entertainment, goods and services. You can’t change how many come in overnight, but you can increase spending by finding more for them to do.

“So you’re dealing with around $300-$400 million a year [in deficits]. You’re going to borrow more than $1 billion every single [political cycle]. It’s got nothing to do with mismanagement; it’s the nature of the economy, and the important issue is unless we have economic growth, the ratio of debt-to-GDP - where GDP remains constant and the debt is going up more - starts climbing into a dangerous area.”

“It should be clear to everyone that our problem is an anemic economy,” Mr Smith added. “We have stagnant GDP levels, and a lot of stuff is baked into the Budget, like salaries, rents, goods and emoluments.”

“That’s not going to change much. The discretionary room for maneuver is too small to make a difference in the Budget. Unless we have substantial economic growth, everyone will be saying the same thing every five years.”

Mr Smith said the Minnis administration’s first Budget failed to properly lay out a strategy for reviving economic growth, instead concentrating on the $500 million deficit it had inherited from 2016-2017 and the need to borrow more than $722 million to cover two years’ worth of fiscal ‘red ink’.

“We’ve got to look at the macro economy and the growth rate,” he insisted. “Look at the last government and this government; you don’t see much about how I’m going to stimulate growth, and whether I’m going to get local and foreign investment, or a combination of both.”

The Bahamas enjoyed four consecutive years of zero or negative economic growth between 2013-2016, and the direct link between GDP expansion and revenues likely helps to explain why the Government’s income failed to meet expectations.

Mr Smith, acknowledging that $756 million in net VAT revenues over the past two years had helped to slow the national debt’s growth rate, called on the Government to 16

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“Redirect efforts to stimulate your main industry in the short-term. I think we’ve just got to find ways to get a little bit more out of the tourism sector. We’ve seen growth in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and others.

The question is why are people flying over us to other destinations when we are just 40 minutes from Florida.”

Mr Smith said economic diversification was a long-term goal, and disclosed that concerns over the Bahamas’ fiscal outlook prompted him to initiate VAT assessments when at the Ministry of Finance in 2004 “I saw this coming. You may recall I tried to introduce VAT in 2004. We knew that unless we expanded our revenue base from 17 per cent to 20 per cent we would be in trouble.”

Mr Smith said he was given Cabinet approval to initiate VAT studies by the IMF and Crown Agents, but never received permission to implement it.

“Once we took a look at it, we needed to have the revenues increase to 20 per cent or down the road we would really have an increase in the debt and deficit. We knew that 13 years ago,” he revealed.

VAT was eventually introduced some 11 years and two administrations later, and Mr Smith agreed that the Bahamas’ fiscal rebalancing depended on combining tax reform with similar adjustments on the spending side and faster economic growth.

He added, though, that government spending was a “larger ship to turn around”, as civil service layoffs would only switch costs from salaries to the social security budget. The threat posed by natural disasters, and the role government expenditure played in the wider Bahamian economy, also meant any reductions needed to be approached cautiously.

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Averia Wright, Voodoo Priestess 2 Courtesy of the Dawn Davies Collection

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Empty Promises The Second-Home Rental Industry ALEXIA TOLAS Tucked way in the business sections of the national dailies, a battle over the second-home rental industry has waged between the Bahamian government and foreign investors. Previously, second-home rentals were little threat to the tourism industry, but with the explosion of vacation-rental sites like Airbnb and Homeaway, local hotels are facing a threat so serious that the government has had to take action. On August 10, 2017, Minister of Tourism Dionisio D’Aguilar announced a taxation plan with Airbnb for Bahamian rentals, but, as with the majority of the government’s decisions, this deal does not consider the effects the exploitive industry has on Family Island economies.

While former Minister of Tourism Obediah Wilchcombe cited the rise in over-night arrivals and drop in hotel occupancies as a threat, others, like Matt Aubry of the Organization for Responsible Governance (ORG), have called the second-home rental industry a “potential tool for developing, and spreading the tourism wealth, to Family Island economies.” D’Aguilar seems to agree with the ORG’s assessment, asserting that the secondhome vacation rental industry “is a way for Bahamians who are unable to tap into the tourism sector in the

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formal sense to begin to tap into the sector in the informal sense.” In theory, this “informal” industry sounds like an answer to the Bahamas’s prolonged economic slump, but these are but empty promises. This optimism is actually a thinly-veiled attempt to calm the fears of competition, for ORG and D’Aguilar fail to acknowledge that foreign investors have a significant upper-hand in this industry.

Foreign investors have greater access to funds to invest in properties, and they monopolize business by bypassing regulations through online-rental sites and providing cheaper amenities and supplies. The current system is poorly regulated, and tourism profits are leaving the country to rest in the pockets of foreign investors. If Bahamian political and investment bureaus really want the second-home industry to work for locals, some considerations must be taken.

In her study on the effects of direct foreign investment

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on developing countries, scholar Selma KurtishiKastrati states that there is a serious concern that multinational enterprises can gain greater economic power over local competition. Kurtishi-Kastrati claims that “foreign MNEs may be able to draw on funds generated elsewhere to subsidize its costs in the host market, which could drive local companies out of business and allow the firm to monopolize the market.”

Second-home owners are far from multinational enterprises, but they are encouraged to act as foreign investors by Bahamian investment and government firms, so we will call a spade a spade. Foreign investors have similar advantages to multinational enterprises in that they can draw funding from inside and outside the Bahamas – thus gaining economic power over local businesses, especially in the struggling Family Islands.

home owners who even build their own vacation houses rather than employ local contractors. Local vendors do not have these luxuries and must pay import duties, customs, VAT doubled over, and shipping costs on budgets that dwarf in comparison to their foreign counterparts. These costs make it nearly impossible for local Family Islanders to even build rental homes, let alone compete with nesters renting out their vacation houses.

Supporters of the second-home rental industry laud the potential in the market for locals, but investigating the financial state of those who are already in the industry does little to support those claims. Long Island, for instance, has seen a drastic change in its economy since the boom of online vacation-home renting. “GC,” coowner of a short-term apartment rentals, indicates Moreover, foreign investors have access to cheaper that the foreign vacation-home rentals on Long Island supplies and modes of transportation, often owning have forced his family to reevaluate their rental model. yachts and large vessels, even private planes, which G.C. says that the loss of their tourist base is “one of can be used to import goods. A local lodge manager the reasons why I’ve been trying to have long-term we will call “JD” claims that there are several second- rentals for my places”. Local lodge manager JD recalls

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Economy a recent booking where a couple rented a room for a single day. “They only needed the room because their rental wasn’t ready. Come to find out, they rented one of the summer homes online”. The couple stayed on the island for seven days, six of which were spent at the second-home; that was a loss of $510 for the lodge, JD states; “$510 that never touched Long Island”.

reach,” MBK laments; “it’s ridiculous! Some of them actually bring meats and sandwich stuff”. A popular foreign-owned rental, On A Whymm Villas, provides this service on its website, stating, “Approximately one month before you arrive, we send you our Provisions list so you can select grocery items, beer, wine and spirits to have stocked in the villa for arrival. There is no charge for this service, just reimburse us the cost of These instances represent a growing trend in the Family the goodies.” JD says he’s witnessed the manager of Islands where tourists are choosing online rentals the “villas” trucking freight weekly from the local pier, instead of locally-owned establishments. The statistics asserting, “Every week, she’s there.” With these services, for Airbnb alone, according to Tribune reporter, how can local businesses compete?

Natario McKenzie, reveal that there are over 1,900 active listings with 1,200 hosts. The majority of hosts The inescapable root of this issue that the Bahamian on Airbnb and Homeaway are foreign investors the government fails to acknowledge is that second-home United States and Canada. “MBK,” a local cashier, rentals draw funds out of the country, and that its claims that tourists, “rent from their “friends” that fixation on taxes only skims the surface of a budding have homes here. They do all the financial…stuff over economic disaster. If we are to believe that – as the there before they come…because they don’t want any ORG-commissioned Oxford Economics reports – problems”. Tourists are opting to use online-rental sites “many foreigners who might wish to invest in a second because they are accessible and convenient, but this is home in The Bahamas have no desire to live full time only achieved because of its fundamental illegality. in the country” (Smith), then we can assume that any money being made by these foreign-owned rentals are Online-rental sites make it very easy to advertise, rent, going straight to their accounts abroad rather than The and collect money without a license, and while it isn’t Bahamas. That means that the $9.8 million profit in illegal to rent a home without a business license, this taxes that the Oxford Economics firm estimates is a unregulated practice is draining business from small paltry sum compared to the money leaving the islands Family Island hotels and inns. This is due to the lack and the hands of domestically owned-hotels and inns. of transparency these sites provide. Without regulation and paper trail for local officials to investigate, foreign This estimate only accounts for Airbnb. How many owners can avoid annual license fees, room taxes, foreign-owned homes are being rented through and VAT. They can even avoid the traditional costs Homeaway, or through their own websites, without associated with hotel maintenance, as Daniel Guttentag regulation? How much money is actually leaving the indicates in his study of the online-rental system. Online hands of local residents? How can the second-home hosts according to Guttentag, “are able to price their rental industry work for Bahamians if foreign investors spaces very competitively because the hosts’ primary have the upper hand? fixed costs (e.g. rent and electricity) are already covered, [and] the hosts generally have minimal or no labour Attempts to tout this industry as a Bahamian costs.” So while local proprietors are paying these fees, opportunity merely shield the public from the truth: foreign owners are flying under the radar and pricing foreign exploitiation. their rooms at rates that locals residents could never compete with.

