Excellent thinking Mr. Malcolm. However, that would require the Government giving up majority rule (in their minds) - and they would rather have citizens standing in soup lines on the streets than to do that.

The economy will eventually solve the problem, and the Government will give in and agree to abide by the Agreement. However, I believe much more starvation and murder will occur over the next year or two before they come to that realization.

AMEN!...Mr. Barry Malcolm has indeed said a mouthful, is absolutely correct, but still only scratches the surface with this story.

The stagnating circumstances in Freeport are well known, and have been stifling growth there for decades.

Nassau and the rest of the country however are no different. Foreign and local Investors alike are frustrated to no end trying to do business in this country.

Governments' investment board machinery simply does not function.

Investors with experience and fully capitalized projects and proposals are unable to even get a response or acknowledgment from government on projects.

The Sony Corp' debacle is a prime example of governments' incompetence in dealing with potential investors, and there are many more I know of personally that simply throw their hands up in total frustration and move onto other jurisdictions.

This situation is not new. Both PLP and FNM are guilty of gross negligence in dealing with investors. This gross incompetence is the main reason why the Bahamas has fallen from the number one sun destination in the region to no position at all.

Prime Minister Christie was on the right track in his first term in office by implementing and investment board authority. Then along came Hubert Ingraham who dismantled the investment board as one of his very first acts as new Prime Minister...a stupid, dumb decision that cost us greatly as the country fell farther and farther behind in tourism, banking and foreign direct investment.

The PLP are literally inundated to date with investment proposals of which they have proven to be totally incapable of remotely dealing with even a small fraction of.

Government should pull their heads out of their ass's, acknowledge they are overwhelmed, and utilize the services of some of the local accounting firms to assist in vetting investment proposals instead of burying their heads in the sand and causing perfectly good potential to simply walk away.

It is totally unacceptable that Bahamians are starving while the country continue to lose investors, business and jobs because government is too arrogant seek help.

Mr. Barry Malcolm and other capable Bahamians should be retained to assist government in breaking the gridlock with investment proposals.

Unbelievable levels of incompetence abounds in both PLP and FNM administrations.

goverment does want to get out of approving projects ,how else would they shake down investors and make them give shares to people like tiger the ex talior as their front ,,,the only thing we got lately is the Chinese that went all over the region trying to buy votes in the united nation,,and we sold them ours ,,

Mr. MALCOM FOR PRIME MINISTER , Finally someone willing to address the situation of idiotic internal government policies and business incompotence of our leaders.. Tax and spend is all they know how to do.. the government is like a vampire sucking the life out of us.. Mr. Malcom it good to know there are free thinking Free market capitalist willing to speak up..

when 1 in 4 work for the public purse you have to tax and borrow like vultures ,,,you can,t keep making and "graduating " more undereducated children then the economy can absorb and expect not to turn out like Jamaica and Haiti ,,and lets not babble on about imaginary unfeasible industries ,the proof is before our eyes all over the region ,,,

I highly second Mr. Malcolm for Prime Minister. However the PLP and FNM are long played out.

We need to look to Bermudas' as an example of creating a 3rd party and what needs to done politically in this country to get moving again.

Thank you PLP & FNM for all you have done. However, both of you are dead in the water and proven incapable of doing what is necessary to the country forward.

see above post ,,,,then compare to countries w / stable birthrates ,,2 or 3 children per couple ,,ie netherlands etc ,,,,,,then look at crime and poverty w / countries and people w/ high illegitamacy ,duckin daddy birthrates ,,the numbers don,t lie ,,

All who have posted above need to go back and read the article again.

It is M. Rob Millard who has made the majority of the recommendations.

Yes Mr. Malcolm has made some good points but Rob Millard has also done so.

It is a shame that they were not successful in their bid to take over shares in the GBPA,

Freeport may have been a different place today..

@ Jackflash. Thank you sincerely for the acknowledgement, for which I am truly grateful …. but the work was VERY MUCH a team effort. What I did was to design and facilitate a strategic planning process that combined widespread grassroots consultation with detailed desktop and field research with some quite complex and intense financial and economic modeling. Credit for the recommendations must be heavily shared with Barry Malcolm and many other Bahamians who contributed very substantively to executing that process …. some openly; others unfortunately only upon condition that their contributions remained anonymous. (These were difficult times. Litigation between the GBPA owners was in full swing. Hutchison Whampoa sought to buy the same assets. The Prime Minister was not favourably disposed towards our client. So, it was difficult for some to be open about their views on the future of Freeport.)

Of all the wonderful memories that I have of the work we did, some of the most humbling and meaningful are those of grassroots meetings in church halls and other community venues with quiet, serious-faced everyday Bahamians whose greatest concerns were about getting food onto their tables and raising their children with the right values and giving them a better chance in life. These discussions left the whole project team determined that the Freeport that we sought to design for our client was specifically focused on their needs, too. To his/their credit, our client had very clearly told us, repeatedly, that what they wanted to achieve had to significantly benefit the lives of everyday Bahamians too, so we were able to build that overtly into the plan.

None of this would have been possible without Barry. He had to withdraw professionally from the project when he became CEO of ScotiaBank Bahamas, in order to protect his new employer’s interests and because of his fiduciary duty to focus exclusively on that role. His wisdom and insight remained an essential ingredient in the work, though. So too that of Sarah Kirkby, Janet Albury, Dr Olivia Saunders and Michael Rolle, amongst others. Also that of NERA, PwC and others who contributed key economic and financial perspectives. Regarding Barry Malcolm personally, I should add that in my opinion, he has as deep an understanding of Bahamian politics and economics, coupled with as deep a love of the Bahamas and his fellow-Bahamians, as anybody that I have ever met.

Yes, it is a pity that the global financial crisis of 2009 coupled with the level of resistance to his efforts that he encountered put paid to our client’s initiative. That does not mean that the opportunity to progress what was started then is also gone, though. In the words of John F Kennedy: *“Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”*

@Rob - Where can I get a copy?

Is the reference here to the old flemming report or recent research?