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The Best of the FNM Cabinet

ADRIAN GIBSON

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THIS column is the second of a three-part series that seeks to review the FNM’s Cabinet, rating the six worst ministers who have served at some point in the last five years. In part two, evaluating the five top performing ministers since 2007, and in part three a look into the second tier Ministers.

IN this increasingly hyper-partisan and thorny political  environment-in the face of a general election-I decided to rate the FNM's best and worst ministers from 2007 to 2012, measuring the ministerial performances of each and rating them on a scale from one to five. Last week's YMV column listed the one-star, bottom-tier ministers who I felt had mismanaged the sky-high expectations of the Bahamian
people.

Although a mixed crew of personalities comprises the Cabinet, whilst there are/were weaklings and acutely despondent, chronic underachievers in the executorial assemblage, there are first-rate go-getters and hard workers who have given praiseworthy service.

Frankly, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham will not be rated among his portfolio of ministers. I will discuss him and his legacy at a later date. However, he has offered firm leadership and has proven himself as a political Einstein who relies on good common sense and his political capital during rough times.

Although he initially appeared shorthanded in terms of his Cabinet selections, PM Ingraham seemingly projected the image of at least having his glass half full. Consistent with his political DNA (no pun intended), the PM does not employ a reckless or impetuous approach to the decision-making process, making concrete decisions so that the country could've battled the gloomy economic recession. Frankly, he has had the political will to make unpopular, sober-minded decisions in the best interest of the country.

By and large, PM Ingraham has correctly renegotiated land deals that were out-and-out land grabs, modernised the country's infrastructure, fostered the entrepreneurial spirit whilst also creating a shareholding society, assisted the poor and downtrodden and brought some semblance of transparency and integrity back to government, thereby heightening investor confidence and methodically exposing the ministerial inconsistencies of the previous administration. Moreover, the PM has effectively stabilized and managed the country's affairs even as the country faced what, only a few years ago, seemed to be insurmountable economic odds.

Undoubtedly, history will record him as the Bahamas' best Prime Minister thus far.

In rating Mr Ingraham's best Cabinet ministers, I've decided to utilize a tier system, placing the best of the best major portfolio ministers in tier one. Tier one represents those ministers whose performances were absolutely outstanding whilst tier two represents those ministers who rendered "good-to-very good" performances.

Tier One

The fifth best minister is DPM Brent Symonette, Minister of Foreign Affairs & Immigration. First, I must give kudos to Mr Symonette for correcting the deplorable incidents of overcrowding at the passport office and for quickly implementing machine-readable e-passports. In the past, I have criticised Mr Symonette as having performed grimly as a minister, however his effectiveness of late has been duly noted. Unlike his former junior minister, Mr Symonette has been a quiet and smooth operator, never exhibiting any groundless braggadocio or showmanship.

At Foreign Affairs, the DPM has been superb, having negotiated numerous OECD-pleasing Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) without a hitch; facilitated an agreement that allows Bahamians to travel to European countries without the headache of signing up and waiting for a Schengen visa; overseen the speedy processing of immigration matters and the cessation of the silly practice where Bahamians returning home were required to fill-out an immigration form; supervised the smooth transition of Chinese workers coming to the Bahamas to build the stadium, roads, docks/bridges and BahaMar; and managed to foster the settlement of a maritime border issue between the Bahamas and Cuba after about 50 years (Paul Adderley, the former Attorney General, and others had been attempting to resolve the issue since king hammer was a hatchet). Under Mr Symonette, the illegal immigration situation was efficiently confronted, without him once having to impersonate anyone and don an immigration officer's uniform. Even more, there hasn't been any escapes from the Detention Centre in recent time and, even with its infrastructural improvements, the Detention Centre is no longer seen as a residence-he has hurriedly facilitated the repatriation of illegal migrants.

The Five Worst FNM Cabinet Ministers

ADRIAN GIBSON

E-Mail Adrian.

First published in the Big T.

THIS column begins a three-part series that seeks to review the FNM’s Cabinet, rating the six worst ministers who have served at some point in the last five years and, in part two, evaluating the five top performing ministers since 2007. In part three we'll take a look at the second tier ministers

Frankly, following the 2007 General Elections, I thought that Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham was rather shorthanded, particularly since—as I said in a 2009 ministerial grading column—“he must contend with a few hopeless jokers in his boardroom, who seem out of touch with public sentiment and merely concerned with the pomp and trappings of high office, living in their world of fantasy.”  Although Mr Ingraham has further diversified his Cabinet since then, there were/are certain ministers who, in my opinion, were/are not the ideal choices and who appear to have been mere space cadets. While there have been a few top-tier ministers, there have been others who, in my opinion, have mismanaged the sky-high expectations of the Bahamian people, some of them having wilted under pressure.