Alexia Tolas is a Bahamian writer and English teacher. Her creative work has been featured in Black Girl Magic Mag and To add insult to injury, locals have begun reporting Burnt Pine Magazine. that second-home owners are importing goods into the islands for their customers before they arrive. “If you see the stuff they that they ship here for when they 21

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“I Got out of Dialysis and it Wasn’t on a

Gurney”

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NOELLE KHALILA NICOLLS

transplant for most public patients is considered a fool’s errand and not worthy of even considering. The First published at noellenicolls.com Government certainly hasn’t found September 19, 2017 it worthy of investment; and I’m not just talking about a transplant For a long time, I was afraid to want or insurance program, not even an a new kidney. I couldn’t see my way educational program. clear to having a transplant, so it seemed mad, masochistic even, to The system doesn’t empower most dare dream of having one. With people and it didn’t support me. no local transplant program, the And yet, it is still a privilege for system in The Bahamas is just not a Bahamian to access a kidney set up for most dialysis patients to transplant. Plain and simple, I was have one, much less a public patient lucky to have been blessed by two with no health insurance. Kidney angels (and I have lots to share transplants cost about $200,000 in about them). the US. And that doesn’t account for the on-going post-transplant treatment and care.

Similar to poor children in the public school system who are often written off as candidates for college before they even had an opportunity to aspire, the possibility of a kidney

“The first time I got the chills on the machine it felt like I could die.”

Life

blanket draped over the body, like a flag covering the coffin of a fallen soldier: straight, stiff and stately. My eyes tracked the gurney as it passed by, and in my mind I said, oh my God, is that a dead body? In my subconscious I said, oh my God, could that be me?

When you’re on dialysis, sometimes it feels like you woke up inside the Matrix: Everyone around you looks comfortable, happy, acclimatized, perhaps even resigned, while inside you are freaking the fuck out. All you can think is: I don’t want to die on this machine. Sometimes I wished I could just rip the needles out and just get off that machine. To live with dialysis is a real battle of the mind because many people will, and many people do die on the machine, having had no opportunity to get out.

Dialysis doesn’t cure you and it doesn’t heal you. It simply buys you time. Some days it feels like people are dropping down dead all around you. Some days it feels like the doctors and nurses don’t care, or for some patients, it even feels like they are trying to kill you.

It’s a hurtful thing to hear for a team of professionals who are truly To fully appreciate my blessings I only there to help, but amidst the remember the struggle. vulnerability of being on dialysis – chained to a bed in an ice chilled A kidney transplant is one of two room, depending on machines you primary ways to get off dialysis hope work, and people you hope due to end-stage kidney disease. love their jobs to keep you alive – The other way is on a gurney. I this is one of those uncomfortable distinctly remember the first time feelings that sometimes come up. they wheeled someone past me. I There is no joy in feeling that way. was sitting anxiously in the foyer of the Dialysis Unit waiting my A medical crisis for a doctor or nurse turn. I recognized the gurney is very different from a medical crisis because of the way the mortuary 23

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for a patient. As a patient, almost every complication, particularly when you experience it for the first time, feels like it is going to kill you or like it could kill you: Whether it’s the warning beep of the dialysis machine or a sudden cold sweat; whether it’s a spike in one of your lab results or a night of diarrhea or vomiting.

of me psychologically and spiritually. At the same time, it was a life-preserving treatment that kept me alive.

It was not all trauma and crisis. Sometimes it is very mundane, routine and I dare say, pleasant. My sleeps on the machine were legendary. So many people cared for me, inspired me, and went out of their way to look out for me: nurses, doctors, patients. Dialysis nurses, in particular, are a special brand of nurses. And there is a shortage of them, which puts extra pressure on those who do serve. I took my chances on dialysis when I was at my lowest and in turn, dialysis gave me a chance to live. It is something I didn’t fully appreciate until my last dialysis treatment before the transplant.

The first time I got the chills on the machine it felt like I could die. I didn’t get the chills because the room was cold; I had an infection. When you get the chills, your body violently shivers and your blood eats at you.

Unless they cut your treatment short – which comes with its own mind-terrors – you have to endure it.

Saline sometimes helps. Sometimes it doesn’t. Blankets sometimes help. Sometimes they don’t.

So, when I was on dialysis I didn’t train my mind on a transplant. I made up my mind from early on that I One time I had to be disconnected from the machine would get a transplant. I didn’t know how and I didn’t as nothing was helping. The nurses sent me home have a plan, but I just knew. When I was on dialysis, my early, unceremoniously. I wasn’t dying. I was no longer mind was on acceptance; making peace with dialysis; experiencing a medical emergency. But in the hospital living and thriving with dialysis, because I couldn’t waiting room, where I sat waiting for my mother, trying receive a transplant if I didn’t survive long enough to to understand what it all meant, I felt helpless, dejected manifest one. And I couldn’t manifest one if I had lost and traumatized. There were other people in the waiting my will to live or my passion for life. room but I was alone. Shivering now, not because of the chills, but because I was scared and in crisis.

I got out of dialysis and it wasn’t on a gurney and for that I humble myself and give thanks.

Death can feel very real when you live a life on dialysis: Transplants, no so much. They don’t feel real. In this As I write about my journey I do so towards advocating reality, it is a daily battle of love and loathing. Part of for a system that allows others the option of a my journey was finding ways for all of the dualities to kidney transplant not by serendipitous circumstance. co-exist, not in opposition to each other, but in ebb and Transplantation is a very involved and complex process, flow. but for those who so desire and are medically fit, there should be a process that empowers them to pursue this It was the quintessential dilemma. Dialysis denied me dream in a systematic way. a certain quality of life; it exposed me to new medical complications and risks, and it often drained the life out

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NO ON ALL FOUR CUT OFF YA NOSE TO SPITE YA FACE

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Owning the Name ‘Christian’

Politics

When Christians Embarrass You Written by Latasha Strachan (First published at latashastrachan.com)

alien, meant that these people stood out for negative reasons inMy maiden name is Joseph. Today I happily answer stead of positive ones. to ‘Mrs. Strachan’, but I was born Joseph. It’s who I only wanted to be associated with people I am. who were getting positive reviews.

Here in The Bahamas, Joseph is a foreign name, primarily a Haitian name, a name synonymous with As Christians we too sometimes distance ourselves poverty, mis-matched clothing and unfamiliar lan- from the name, not the name of Jesus, but the name ‘Christian’ because ‘Christians’ are getting some guage. pretty darned negative reviews! Christians are hypoMy earliest memories of understanding my name crites, adulterers, addicts, conservative, judgmental, and the stigma that went with it, go back to ele- anti-intellectual (do I need to go on?) and yes, much mentary school. The school shared an historic wall like the Haitians that lived on the other side of the with a shanty town of mostly poor illegal Haitian wall at my childhood school, the descriptions make migrants, a group that suffers much discrimination you cringe and look away, and they make you do so in my country. Collins Wall was so high that you because they are sometimes true. couldn’t actually climb it or see over the top, but we all knew that on the other side of that wall was a What do we do when Christians stand out for negative reasons? Lately I hear people calling themselves different world, a world we didn’t understand. by all kinds of names, while stopping short of acBecause of my name, kids loved to tease me. “Go tually saying they are a Christian, and I’ve known back over the wall,” they’d say. “Carry ya Haitian a few Christians who renounced the name Christian while still holding on to Christ. I’m not judging se’f,” they’d laugh. those people, I seriously contemplated becoming I used to explain that I was not Haitian, that my one of them. mother nor my father were Haitian, and none of my grandparents were Haitian, I did not want to be It is in the Book of Acts, where the first biblical use associated with people who were so different from of the word ‘Christian’ is found. Scholars debate whether the word was used as an insult, coined by me, people that drew negative attention and jeers. those who wanted to mock followers of Christ. I I did not want to be Haitian because it would asso- didn’t want to be mocked. Not for being a Joseph, ciate me with things that were not true about me. and certainly not for being a Christian.

