Pandemic, economic woes and voter apathy

The Free National Movement’s (FNM) term in office that began with great hope and expectation in May 2017, came to an ignominious end last Thursday.

From a commanding majority of 35 out of 39 seats in the House of Assembly four years ago, the FNM will return to the House of Assembly with a chastened seven seats – 28 fewer seats than in 2017 and 44,000 fewer votes than the 91,409 it received in 2017.

Meanwhile, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), which won four seats last time, returns with 32 seats, and 7,000 more votes than its 66,407 votes in 2017.

An election at this time was unnecessary. Notwithstanding its overwhelming commanding majority in Parliament, Dr. Hubert Minnis, out of hubris and a sense of entitlement, and against all advice to the contrary, scheduled a general election.

In doing so, he gambled and lost eight months of his party’s term in office in the delusional hope of gaining a new five-year term.

He sought to make the election about the unfitness of the opposition to govern.

Instead, the election became a referendum on him. His unpopularity was evident in all constituencies including his own where his 2017 tally of 4,186 votes (73 percent) was reduced to 2,501 (51 percent) this time.

The Bahamian electorate has proven to be impatient bosses over the past 20 years during which five governments have been unceremoniously sacked at five-year intervals.

Most recently, the impatience was spurred by a desire to be rid of Dr. Hubert Minnis’ era.

The Bahamas continues to struggle to contain the spread of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, which has, up to now, infected nearly 20,000 people, claimed the lives of more than 500 residents and counting, and overwhelmed our healthcare system.

It speaks volumes that the day following the election, Moody’s further reduced The Bahamas’ investment grade.

The present level of COVID-related expenditure is unaffordable and hence unsustainable.

The new government will have some hard and difficult choices to make. These decisions will have profound effects on the economy, the delivery of public services and the lives of thousands of our citizens.

Today, fewer than 15 percent of the population is fully vaccinated and less than 20 percent have received their first jab.

Both new infections and increased deaths are worrying. It does not bode well that among the new government’s members are some still hesitant to be vaccinated and others, anti-vaxxers, who refuse to be vaccinated.

Prime Minister Philip Davis has promised a “new day” as if to distinguish his government from the last two scandal-riddled terms of his party in government which had been aped by the Minnis-led government.

He forecasts improved organization and efficiency of hurricane recovery; promises more reasoned and less antagonistic anti-COVID-19 protocols, and commits to restarting and expanding a struggling economy which shrunk by some 14.5 percent last year. Restoring any growth in the economy can only be achieved if the COVID-19 pandemic is contained.

Three instances of bygone PLP misgovernance are already troubling.

The prime minister-elect was greeted at Lynden Pindling International Airport on the morning following the election by a retired senior policeman in full uniform standing alongside the commissioner of police.

Then, even before Mr. Davis received his formal appointment as prime minister, the substantive financial secretary, who admittedly was wrongly sent on leave by the FNM government, showed up at the Ministry of Finance on Friday morning to reclaim the office.

Similarly, with unseemly haste and in advance of the appointment of a new foreign minister, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dispatched an email instruction to all politically-appointed Bahamian representatives abroad requesting that they submit letters of resignation timeously.

Nonetheless, we congratulate the prime minister and his party on their election victory at the polls last Thursday and wish us all godspeed. 

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