Quite honestly, as I think over the last five years, there are some ministers whose feeble performances, lily-livered nature and wringing of hands should, in my opinion, have left them handcuffed to the backbenches of Parliament. Frankly, there are those who have been mere talking heads—underachievers whose ministerial supervision has been mired in mediocrity, leaving one to wonder if they are mentally on a beach, building sandcastles and collecting seashells as opposed to rendering effective ministerial service.

Sharing the title of fifth worst minister is Claire Hepburn (now Supreme Court Justice) and Sir Michael Barnett (now Chief Justice) for what was, at that time, equally pitiful performances as Minister of Legal Affairs/Attorney General (AG). Both Mrs Hepburn and Sir Michael earned an I for incomplete or a QF for what appeared to have been a quick failure in their ministerial posts.

During their terms, there seemed little to no tangible evidence of any attempt to hasten the alleviation of the overwhelming case backlog and hardly any notable legislative initiatives to advance the reformation of the judicial system.

Frankly, during the tenures of Hepburn/Barnett (as AG), there was little to no improvement in the infrastructure or administration of justice/legal system, hardly any initiatives undertaken relative to the tenure and payment of judges, no new hiring and recruiting of attorneys to the AG’s office to deal with issues such as trade reform and criminal matters and little efforts made to incentivise lawyers to leave their practices and sit on the Bench. At that time, I felt that someone should have tickled them as both Mrs Hepburn and Mr Barnett had seemingly fallen asleep at the wheel.

As the chief ministers of justice, both former Attorneys General did little to confront the deficiencies in the justice system and show that justice in the Bahamas is transparent. Frankly, both of the past Attorneys General scarcely made the public aware of any amendments to laws or the introduction of Bills to confront 21st century criminals. The then justice ministers both appeared to operate in a reactionary state.

Moreover, I felt that there was not a resolute thrust for disciplinary action to be taken against corrupt attorneys, that there was no provisioning of additional resources for police prosecutors and that they were flawed in their failure to bring in or hire special prosecutors.

All-in-all, Mrs Hepburn’s/Mr Barnett’s respective terms as AG was, in my opinion, abysmal.

Fourth on the list of worst ministers is Neko Grant—primarily in his capacity as Minister of Tourism and Aviation. Mr Grant was perhaps the worst tourism minister in modern Bahamian history. He performed dreadfully during his time at the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation (MOTA).

It seemed a gross miscalculation to appoint Mr Grant in the aforesaid portfolio as he appeared to be overwhelmed by such a difficult assignment. Under his leadership, sources told me that morale at the MOTA was at an all-time low and that the Bahamas had drastically lost market share.

Mismanagement, coupled with the recession that occurred during the now Works Minister’s posting, had the Bahamas headed for its worst tourism year in seven or eight years and the worst summer in 10 years. Although other mitigating factors—such as the economic crunch in the US—was at play, the tourism yield appeared to have nosedived under Grant who seemed visionless and out of his depth.

Former Minister of Lands and Local Government Sidney Collie roars into third place. Overall, Mr Collie was a flimsy minister who performed dismally and, in the face of a possible firing and reshuffling of the Cabinet, suddenly resigned in 2008. His term in office reminds me of a tired yawn.

In June 2008, a court ruled that the proper processes were not followed in the run-up to that year’s constitutionally flawed, local government elections. This resulted in those elections not going ahead in nine areas.

During his administration, Mr Collie advanced no draft legislation to address and update the rent control act, land reform and price control.

In a 2008 column, I wrote:

The Enigma of Branville McCartney

ADRIAN GIBSON

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Originally published in The Big T.

OVER time, my outlook on Branville McCartney has evolved from being particularly enthusiastic about his youthful vigour and gravitas to a diverse perspective where one appreciates his outspokenness and ability to organize, to an opinion that his apparent arrogance, messianic deportment and smug giddiness has created a seemingly enigmatic figure.

A one-time blue-eyed boy of the local media, Bran McCartney is today a hyperactive populist who leads a fledgling third political party—the Democratic National Alliance (DNA).  Undoubtedly, Mr McCartney ignited the political flames leading up to this election year, flicking lit firecrackers into the core of the political establishment. Bran McCartney—regardless of his razor thin political résumé now the centrepiece of the DNA, whilst the other DNA candidates appear to be mere space-filling, political accessories. Having heard Mr McCartney’s hot political rhetoric of late, one can conclude that he has seemingly become a mealy-mouthed, one man news cycle. Even more, recently there seems to have been more political departures and drama within the DNA than is on an episode of the Oxygen Network’s TV show “Girls Behaving Badly.” Certainly, it makes for great theatre.