I was too young to know that the things that were true about a few people were not truths about an en- Now, I’m not referring to being mocked for being a tire nation of people. I was too young to know that ‘goody-goody’ church girl. There’s a special kind of differences often stem from places and circumstanc- ungodly pride that we Christians sometimes take in es long ago, places and circumstances that are far being ridiculed for our outward shows of holiness beyond our control. Poverty, coupled with being an and righteousness. I’m also not talking about the 27

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mocking that precedes martyrdom; men and women who are humiliated, tortured and murdered for acknowledging Jesus. I’m talking about when you or I have to be counted among people we disagree with, don’t approve of, and in some cases, just can’t stand.

I’m talking about when your cheeks grow hot and you hang your head low because you are flat out ashamed of the behaviors, words, and thinking of your fellow Christians. It feels easier, even preferable, to change your name. It feels easier to be a God-chaser, Kingdom-dweller, Jesus-lover, Spirit-seeker, anything but a Christian.

and more. I am connected to the beauty and yes, the atrocities done by us, and so is God.

God never retreats from the people who are called by His name. All through scripture He took ownership of the people who He gave His name to. He was their Father, their Creator, and their friend. He gave them the nations and brought them into wealthy places. He rebuked and chastened them. He warned them and punished them, but He never withdrew His ownership. Regardless of if they were worshiping Baal and cavorting around a golden calf, as they did in the days of Moses, or if they praised his name in the streets, Yet this is my name. It is who I am. I am a Christian, as they did with King David, He never changed their and I am kin to all Christians all across the world, in name, so who am I to change mine? all stages of relationship with God and man. I am kin with Christians who are babes, still holding on to I am a Christian. This is my name. carnal things like prejudice, misogyny, greed, and hypocrisy, just as I am kin to Christians who are mature Latasha Strachan is an educator, business manager and author. examples of love, compassion and kindness. I am kin You can find more of her work at www.journey242.com and to the Christian who has fallen as well as the Chris- www.latashastrachan.com. tian who is getting back up. I am kin to the Christian that stands outside the abortion clinic picketing and to the one who supports gay marriages. And yes, I am sometimes embarrassed and confused by what we do, but I can’t stop being one of us.

This is my name.

My maiden name is Joseph. My family roots trace back to the island of St. Lucia, and that’s all I know.

If I could dig deeper, maybe beyond St. Lucia my roots do in fact go back to Haiti. I’ll never know, but in the end, I am still one of them. I own the name and all the things that go with it. Some Josephs are poor, some are well-off, some are uneducated, some have vast knowledge, some are funny and fun-loving, and others are brutes and rebels, some are Haitian, some are St. Lucian, some are Bahamian. Tease me if you will, but this is still my name.

There is power in the name you carry, the name you answer to. When I claim the name Christian, I am counted with the early church at Antioch in the Book of Acts. I am counted with the Apostles, the missionaries, the martyrs, the slave holders, the witch hunters 28

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“CASINOS FOR TOURISTS, WEBSHOPS FOR US”

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Benefits Politics in Jamaica: A Cautionary Tale OBIKA GRAY These remarks were first given at the Future of Democracy Conference held at the University of The Bahamas, Nassau May 13, 2016.

What I want to say today concerns a paradox in the practice of modern politics. Namely, how it is that contemporary democratic political institutions, like free elections and party competition can become the means for undermining democracy itself.

Everywhere, across the world in both western and non-western constitutional democracies, in both rich and poor countries, we see this paradox: democraticallyelected governments engaging in corrupt practices and a pattern of abuse of power and often getting away with it. This abuse includes but is not limited to cronyism, where favored elites and others are given contracts and insider benefits.

It may also involve patron-clientelism where votes of political loyalists from poor and rich communities are exchanged for material rewards or other benefits. Or the pattern of misrule may stretch to outright bribery of state officials, in exchange for political favors. In its extreme form this pattern of corruption may even extend to politicians’ and state officials’ ties to organized crime syndicates and personalities seeking access to the state.

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Moreover, where unequal class structures persist in these societies, democratic elections may become the basis for the exercise of exclusionary class rule. Free elections may allow the class coalition that happens to be in power to bar access by “outsiders” not only to valued public goods like education, welfare, health, housing and the like. But the coalition may also deny opportunities for participation, access to political power, or constrain upward mobility to opportunity or to cultural respect and recognition.

This exclusionary politics typically brings with it repression of political opponents, extraction of wealth by powerful elites and political protection of it. Or exclusionary politics in democratic countries may also involve suppression, or cooptation of civil society groups, and even the subjection of the bureaucracy and legislature to corrupt political control by vested interests.

In the worst of cases involving democratically elected incumbents, nominally democratic state institutions may be politicized to such an extent, that the judiciary, legislature, army and police, as well as key public agencies, end up merely doing the bidding of the chief executive.

The political scientist Samuel Huntington called this condition in which political and economic elites exercise unchecked power with little or no accountability to other state institutions or to powerful civil society groups, a form of political decay.

The point I wish to make here today is that for like reasons, Jamaican politics and political institutions may be regarded as being in an advanced condition of political decay. My argument, and it is not a novel one, is that in Jamaica, a major political institution designed to foster democratic rule – parliamentary multi-partyism – has severely undermined democratic governance.

This was no accident. It is arguable that this development, rather than being a side effect of vigorous contestation for political office, is in reality a deliberate strategy of power exercised by the political cartel that is the twoparty system in Jamaica.

Not only that, democratic multi-partyism in Jamaica early on saw fit to invite anomic groups and criminal elements into the state system as political allies; Multipartyism as practiced in Jamaica has put the interests of restive, alienated and often piratic communities of the urban poor at the very heart of electoral politics and at the disposal of key state agencies. And in recent decades,

it has even expanded the on-going criminalization of the state to include members of organized crime syndicates and personalities.

Even more worrisome, is the fact that Jamaica’s nowconsolidated patronage state, by dint of its social mobilization, its cultural predation, and its ideological populism, managed to give moral cover to a culture of dependency and a condition of slavish supplicancy among political loyalists.

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Harmful Effects of Political Clientelism The patronage-driven state has, over fifty-three years of political independence legitimized now-habituated anti-social dispositions. Jamaica’s patronage-driven state system, despite an early ill-conceived and failed attempt to impose a culture of moral restraint and self-discipline on the wider population, abandoned this Eurocentric socializing mission in favor of politicallydriven concessions to urban lower class anomic norms and anti-system values. The rationale was the search for political advantage with poor communities.

The consequence was accommodation to an emergent piratical behavioral culture that celebrated anti-social uncivil acts as merely part of the moral everydayness of disadvantaged life in Jamaica. That is, the disturbing cultural accretions generated by violent winner-takeall partyism created a society in which, save for the most gruesome forms of violence and mayhem, the commission of crime, resort to moral vice, to thievery, blatant outlawry and corrupt acts are all deemed in local parlance to be “part of the runnings” - simply phenomena of normal, everyday life, hardly requiring censure or public embarrassment.

Instances of the on-going political decay and moral collapse on the island are legendary, and far too numerous to mention here. I shall merely recount only four such cases to illustrate the decay.

Jamaican Democracy: Illustrations of Political Decay First, in the turbulent decade of the 1970s, Winston “Burrey Boy” Blake, a known gunman and enforcer for the People’s National Party (PNP) in a strategic urban constituency was killed by an assailant during the ongoing violent clashes between rival political gangs in Western Kingston.

Instead of condemnation or derision for his role in enacting mayhem, death and violence against political enemies in poor urban communities, PNP politicians and over-loyal partisans from Blake’s community greeted his death as an awful tragedy and publicly mourned the gunman. An estimated throng of thousands attended Blake’s funeral, including then Prime Minister, Michael Manley and several members of his cabinet.

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Second, in 1998 another known PNP enforcer, and organized crime figure, Donald “Zeeks” Phipps was arrested, detained and charged with the attempted murder of an errant member of the urban community who had fallen afoul of the enforcer’s law. Rather than be delighted at his arrest, community members instead rioted in the central city in support of the enforcer.

