The Editor
Bahamas Press
3rd October, 2021
Dear BP,
This saying was used by Vice President Spiro Agnew to refer to the members of the media with whom he had a very acrimonious relationship. Said Agnew while speaking to the California Republican state convention on September 11, 1970: “In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. They have formed their own 4-H Club — the ‘hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history.’”
When we apply this saying to the Bahamas, we see some strong parallels. The nattering nabobs of negativism are out in force, questioning government appointments and trying to ensure that persons appointed are ones who can be co-opted; this is their favoured modus operandi. With the PLP administration not yet two weeks in power the daggers are out. Some persons however appear or are pretending to be awakening from a long sleep see the real danger posed by the former incompetent administration. But they do not see the massive amount of national debt, administrative confusion left by the FNM , and public despair as we see it. They do not see it as a drag on national development and an existential danger to our very way of life.
Rather, they see their loss of political power as an inconvenience, a delay, and a disruption in their lifelong goal to plunder and pillage the Bahamas and since their FNM darlings put us in this mess we should forget about it and move on. A person was quoted in Thursdays Tribune as saying, “that the “poor governance and bad management” of successive former administrations meant The Bahamas cannot afford to look beyond the present government to reverse course”.
This is an interesting opinion especially the “successive governments” portion which in my opinion is intended to deflect criticism away from the very bad governance of the former FNM administration. As they say there as many opinions are there are pants seats. But the print media never hesitates to trot out their self-appointed scribes and oracles to support a particular narrative and that narrative is that raw, unconstrained capitalism is the way the new administration should go. In this suggested environment the PLP is supposed to review “objectively” the numerous contracts awarded by the former administration many of which appear to have been awarded “subjectively “;and the new administration is not supposed to examine in forensic detail these contracts, or the cost and the circumstance under which they were awarded. It is my opinion that this would not be good governance, and this is precisely why they should all be reviewed.
Let’s face it, these so-called business groupings are really lobbyists and pander to their monied patrons and have only one goal, to perpetuate the eroding economic control of an oligarchy over the national assets and aspirations of Bahamians.
They see any national progress or program as a threat to their waning supremacy. They don’t give a damn about the cost to the already overburdened Bahamian taxpayer that’s why they fight against minimum wage; they pay little to no real property taxes and allow their buildings on Bay Street to crumble and become fire hazards; they saw nothing wrong with how the former FNM administration gave away many of our assets to friends, lovers and cronies. Why, because that’s why they funded all the FNM political campaigns since 1987 and before to assist them in this nefarious scheme.
Now like rats flushed out by the Bahamian voters, these miscreants are fleeing for the exits but, leaving their pestilent droppings behind. These scrotes expect that it will be business as usual once the election clamour dies down; well, that’s a pipe dream. A yet unquantified amount of economic and reputational damage has been done to this country over the past four and a half years and its perpetrators and any unlawful beneficiaries must be brought to account. Unlike the failed and disgraced former FNM administration the new administration has a plan. The new administration shared their plans in detail with the Bahamian people before the last general elections. Bahamians liked the plan of hope, economic rejuvenation, help and the restoration of our national pride.
We thoroughly and comprehensively rejected the FNM and its money men with their false narratives and nastiness and look forward to the new day in our country. And we een checking for these paid and discredited Nattering Nabobs of Negativism nor their minions.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Brown