Politically standing between PLP leader Perry Christie and Prime Minister/FNM leader Hubert Ingraham, Bran McCartney has now forayed into the land of giants where he hopes to out-manoeuvre PM Ingraham and outfox Mr Christie at the polls.

That said, the DNA leader has shown himself to be a flip-flopper over the years. Whilst his opinion about PM Ingraham may now differ due to politically expedient motives, in a story published in The Tribune on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 he said:

“The Prime Minister is also a person who I have learnt a lot from as well. I think he has the best interest of the country at heart. He makes decisions and he is very direct.”

In another Tribune story, published on the aforementioned date and entitled “I want to run for FNM in Bamboo Town at next election”, Mr McCartney asserted that he was hopeful that the Prime Minister (PM) would not seek to “punish” him, noting that he hadn’t decided if he would again contest the Bamboo Town seat.

However, he went on to say:

“I had five years to serve. Right now I have two more years. If I don’t get a nomination from the party I doubt I will run as an Independent—or anything else for that matter. I would have done my time and I would have done my time well. I guarantee you that. I would have done my time well and I will move on.”

What?! In the wake of this statement, Mr McCartney waffled and not only decided to run—he even formed an entire political party in the process.

In the earlier report, Mr McCartney maintained that he came into Bamboo Town as an FNM and would leave Bamboo Town as an FNM. Of course, the evidence clearly contradicts that statement.

In a Tribune article published on Monday, October 4, 2010 and entitled “McCartney predicts tough 2012 general election fight for FNM,” Mr McCartney declared that the FNM was still the best choice for the country although the party would have to go in overdrive to win over disgruntled voters.

According to the Bamboo Town MP:

“And I think the FNM, it’s a party of doing things but we’ve not promoted what we’ve done, public relations is not good with the FNM. There have been things done and statements made that perhaps turned off a lot of people, I think showing a lack of compassion. The party will also have to win over young ‘swing’ voters who were not old enough to cast a vote in 2007.”

Mr McCartney added:

“It places us to a certain extent at a disadvantage but I have no doubt in my mind that the FNM is the best party (to lead the country).” He then referred to the FNM as an “awesome political machinery.”

What will become of Mr. McCartney and the DNA?

Published on Saturday, December 10, 2011 in the column Young Man's View, appearing the The Tribune's 'The Big T'

By ADRIAN GIBSON
E-Mail Mr. Gibson

I am presently sitting exams which will conclude on December 20th. However, due to this being a pivotal time in our national/political development, I’ve already pre-written columns prior to my examinations period since I anticipated that my studies would likely prohibit me from doing so. These upcoming columns will be submitted to The Tribune. To those loyal readers of YMV, who always express to me how they miss the column during such absences, the beat will go on.

Over the last few weeks, feedback to my columns has been tremendous and so today I’ve decided to answer a few of the public’s questions related to my thoughts on the DNA and Branville McCartney, Kendal Wright, the boundary cuts, the PLP’s nomination process and that party’s future leadership.
The other day, as usual, I was chatting with a good friend/political sage when he cracked a hilarious joke about Bran McCartney’s political fortunes relative to the boundary cuts.

PLP Leadership

Published on Saturday, December 3, 2011, in the column Young Man’s View, in The Tribune’s ‘The Big T’.

By ADRIAN GIBSON
E-Mail Mr. Gibson.

THE leadership showdown in the PLP will feature a line up of contenders, pretenders and a number of wannabes vying for the leadership who couldn’t convincingly serve as effective backups to Bozo the clown. In a post-Perry Christie era, one can imagine the probable leadership candidates scampering across a convention floor, all fervently seeking the support of the party’s ever ballooning contingent of stalwart councilors. No doubt, there will be a few aspirants employing Brutus’ tactics and stabbing each other in the backs with sharpened political knives.

When the leadership melee kicks off, one expects to see lots of finger-jabbing and colorful political vernacular.

Post-Christie, it appears that politically, the PLP will be at a bloody crossroad. Moving forward, the party must not—in the words of Sam Tenanhaus—become “trapped in postures of frozen light, clenched in the rigor mortis of a defunct ideology.”

In 2007, Bahamians expressed disillusionment with the PLP’s scandalous reign and lack of vision and voted them out of office after one term. Today, there remains some members on the party’s frontline who are among the walking wounded of our political culture and who should not be re-nominated.
A future leader of the PLP must be able to espouse a new and innovative approach to governance, one that would deepen the populace’s trust in accountable governance. A future leader must be capable of proffering a vision for empowering Bahamians, enforce ethical codes of conduct (MPs/ministers) and present a conscientious national development platform to the electorate.