Expressing their fury against the security forces, they burned police cars and massed angrily outside the police station where the enforcer was held, demanding the “political don” be released. In a stunning turn of events, police officers allowed Phipps to address his supporters from the building, upon which he reassured the crowd that he was unharmed, would soon be released, and encouraged them to disperse, which they did. Phipps was eventually released, tried and was acquitted.

Third, in 2009 the United States government requested the extradition of Christopher “Dudus” Coke – a JLP political enforcer in the Tivoli Gardens enclave of West Kingston, and a known drug trafficker and organized crime figure.

The American government expected this request would be met just like the several others that had been satisfied by the government of Jamaica, headed by then Prime Minister Bruce Golding of the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP).

But in yet a further stunning development in the erosion and decline of democracy and governance in Jamaica, Golding refused to extradite Coke. Instead, the JLP government hired a lobbying firm to make the government’s case for Coke in Washington and dragged its feet for some nine months. Only mounting American pressure, domestic outrage and opposition from key civil society organizations, many of which were political allies of the government, forced Golding to relent by extraditing Coke to the United States.

But this retreat was not without huge political costs.

Regarding Coke’s extradition as an unpardonable act of betrayal by the Prime Minister who was the Member of Parliament for the constituency protected by Coke, his 32

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militia in Tivoli Gardens and forces recruited outside of Kingston, took up arms against the Jamaican state. In a bloody confrontation between the forces of organized crime and the security forces, the armed rebellion and threat to the state was crushed in May 2010, but not before an estimated seventy-three Tivoli residents were killed in the operation. In 2011 Golding resigned as Prime Minister.

Finally, there’s the experience of a small businessman.

Hoping to help himself and his country, the businessman returned home to Jamaica to establish a recycling business in Kingston. This was after many years in America as a

professional in the tourist industry. He set up a factory in the western part of the city, hired a number of lowskilled unemployed laborers, struggled to find funding and equipment, and launched a modestly successful operation recycling the plastic from used bottles and exporting it to the United States. As a result of this businessman’s initiative, hitherto unemployed residents now had jobs; the businessman paid his share of taxes, and an innovative enterprise now offered residents hope against a bleak landscape in this poor urban community.

Yet, no sooner than his recycling business began to thrive, local organized crime figures appeared at this businessman’s factory gates. Their demand was straightforward. If he wanted to continue his recycling operation, he had to pay a monthly sum to remain in business. He refused to pay the protection money.

Within days his machinery was stolen after a break-in and his life threatened.

In desperation, he went to the police and met with political representatives for the area. What was their unanimous advice and recommendation for addressing this brazen extortion racket? They told him to either hire an expensive security service, or alternatively to recruit his own armed enforcers, or yet again to cooperate with the extortionists. There was little the police or the political establishment could do, he was told. Consequently, Jamaica’s more-than-fiftyyears-long democratic system that was responsible for providing basic public safety, rule of law and protection from rampant criminality had failed this businessman and many others like him.

After more threats on his life – he had to be at the factory every day – and more break-ins and theft of machinery, the frightened disillusioned and embittered small businessman packed up his things and moved his family back to the United States.

These dispiriting stories are a commonplace in Jamaica.

They confirm not just the impunity criminals enjoy in the country today, but these tales reveal, as well, the insidious link between politics and crime in the country. That connection in which organized crime syndicates pursue relations with politicians, deepen their penetration of the Jamaican state and are in turn protected by it, represents the existential threat facing the country today.

How did such a thing come to pass? What’s the connection between the Jamaica’s practice of democratic politics and the continuing erosion of democratic values? And what explains this deepened decay of the country’s democratic institutions? What role does twoparty power, and its construction of a fulsome patronage state, have to do with the foregoing developments? And what measures are necessary to bring this kind of abuse to an end?

The Anti-colonial Roots of Patronage Politics To understand how such a thing could happen, it’s best to look at the combination of factors that helped create a monopolistic, invasive and predatory partyism.

Simply put, the competition for political power before and after independence gave rise to a worrisome, but

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universal political phenomenon – the ubiquitous politics of patronage. It would outlast all attempts to curb it as a powerful force in the country’s political life.

In economically dependent countries like Jamaica, patronage politics had its roots in the struggle to end colonial rule. As is well known, organized anti-colonial politics drew hitherto excluded and unorganized native groups into the political process. This was a good thing, but fraught with potential for abuse.

The main features of anti-colonial mass politics were high levels of political mobilization, the celebration of the people as culturally distinct from the colonizers, and the declaration that the colonized possessed the right to their political independence. These same themes, with modifications to suit the needs of party competition, would define the political culture of the parties and this assertion and defense of popular claims in order win political support, would persist long after colonial rule ended.

But during the struggle for independence all eyes were on the state as the great prize being sought. Thus, the Jamaican nationalist movement with the native middle class at its head, summoned the people to join parties and labor organizations created by middle class groups.

The narrative of political nationalism, therefore, was that getting control of the state would bring Jamaicans coveted benefits like political participation, cultural recognition and most importantly welfare, jobs and other material benefits. Hence, important political gains and the delivery of scare public goods would come with support for the nationalist movement.

Consequently, the form the independence struggle took in Jamaica made patronage politics inevitable, both before and after independence was achieved.

The advent and growth of this institution in a highly dependent country like Jamaica, would trump wider concerns for the establishment of strong autonomous countervailing political institutions – particularly those that could constrain political elites and subject their exercise of power to effective scrutiny and control.

It’s arguable that Jamaica’s post-independence political

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(Continued from page 7)

Minister Fitzgerald for his continued silence during that public officials against tabling private documents period of the controversy. in Parliament, and that the tabling of private correspondence in the House of Assembly is a Fitzgerald confirmed that the delay in making the “dangerous trend and opens the society up to chaos”.

Black and Veatch report public was due to the Attorney General not authorizing its release. The report sat on She also said: “It is my considered view that members the Attorney General’s desk for more than one year of Parliament ought to be cognizant of the fact that before being released. Regarding the delayed release members of the public expect that their members of of the report, Fitzgerald commented, “I am not going Parliament will be held to the same standard as ordinary to question the attorney general’s reasons and rationale citizens in relation to the commission of a criminal for making that decision. I have confidence that the offense.

Attorney General knew what she was doing, and I support her decision in that regard.”

“Citizens have a right to expect that their private communications would enjoy the protection afforded Fitzgerald later indicated that his silence was the result them under the laws of the country.” of a decision made by the Cabinet. He maintained that he could not speak about the report findings because Save The Bays sued the minister and the government for he was bound by Cabinet secrecy. He said that, instead publicly releasing the private emails, and the minister of helping the residents of Marathon and the wider was ordered to pay damages of $150,000. Before the population to understand what was really happening, elections, the matter remained on appeal. the opposition mounted “was riddled with promoting negativity, fear mongering and sowing seeds of distrust”. Many Bahamians were appalled by the public exposure of private emails by a Cabinet minister who enjoyed Fitzgerald later admitted that the government’s an exceedingly high level of parliamentary privilege. approach to addressing the issue may have not However, parliamentary privilege requires a very high effectively communicated their stance on remediation standard of parliamentary responsibility. There was a to the people of Marathon. general view that the minister’s conduct in this matter crossed the line of public decency and considerably To many, it appeared that Fitzgerald was more contributed to the narrative that the Christie interested in keeping his job than in doing his job. His administration would do anything to score political management of the Rubis oil spill tarnished the former points. minister’s record of transparency and accountability and that of his Cabinet colleagues.

VAT On January 1, 2016, the government introduced Disclosure of Private Emails the value-added tax (VAT), which many persons In March 2017, then Minister Jerome Fitzgerald read were convinced was justified, given recurrent annual and tabled an email thread in the House of Assembly, fiscal deficits and a rapidly rising national debt. as he sought to paint an environmental advocacy The government initially indicated that VAT would group, Save The Bays, as a “political organization” significantly contribute to a reduction in annual fiscal bent on entrapping fashion mogul Peter Nygard and deficits and would ultimately foster the reduction of the destabilizing the Christie administration. national debt.

Many persons were greatly offended that a Cabinet Like most persons, Bahamians do not readily welcome minister would publicly read and table the emails of new taxes, although there was overwhelming public private citizens in Parliament. acceptance that the government needed to increase public finances, particularly for the stated purposes for In a strongly worded statement, Sharmie Farrington- which VAT was introduced.

Austin, the Data Commissioner at the time, cautioned 35

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The rollout of VAT was generally commendable and the VAT revenue impressively augmented the national coffers by $1.1 billion. Notwithstanding that success, the annual deficits continued to rise, as did the national debt. Therefore, the public repeatedly demanded that government explain where the VAT money went. Several months before the general election, the government attempted to explain how the income from VAT was spent, although by that time people had lost confidence and trust in anything emanating from the government.

