The time for action:
Bahama Journal Editorial -
Nassau, Bahamas:

The public needs to know the names of those men and women who wish to be law-makers in The Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

Voters who would vote in the next general elections –whenever these are called- need to have some idea as to who will get their nod of approval.

We are today quite persuaded that a lot of Bahamians are sick and tired of the waiting game to which they have been invited; courtesy the leadership and high command in both major political parties.

The people have a pressing need to know –sooner rather than later- just who is coming their way.

This may well explain why so very many of them are still to be counted as being in the ranks of the "unregistered, yet eligible to vote" crew.

They –too- can and will make their own real impact on the outcome of the next general elections. Put otherwise, it is in no one’s interest for any significant number of potential electors to be ‘turned off’ or tuned out.

This would be a most unfortunate turn of events; threatening the perceived legitimacy of the entire democratic process in a post-Independence Bahamas.

One of the more interesting facts of life in the political world is the truth that is to be found in the proposition that elections can be won and that these contests for power can also be lost.

Depending on who you talk to on any given day, you could get the feeling that General Elections could be called any day now. And yet again, depending on who you talk to on any given day, the outcome of those general elections is seen as a done deal for the incumbent Progressive Liberal Party.

Interestingly, there is another view that suggests a very different outcome. Those Bahamians who are not persuaded that there is any ‘done deal’ for anyone are persuaded that the outcome of the next elections is no such thing.

Neither major party has a lock on the support of a clear majority of voters who will vote.

Each party will be obliged to fight for the support of those voters who vote independently.

It is also a foregone conclusion that media –radio, television, print and the internet- will play their own uniquely important parts in this Bahama drama.

Public that is far from naïve does not take kindly to a party governing or in Opposition- that appears to be dithering and dawdling on a matter as important as the one concerning candidates. And as important, it is absolutely important that the parties concerned choose wisely.

But even as the two major parties play take their own sweet time, they need to be reminded that life goes on. Here reference is made to the fact that even as they put the finishing touches on their choices, some political operatives are running their own side-show campaigns.

Some of these games are resonating with a public that needs to be awakened from its slumber.

For our part, we want to see a campaign that is focused on track record in and out of office. It should also be one where character and competence are seen to count; and for sure the campaign should be one that is conducted as if sobriety, reasoned debate and real vision do matter.

Put otherwise, we want a campaign that is conducted in the light; and not one where the truth is left to the tender mercies of those remorseless liars and spin masters who would insist that you call this putrid stuff public relations.

Our country is too small and its social bonds far too fragile for this kind of garbage.

We repeat that there should be no space in this matter for those who would dispense with the truth and get down into the gutter and make charges and allegations.

Wherever and whenever there are allegations of impropriety, the person bringing forward the allegation should have the decency to "put up or shut up."

The time has come for action on the matter involving who will run.

But we also counsel some and caution all that no one should be so cocky as to believe that they or their party are entitled to rule.

In the ultimate analysis, the people will have the government of their choice.

30 January 2007