Frankly, people are weary of the old ways of the PLP, top heavy with stalwart councilors who vote in lock step like assembly line drones and cultivate an atmosphere of personality cults. The supremacy of stalwart councilors within the PLP has perhaps singlehandedly retarded the advancement of the party.

Lame-duck legion

Meet the candidates: A look at the prospective future leaders of the FNM‏

By ADRIAN GIBSON

ajbahama@hotmail.com

            With the 2012 general elections likely being the last election that PM Hubert Ingraham would lead the FNM into, one notes that in a post-Ingraham era—perhaps 2017—the FNM may find itself at a crossroad in terms of leadership. Whenever the Chief decides to depart the political scene, the impending leadership showdown within the FNM will be great theatre. As it stands, there is a conga line of leadership hopefuls, minor also-ran pretenders and plenty of peripheral figures.

            No doubt, there will be persons vying for the leadership whose smug giddiness, jack-in-the-box outlooks and sulfurous presence in a runoff could setoff alarm bells. One can only imagine the great setback the party would suffer if such individuals were designated as leader. These days, Bahamians are tired of hearing meaningless missives by garrulous airheads seeking their support only to disappear into the abyss once they have it.

The Great Gun Trade-In

Published: October 29, 2011 in the column Young Man’s View in The Tribune’s ‘The Big T’

By ADRIAN GIBSON

ajbahama@hotmail.com

             THESE days, maniacal criminals are increasingly using guns as their weapon of choice as they disrupt the serenity of our once tranquil islands, going on murderous rampages, robbing families of loved ones and callously committing heinous crimes with no regard for the law. That said, it is high-time that the government imposes a heavily promoted amnesty (28-30 days) for the turn over of illegal guns whilst instituting a no-questions-asked, gun buy-back programme.

             Although there will likely be challenges and valid concerns such as the uneasiness about persons possibly using money’s given for trade-ins to purchase weapons, genuine interest for public safety dictates that something must be done and that those fears, whilst likely, will not be predominant.

Deconstructing DNA

Published: October 8^th, 2011 in column Young Man’s View in The Tribune’s ‘The Big T’

 By ADRIAN GIBSON

ajbahama@hotmail.com

             THE upcoming election cycle is setting up to be a sulfurously partisan and venomous affair, a true soap opera featuring politically shrewd operators, mountains of dollars and, moreover, seems to be one that will leave grown men whimpering. That said, unless I am grossly underestimating the so-called backlash against the major parties—and I doubt that I am—anyone who honestly thinks that the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) will win the next election within a year of its formation is a bonafide citizen of fantasy land!

            Whilst the DNA could very well capture a few seats (this is also up for debate), unless they are using some kind of Jedi mind trick, it would be fairly neurotic to believe that they could win a majority of seats as a political upstart, particularly in our political culture—where voters are fickle and vacillate as regards their choices—and in the face of the evidence of what has already happened, locally and abroad, relative to new political entities.

Gangsters in school

Published: November 5th, 2011 in The Tribune's 'The Big T'

By ADRIAN GIBSON

ajbahama@hotmail.com

Nowadays, as crime spirals out of control and has led to nationwide trepidation as regards the criminal element, a microcosmic look at the issues of violence and miscreant behavior in our schools is representative of what we’re facing in wider society. Indeed, there are those students who are so disrespectful and fierce that they openly engage in frightful, mob-like brawls that leave teachers, students and administrators scrambling for cover and demanding the presence of a school gang unit/police, particularly in those school districts that are alleged to be a gangland.

Ingraham lays into McCartney

Published: October 22nd, 2011

Column: Young Man's View, The Tribune's 'The Big T'

By ADRIAN GIBSON

ajbahama@hotmail.com

            As elected officials continue to place their partisan egos in front of a unity of purpose and passionate commitment to a well-reasoned vision for the country’s upliftment, one wonders whether Bahamians will focus on the issues and demand more of their elected leaders during the next general election cycle.

            As the election draweth nigh, crime can without doubt be identified as enemy No.1. Quite frankly, if crime is not seen as being effectively dealt with the current government would be doomed in its attempts to enhance its political fortunes come election day. Frankly, issues such as unemployment, the economic downturn, poor agrarian productivity, political corruption, inconveniences suffered as a result of road works (in the minds of some), electricity stability and costs, et cetera, must be seen—by the Bahamian people— as being effectively addressed.