Bahamians grew increasingly suspicious of the government’s intention regarding NHI. The government seemed more concerned about its legacy than in introducing a well-considered, generally accepted and reasonably priced NHI plan.

The government’s lack of transparency regarding how this new tax was being managed greatly contributed to the narrative that the government was squandering this windfall revenue, at best. At worst, the public perceived that the government was grossly negligent in its transparency and accountability for this new tax that raised more than $1 billion.

The Baha Mar Debacle The Baha Mar resort on the island of New Providence was originally owned by Baha Mar Resorts Ltd. and managed by CEO Sarkis Izmirlian. The initial resort included four hotels with 2,200 rooms, 284 private residences, a 100,000-square-foot casino, a 30,000-square-foot spa and a Jack Nicklaus designed golf course.

The government’s failed NHI plan further contributed to the erosion of trust by a people who increasingly looked askance at their government’s desperate, lastminute endeavors and maneuvers.

The government’s explanations were not credible and its management of this matter greatly debased the The resort was initially scheduled to open in December public’s trust in the Christie administration.

2014, then delayed to April 2015. Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which permitted reorganization rather than winding-up, was filed on June 29, 2015 in a Delaware National Health Insurance court, but dismissed that September.

Early in the Christie administration, the government announced that it was determined to implement A Bahamian judge Ian Winder appointed provisional a National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme for all liquidators to be in charge. The resort blamed Bahamians. This was a noble objective, but was its misfortunes on delays in construction without virtually stillborn, because it was neither particularly any source of income to resolve the problem. The well thought out nor clearly articulated. financiers and primary contractor blamed the delays on mismanagement by the developer.

The government spent millions of dollars on foreign private consultants and got very little to show for Many Bahamians blame the government for interfering its investment. Prior to the general election, a in a dispute between two private entities: Sarkis Izmirlian comprehensive plan had not been unveiled, the persons and the China Export-Import Bank, the project’s funder. who were supposedly the greatest beneficiaries of the Some persons believe that, if the government had not scheme were none the wiser about its specifics, and the intervened, the resort would have opened a long time major stakeholders, namely the medical profession and ago. Perhaps, but we will never really know. insurance industry, who were critical to the scheme’s success, were equally uncertain about the details, That the courts sealed the details of the transaction practicability and cost of NHI. that ultimately took Baha Mar out of liquidation and found new owners has angered very many Bahamians.

As we approached the general election, the government Bahamians concluded that the government, in its haste made several abortive attempts to resuscitate this failed to open Baha Mar with the inherent pre-Election jobs scheme. bonanza that would have resulted therefrom, may have gaven away too much to achieve a political purpose.

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If the government was not concerned about the public’s reaction to the concessions that it granted to the new purchasers, it was argued, why not encourage the stakeholders to remove the court’s seal on the transaction?

Politics

“recognized” for their stations in life.

Then there were instances where MPs or other “dignitaries” were not recognized by someone assisting them. When the “dignitary” was not treated with the deference that he or she believed should be afforded, the person rendering the service to the dignitary was often accosted with the interrogative: “Do you know who I am?”

Once again, the government’s lack of transparency, shrouded in its propensity for deep-seated secrecy regarding the “new deal”, further eroded the public trust in a government that had long ago lost its way.

These were a few instances of blatant arrogance and a profound sense of entitlement. There are many other examples of this type of behavior that could be Arrogance and a Profound Sense of Entitlement characterized as a form of madness that consumes Throughout the entire Christie administration, there persons who do not understand they are not entitled were reports of ministers and some PLP Members to any special attention or obeisance because they have of Parliament who exhibited a profound sense of been successful at the polls or elevated to their stations arrogance and entitlement. by appointment.

We recall one case of an MP who also served as chairman of a public corporation. He had scheduled a meeting with ordinary citizens to see if the corporation could assist them. All the parties had assembled in the meeting room at the corporation, except for the chairman, who wanted everyone to be present before making his grand entrance. As he entered the room, one of the chairman’s minions, who was also the designated scribe for the meeting, announced: “Please be stand for the honorable chairman.” What utter nonsense! What arrogance!

People observe the behavior of persons in the public square and are often disappointed by the profound arrogance and sense of entitlement that such VIPs exhibit. In the final analysis, those observing such behavior form negative opinions of such “public servants”, ultimately telling their friends and families, who also then form negative opinions of the “entitled lot”.

Courtesies are normally extended to dignitaries regarding their seating places at public events. We vividly recall several instances when certain dignitaries felt that they should have been given a “higher place of honor”, considering their status in the pecking order. Such persons were furious when they were not

There is a considered view that politics is a dirty game and a perverted system. We do not agree. It is the people in it who pervert the system. Involvement in the political arena in any society can be a noble vocation.

In the last administration, this behavior, attitude and persona by some sitting MPs contributed to their disconnection from their constituents. Anyone who We have adopted a ridiculous practice of standing when serves in public life should be careful that they do not the Prime Minister enters the room. That practice has become victims of such behavior. It will not and, in very no basis in official protocol. In our system, as in most many cases, did not end well for them. around the world, it is appropriate to stand when the head of state enters the room. In our case this is the Corruption and Conflicts of Interest Governor General. Where the head of state is the It appears that corruption and conflicts of interest by President, it is appropriate to stand for the President. some politicians while in office have become a new But certainly not a minister and absolutely not, in any normal for our political culture. These phenomena are circumstances whatsoever, for a chairman of a public a blight on our body politic and, like a malignant cancer, corporation. aggressive measures must be taken to eradicate them.

What is urgently needed are (1) persons with immense 37

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integrity, informed consciences and highly calibrated moral compasses to engage in the affairs of the state; (2) a resolute public that will not tolerate corruption and conflicts of interest in any form; (3) strong laws, an incorruptible integrity commission, or similar organ, to monitor, investigate and refer offenders to be prosecuted for violating them; and (4) aggressive enforcement of those laws, just as we would with average citizens.

have much more to say about that at another time.

Bahamians did not like these pre-election convention tactics and had grown weary of an ambitious man whose sense of entitlement was that of an imperial prime minister, something Bahamians wanted no part of.

The PLP must neither underestimate nor understate There is absolutely no doubt that the claims and how extremely angry and utterly dissatisfied the voters charges of corruption and conflicts of interest by highly were with their leader and their government. The placed Cabinet ministers, political cronies and party party’s defeat was its worst in its 64-year history. Its poll sycophants significantly contributed to the ousting of performance was the worst it ever experienced on New the PLP on May 10, 2017.

Providence. Never had a sitting prime minister lost his seat.

PLP’s Pre-election Convention In January 2017, the PLP held a national convention, This was a complete rejection of Christie and his band. the first since 2009, although the party’s constitution There are many teachable moments that the PLP can mandates that it must be held every year in October glean from its trouncing on May 10. The real question or November. There was clearly an attempt by the is, what is next for the PLP in order to survive and to party leaders to defer the convention as long as possible resurrect itself from the ashes of its obliteration? because it was unlikely that the party would change its leader too close to an election.

Philip C. Galanis is the managing partner of HLB Galanis and Co., chartered accountants, forensic & litigation support services.

This strategy worked in the short-term, because the He served 15 years in Parliament. Please send your comments to then-leader, Perry Christie, was reelected to that office, pgalanis@gmail.com. with a view that he would lead the party into the general election that was only months away.

Two major observations can be made of that late-date convention. The first is that Christie did not like being challenged for the role of leader, a position that he had held for the past 20 years. He felt that he was entitled to take the party into the next election, which leads to the second observation.

To ensure his victory at the convention, Christie pulled out all the stops and resorted to every possible tactic. After choreographing several highly favorable amendments to the party constitution, Christie appointed hundreds of stalwart councilors (who would vote for him) on the eve of the convention.

In addition, he and his surrogates sought to intimidate many who supported Alfred Sears, his only opponent in the contest for leader of the PLP. However, although Christie won the battle at the convention, he was obliterated in the war (the general election). We will 38

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Politics

BCS Corporate Group Ltd. Cumberland House 15 Cumberland Street P.O.Box 22-6836 Nassau, The Bahamas T: +1-242-302-9200 F: +1-242-323-8036 E: info @bcsfiduciary.com bcsfiduciary.com 39

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C. A. Newry lives in Fox Hill, The Bahamas. He studied Business Management at the College of the Bahamas, and now works in tourism, managing a small restaurant. He is an avid socio-political commentator, who maintains a colourful, controversial, interactive blog on face book. Email canewry@hotmail.com

BIG JU CECIL NEWRY

I remember Big Ju. Mind you, I ain’t suppose to know this damn monster of a man, particularly since I prided myself as not being a problematic child. I was a mere homeboy; a mama’s boy; definitely not a member of any damn street gang despite living in a gang infested neighborhood.

Alas, despite this supposedly obvious fact, I still had an encounter with the legendary street monster: Big Ju. Ju stood easily at six foot six, weighing three hundred twenty odd pounds. He was giant, a freaking wildebeest, a hairy mammoth with tree trunk sized arms and hands as big as breadfruits. Truth is, everyone knew Big Ju in my neighborhood . . . he was duppy. The boogeyman that terrorized Nassau’s inner city streets at night, stalking wayward boys to be prey.

And this night I fell victim. It was the summer of 1992 I think or there about, at about 7:25 pm. The sun had already set, it was late, but not late enough that I had to be inside my parents’ house. After school, the neighborhood kids hung out at Linda those shop. A small convenience store that stayed open later than the rest. We used to keep Linda company until the shop closed and walk her home after she locked up.

This night Linda and Bradley were skylarking in the damn road as we walked down Market Street. Bradley was always too damn playful, always failing to appreciate the word STOP. But this night I wasn’t having it; I had sensed something sinister afoot, hence I had decided to walk ahead of my two skylarking friends to my detriment.

Out of the blue, an unmarked jitney pulled up alongside me packed with black mask wearing police officers, all brandishing high powered guns. To this day I swear to Rasta god that one had a gaddamn bazooka pointed at me. It was the 40

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House of Pain. The police’s “war bus”. Street talk said it was a flipping torture chamber. People never came out the same way they entered. One entered as man and came out as a piss-tail child. Just then, a voice in the dark shouted “Get f@*king in.” I panicked. I didn’t know what I should do, run or cry. I froze.

“Get f@*king in,” the voice echoed. I remained frozen, eyes welling up, the tear dam broke flooding my face as two vexed police officers grabbed my ass roughly pushing my ass into the dark unlit bus. Sh*t. My ma ga kill me I thought. How the hell will I be able to explain this shit? I is a criminal now.

Just then, the bus jolted off as I was ushered to the back where a group of school aged boys sat dazed in the dark.

Tears streaming down my face, I peered through the jitney’s window watching Bradley and Linda staring at me, surely bewildered, wondering what the hell did Cecil do. Why he locked up?

At the back of the bus was Twin Them: (Keith and Keavy).

Twin boys that few could tell apart so everyone just nicknamed them both Twin. They both answered to the name).

For frig sake, I am in the bus with Twin Them; these buggas stay in freaking problems. Twin Them was kicked out of school from freaking grade 7; three years later they had yet to return. They had embraced and accepted a street life, so seeing them locked up by the “Man” was no surprise to me, but why the hell am I here? Any reasonable person can see that I am different. I come from flicking people for frig sake.

“Somebody robbed Royals,” Someone in the dark said. I retorted, “Again? That place stay getting robbed.”

With a smirk on his face, Twin said, “They think we robbed it.” Confused, I said “What, wait? What you mean we? I was just walking Linda home...” Turning toward the front of the jitney raising my right hand as if I were in class I shouted, “Officer....Mr. officer I wasn’t with them; I was just walking my friend...”

“Shut the f@*k up,” came back the response. These freaking police clearly did not give a damn about what I had to say.

“Shut your f@*king mouth up before I kick your teeth in.” I fell mute. You see, I liked my smile and one can’t smile properly without teeth. I remembered toad.

After about 20 minutes of meandering through “Border”.

The “House of Pain” stopped at the police station through West Street. We were all ordered off the bus and it was then that I saw the monster for the first time. THE Big Ju. For frig sake. He was one big ass man. He bellowed, “Assume the position.”

I retorted, “What sir?”

“Up against the wall; you know the f@#king routine”. I find that police like curse for freaking nothing. It was intimidating. Again I stood still, lost to ratid as to what to do. What freaking routine this elephant was talking about? Truth is I should have paid more attention to my surroundings as Twin Them and the seven other boys already had their hands and legs spread leaning against the wall. Big Ju rushed toward me, grabbing my throat. “Glasses!”

“This is “f@#king Glasses, the leader of the “f@#king Border Boys,” Ju said to one female police officer.

She responded, “Yeah that’s him, cut his ass!” I could hear Twin them laughing in the background. Niggas always laughing at people’s misfortune. Ju then asked, “Why yall robbed Royals? Where the gun?”

Still confused as to what was actually happening and needing to correct this clearly misinformed man as to who I was, I proclaimed, “Sir, my name is Not Glasses. I am Cecil Alexander Newry III. I am the third of my name, son of May and Oswald.” That’s when I felt it. The hand of G-d. Whap.

A stinging bitch blow across my face. Time stood still as I was teleported out of my body. My life slowed down. I was in a dream state. In an instant I saw myself hovering over this escapade; a spectator to this unfortunate event.

Honestly, I could not believe this was happening to me.

These type of things don’t happen to decent people. Who the hell does hit man in their face? So damn disrespectful.

The contempt was real. I remember thinking F the police . . . and F the law. Instantly I was a changed man; one with a contemptuous spirit. Me and the police were no longer friends, cause friends don’t beat friends for no damn reason.

Just then, there was a fit of laughter from that criminal youth gang of 9. One of the 9 shouted, “That’s the Boarder President”. Big Ju quickly fixed their damn business though, grabbing one of the squawking boys by the throat, he demanded that the boy sing the flipping national anthem. Immediately the youth pitched a nervous crackling tone, “Lift up your head, to the rising sun, Bahama . . .” WHAP! Yet another bitch blow to one of our supposed lil darlings’ faces.

Life

It sounded like thunder. Freaking sparks flew due to friction.

Man I ducked at the sound as I felt sure Big Ju shot this buey in the face. Those freaking breadfruit hands were like plywood leaving permanent impressions on its victims’ faces.

To this day my ear still ring, permanently hard of hearing.

Then the Twins started to lick off one reggae tune with Big Ju’s name in it. Something about Big Ju run things. Like how the hell these Negroes knew Big Ju had his own damn song? Clearly they have had this freaking conversation before down some dark ass alley. Then WHAP! Yet another bitch lick against one of the Twin’s face. “I aint run things, G-d run things”. Gaddamn you can’t win for losing with this man.

All ten of us was washed with tears that night. Those hiccupping, can’t catch your breath type crying. Big Ju shouted, “We charging all yall asses with robbery.” I again, attempted to interject, citing “Sir, but I go to SAC.” That revelation seemed to cracked his demonic surface. SAC, something about those three letters forced Ju to relent a bit. He ordered the police woman to pack us all in back of a squad car to take us to Royal Castle Takeaway for identification. We all hopped laps, meshed into one another as we drove to Royals.

The manageress came out and peered through the squad car’s window and belched out, “It wasn’t these set!” Will mudda flip . . . typical; police does pick up any and every damn body off the streets and accuse them of crimes they did not commit.

The police woman then released us and told us to carry our narrow asses straight home. Twin Them and the seven hurled some cuss words at the officers. Me? I started one trot and ran my ass home. For 45 minutes Linda and Bradley waited on my ass near the shop, too terrified to report to my Jamaican ma that her good son was locked up for no reason.

That night I realized that living Border was a detriment to my health; I done see I wasn’t going to make it out of this place in one piece. I became angry at the world, angry at my environment and my lot in life. But, Bradley can make anyone laugh. That bitch nicked named me Border President and told the entire gaddamn neighborhood my ordeal.

The name stuck...particularly since he graffiti my name and likeness all over damn strip. Big ass picture of a guy wearing glasses. “Border a President 4 life”. That’s when I became a marked man.

Nassau, The Bahamas: The Capital of the World!

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(Continued from page 33) history, then, is really the story of how political clientelism became invasive and parasitic; of how “benefits politics” introduced the gradual colonization and corruption of other institutions. It’s the story of how partyism as the vehicle for corrupt clientelist practices, established its largely unchecked institutional dominance, and how it has thus far held at bay reformers’ attempts to bring it to account.

The Patronage State and the Mobilization of Dependency But it would be incomplete to identify clientelism only with enabling the decay of political institutions.

Its equally insidious effect is its displacement and corruption of the citizen’s ability to cultivate his own capacity for agency and independent thought. Partisan political mobilization on the basis of violence-ridden patronage disabled a necessary and vital condition for a vigorous democratic society, namely the capacity for civic engagement.

“The politics of the patronage state disabled the critical sensibilities so necessary for the functioning of a democratic society.”

What the patronage state did was to create in the Jamaican people, a mobilized dependency. They were summoned to an engagement in politics, but solely for the partisan requirements of political competition. This dependency arrested the potential for realizing what one critic called the “civic capacity” among the people.

That is, the politics of the patronage state disabled the critical sensibilities so necessary for the functioning of a democratic society. So necessary for holding leaders accountable and making them responsive to engaged citizens.

World independent thought that would drive the citizens’ active agency in the construction of a democratic society. In its stead, partyism promoted its “dog-hearted” values, offering the people the “legal lawlessness” of party politics, in the name of holding political office.

This had the terrible effect of undermining the ethical basis for political reflection and political engagement, because patronage politics crippled individual and group conscience across the land. The consequence was not just institutional decay, but a hampering of the ability to learn and to employ the competencies needed for the practice of civic life. Needless to say, with this marginalization of civic competencies in favor of deepened fear, cynicism and apathy, the patronage state created the ideal conditions in which the ability to hold power accountable is drastically reduced, if not nullified.

Still, it must also be said that Jamaica’s patronage state is more than about mere patronage. Its raison d’etre is also about the exercise of class dominance through this form of state. Most importantly, the Jamaican state, like all states in capitalist societies, should be regarded as the political expression of a coalition of classes in a highly unequal and class-divided society. In this kind of society, myriad forms of discrimination and social exclusion are the norm. So the patronage state in effect becomes the guarantor of these unequal relations, while not wholly neglecting the interests of subordinate groups.

Social Classes and the Search for Accountability Given the political autonomy of the state in a dependent capitalist country, dominant class rule is never established in uncomplicated and straightforward terms. And the lack of political accountability and the impunity of political power should be seen as a symptom not only of corrupt politics, but also as the expression of the weakened social forces that up to the present time have been unable to impose their will on the state.

The ownership class for example, has been politically impotent in this regard. On one hand, the small commercial elite, bankers, industrialists, manufacturers, landowners and big farmers have benefitted from patronage control of the capitalist economy.

As such, “benefits politics” arrested the potential for 43

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On the other hand, however, they have accommodated it and borne the tremendous costs to their businesses from this form of misrule. Monopolistic partyism has frustrated the smooth and legal forms of wealth accumulation in Jamaica – a problem of doing business in a high crime society for which a corrupt politics is partly responsible. Despite the massive economic and other costs associated with doing business in Jamaica under patronage rule, capital-owning groups and their representative organizations have been largely ineffectual in imposing on the political class their demands for accountability and transparency.

A similar condition afflicts the professional middle classes.

This social formation, large parts of which have a guild interest in political reform, in political representation, in the transparency of political decisions, and in the accountability of political institutions, has also been sidelined and frustrated in its reform efforts.

Where they have not been coopted by the patronage state to form part of its ideological and administrative cadres, or have been repressed when they formed antisystemic radical social movements, they have often found themselves cowed by the turbulent, often nasty politics of patronage.

It’s no secret that the country’s political culture, and the mobilizing politics of the patronage state have been deeply suspicious of - if not openly hostile to mainstream norms shared by the majority of Jamaicans.

This paronage-built aversion and scorn for personal responsibility, empathy for others, lawful behavior, volunteerism, and self-discipline, are the products of populist haranguing and debased partyism.

Aversion to mainstream norms has harmed the humanity of the Jamaican people. For it has appealed to the worst in them, leaving only the cultivation of piratic instincts, resort to violence and menace to hold sway. This debasement of the human, and the miseducation of the senses, has not only hurt the poor.

It has weakened the forces for order and decency and civic engagement. Those forces include the main social classes – the business classes, employed labor, rural folk as well as the middle class. They have been chased out of the political arena by the celebration of anti-system norms, and by the entry of organized crime into the 44

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state system. Until very recently, this flight from politics and civic engagement, has taken enough of a toll that these strategic forces have largely washed their hands of politics and the pursuit of political reform.

To put it bluntly, despite general capitalist class dominance in the country’s politics, long exercised through the party system, this preeminence has thus far been unable to express itself as a meaningful power able to constrain members of the political class, dictate to them, or impose penalties on them for their errant ways.

Given this overall incapacity of both the business classes and the professional middle strata, what is intriguing are the ramifications for the conduct of politics and the prospects for securing meaningful change. Keeping in mind that Jamaica is a dependent, ex-colonial society that is tasked with securing the accumulation of capital, establishing the management of class relations and building modern political power, it’s worth asking what sort of state emerged to meet these compelling obligations.

It’s my view that the powerful and all-consuming patronage state is the repertoire party political elites have constructed to address these multiple developmental obligations in the context of a divided class society itself embedded as a dependency in the world economy.

The fulsome development of the patronage state is partly the creature of this dependency. But the inflation of its power is also both an expression of unique party organizational strength, with the flip side being the politically relevant weakness of some of the country’s main social classes with an interest in reform. Weaknesses of the kind identified below did much to limit these groups’ effectiveness.

The Limitations of Reform-minded Groups It should be remembered that party dominance is a consequence of party strength, and political elites over time gained a massive advantage from continuous party development of a certain kind, certainly so compared to the development of other political institutions. On the other hand, striving reform groups and classes with a natural interest in institutional reform have been crippled by their episodic presence in politics, by poor leadership, limited resources and by weak organizational capacity to be taken seriously.

These and other factors constrained reform coalitions and made them markedly ineffectual in imposing their claims on the state. Besides, in Jamaica reform groups have received only tepid support from the wider public, as the often-toxic partisan environment makes it difficult to win support and credibility for their cause.

That these groups tend to be seen as political troublemakers and “sour grapes” actors hampers them and undercuts their legitimacy. This weakness is reinforced by incumbent governments’ successful effort in smearing reform groups and their calls for change, by casting them as merely doing the partisan bidding of the political opposition, or acting as agents of meddling foreign organizations. This successful smear tactic has made the reformer’s job even more difficult.

Hence, organizational weaknesses, weak public support for their activities, and partisan ridicule by political incumbents drive these forces to the sidelines in the brutal power game that is Jamaican politics. Is it any wonder that few opposition forces exist outside the political parties to bring them to heel? With the patronage state confirming its supremacy in these ways only the bravest, most diligent and most tough-minded individuals and organizations dare enter the political fray.

Today, the patronage state – and the ensemble of power deployed by craven political elites – stands astride the political landscape. By any measure, it has demonstrated awesome power and unquestioned durability. It still enjoys significant popular support.

Indeed, it has survived the murderous party civil wars it provoked in the sixties and after; it has accommodated sharp ideological swings in the country’s politics; found renewed vigor from clashing approaches to national development, whether socialist or capitalist; and it has crushed and outlasted radical social movements that challenged its power and legitimacy.

This structure of power prevailed even through years of hard economic times and braced itself against stiff political headwinds that came with renewed questioning and protest against its continued dominance. So secure has been its hold on power and so extensive its reach, that corrupt partyism has even managed to make itself the only credible via media for the very political reforms that detractors have often demanded.

World

And this patronage state has not been reluctant to employ brutal violence against challengers from below.

It has employed both legal and patently illegal means in putting down armed rebellions against its authority and it has shaken off the politics of repeated reform coalitions that have been mounted against it from both the political Left and Right.

So awesome an entrenched power and the vested interests supporting it will not easily concede or leave the political stage without a fight. In this regard, it’s worth examining the Westminster structure of Jamaica’s democracy.

Decolonization, Westminster Politics and the Dominance of Political Parties.

The largely peaceful dismantling of colonialism in Jamaica, as was the case in some parts of the colonized world governed by the British, gave a huge advantage to the native political class that led the struggle for political independence. In retrospect, it could hardly have been otherwise. Given the strategies that the British employed in transferring political power to reliable native classes in the Caribbean, and given the organizational capacity and political institutions the emergent native middle class and other groups had already established in their bid for power, it was inevitable that these forces would gain a tremendous political advantage against local groups that might insist on institutions to curb the emergent elite’s political power.

Few such institutions or groups existed at the time, and in the English-speaking Caribbean, the mass parties and representative labor organization that were created in the thirties and forties swept all before them, and established their political dominance well before the promulgation of the 1944 constitution that introduced universal adult suffrage.

As it turned out, the 1944 Jamaican constitution did much to protect and secure the dominance of the parties.

Among other things, that decolonizing document gave pride of place to the mass political parties and their heroic populist leaders, alongside constitutional provisions for increased democratic expression.

But looking back, it’s now apparent that the renovation and imposition of the political institutions of Westminster 45

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World democracy in Jamaica was a mixed blessing. The 1944 constitution, created in the wake of the 1938 labor rebellions, conceded the right to universal adult suffrage and successive constitutional reforms, right up to the independence constitution of 1962, expanded on this important development, gradually opening the path to increased native political control.

And though Jamaica’s constitutional development since 1944 was a painful affair beset by long delays, by squabbling among the native political class, and by neglect of meaningful constitutional protections for civil liberties, Jamaicans had won for themselves the democratic political representation that they had long been denied.

However, as commentators on the Westminster model remind us, the imposition of Westminster political institutions repressed the representation and full flourishing of political opinions and interests in the democratic game. Westminster’s first-past-the-post electoral system is biased toward only two political parties, thus shutting out representation of minority opinion and parties. This barrier has proven so effective that no third party has ever come close to winning political power in Jamaica.

This development had a negative impact on the whole issue of accountability and constraints on power. After all, apart from the local courts and the Privy Council in London, and a few agencies that were not strong enough on their own to curb the politicians, it was left to the complicit opposition party to be the only meaningful force that could constrain the state’s exercise of power primarily by discharging its duties as the political opposition in the parliament and using the ballot to replace the incumbent regime.

But while the “loyal opposition” principle with its expectation of constraint on government was good in theory, the Jamaican experience and those of other Anglophone Caribbean islands showed that in practice, it failed miserably. There can be little doubt that parliament became largely a “talking shop,“ since the incumbent government was not bound to accept opposition criticism or amendments to bills, and majority control of the legislature usually meant easy passage of laws.

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Moreover, as political scandals mounted and gross corruption was revealed, the legislature could do little more than call for commissions of inquiry. In the Jamaican case, the many commissions’ finding of public corruption and malfeasance since political independence did little more than embarrass incumbent regimes.

The many reports these commissions issued did little to restrain corrupt practices and successive governments willfully failed to adopt their numerous recommendations and the parliamentary opposition was powerless to enforce them. The raft of recommendations by numerous commissions of enquiry if they had been adopted would easily have arrested many corrupt practices, while also increasing transparency of decisionmaking and enhancing accountability.

For obvious reasons, both political parties had little interest in measures that would curb their authority and limit their room for maneuver. Hence, parliament as a democratic political institution proved impotent in speeding implementation of needed changes. Just as it was equally ineffectual in curbing the violence and bloodletting associated with patronage politics in poor communities.

This conspiracy of inaction and evasion of accountability continues today in the political parties’ refusal to end the practice of politicians abiding thugs to enforce armed political control of constituencies across the county – in garrisoned communities. Instead of offering meaningful proposals to remedy these chronic ills, parliamentarians on both sides of the aisle simply resorted to the predictable recriminations and assigning of political blame to the other side.

It is abundantly clear from these developments that the political class in Jamaica has reneged on its obligation to build strong political institutions, other than their own, that would modernize government, drive national development and increase the country’s power in the world.

In a supreme irony associated with Westminster political institutions, the political parties squandered the opportunity presented by constitutional arrangements to build modern political institutions. That opportunity came from the clear political advantage Westminster politics gave to party decision makers in the legislature

and thus to the incumbent regime. This was the remarkable combination of the incumbent regime enjoying a parliamentary majority and having the Prime Minister’s dominance as party leader and unchallenged executive in the cabinet.

Rather than use this “authoritarian” feature of Westminster government that would have afforded largely unhindered policy-making and speedy decisionmaking for modernization and developmental purposes, successive regimes instead turned this opportunity into a liability by using this structural advantage merely to cow opponents or to pursue ill-conceived agendas.

New Developments and Possibilities for Change.

From the foregoing one might well conclude that corrupt partyism and its seeming immunity to correction are permanent conditions in Jamaica. Nothing could be further from the truth. Fresh political scandals with their revelation of the gross indecencies of power, the activism of newly awakened civil society groups, the surprising declarations of revulsion and acts of conscience by a handful of politicians, and the consequences at home and abroad of Jamaica’s membership and dependence on the world economy are making a difference and are conspiring to bring change.

External actors and organizations have been particularly effective in getting the attention of local political elites.

Jamaica’s transnationalism, particularly its nested relations with the world system, has been a major force for compelling greater accountability and provoking institutional reform.

For example, the American imposition of economic neoliberalism as the basis for a renovated global economic order, necessitated reform of Jamaica’s economic institutions. In particular instances, necessary legislation was introduced to provide the legal basis for the reforms.

Similarly, IMF programs like the one the country recently signed had a similar effect on the county’s economic institutions since these local institutions were required to adopt policies necessary for loans to be dispersed and for private capital investments to be made.

These developments in the economic sphere clearly had consequences for political institutions that had to adapt to conform to the changes in the economy.

The same would be true for the influence wielded by donor countries, international aid programs and Jamaica’s partner organizations having “good governance” as their main concern. Their research reports, technical assistance and policy advice invariably addressed both accountability issues and institutional problems and in doing so helped bring Jamaica into conformity with international standards.

Of course, international watchdog agencies like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Transparency International, whose often-critical reports on Jamaica have helped change official attitudes; this remains the case notwithstanding government scorn and indignation that from time to time greet such reports.

The existence of a new and potentially powerful pressure group and organization demanding change at home from abroad - the Jamaican Diaspora Organization – is also making its influence felt. In sum, Jamaica’s transnationalism is having meaningful effects on both political accountability and institutional change.

Since the 1990’s this combination of internal and external forces led to important initiatives to strengthen accountability, improve transparency of decisions, curb public corruption and erode the criminalization of the state and the politicization of crime.

Multiple crime-fighting laws now exist; public corruption is being addressed by the appointment of a Contractor-General empowered to examine the award of state contracts; a Political Ombudsman now holds sway over enforcing codes of conduct agreed to by the political parties; an Electoral Commission has cleaned up the worst excesses of electioneering; INDECOM, a government watchdog agency, now keeps an eye on police behavior; a Charter of Citizens’ Rights now exists; bureaucratic autonomy has been enhanced with the creation of executive agencies based on merit, rather than on partisan loyalties; and the pressure is on to give teeth to laws requiring parliamentarians to declare their assets and disclose sources of income.

These are encouraging signs that change is possible.

This growing web of constraints on power has had the desired effect. It has put the patronage state on the defensive; created tensions, quarrels, defections and splits within and between the parties over the reach of 47

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the new policies and the purview of the new agencies.

Indeed, change has fed a remarkable incoherence of moral utterances within the ranks of the patronage state, as politicians belonging to the same or different parties contradict each other on the merits of the new policies and the extent to which candidates running for office can, for example, break with the old ways of doing things.

A Note of Caution: Procedural vs. Substantive Democracy By way of a final observation on approaches to political reform, it’s worth remembering that in the rush to make change, reform groups and governments’ policies have understandably focused on the short term. Jamaica faces an existential crisis where social cannibalism threatens the very continuity of a society there.

must remember that building democracy is not a technical exercise, but is instead a political struggle to empower citizens, not just the managers of the state system.

The reinvigoration of democratic life in Jamaica is now in its infancy. Because the process to revive it is a patently political one, it’s not surprising that coalitions have formed to frustrate further gains. Therefore, if the process of reform occurring in Jamaica today is to flourish, change-makers must keep the far horizon in view and develop the strategies for moving Jamaicans from a condition of mobilized dependency to one of civic competence. The full restoration of Jamaica’s democratic system depends on the recovery of this lost ideal.

However, focus on the short term and the rush to find immediate solutions may lead, among other things, to an overemphasis on procedural rules to the neglect of larger claims on democratic governance. Procedural rules ranging from guidelines for police conduct to legislation for interdicting drug laundering have their place, but they can be evaded and put to harmful uses.

As my commentary has shown, the procedural rules for free and fair electoral competition and the civic functions parties were expected to play were ignored, distorted and were put to contrary purposes. The current instrumental and technical approaches to building democracy in Jamaica and the Caribbean ignore the equally important substantive ends the democracy was meant to serve.

They include equal justice, equal respect for all ethnicities and equal access to power and resources. Where these and other vital claims are denied, that democratic form of government will be shrunken and susceptible to abuse.

Reformers of all stripes need to go beyond their technicalmanagerial dispositions and puzzle-solving orientation and instead intensify the drive to empower Jamaican citizens and to create opportunities for them to learn and to exercise their civic capacities. Building citizens’ competencies is just as important as strengthening the capacity of state institutions. Reformers of all stripes 48

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Obika Gray is a Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. He is the author of Radicalism and Social Change in Jamaica, 1960-1972.

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