By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas “lacks enough good people to right the ship”, a leading governance reform advocate said yesterday, as it continues to lose more than two-thirds of its brightest minds every year.

Robert Myers, a principal with the Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG), said he had been informed by College of the Bahamas (COB) professors that 70 per cent of their graduates headed for jobs overseas.

With just 25 per cent of Bahamian high school graduates moving on to tertiary education, Mr Myers added that this nation was retaining less than one-third of those best-placed to become this nation’s next generation of entrepreneurs, managers and political leaders.

He warned that if the Bahamas was to successfully implement far-reaching financial and governance reforms, and resolve its growing debt crisis, it needed to reverse this ‘brain drain’ and convince citizens living abroad to return home.

“There aren’t enough good people, quality people in this country because of the poor education that has persisted for so many years,” Mr Myers told Tribune Business.

“There aren’t enough people in the country to right the ship. That’s going to require convincing some of our brain drain over the last 20-30 years to come back to the Bahamas and invest in getting the country back on its feet.

“We’re losing, and according to professors at the College of the Bahamas, 70 per cent of their graduates are not coming back, as there are no opportunities for them.”

Mr Myers added that the ‘brain drain’s’ impact was even worse when the relatively low level of high school graduates going on to university and college was considered.

Given that these persons accounted for just 25 per cent of school leavers, the figures suggest the ‘best and brightest’ account for just 10-15 per cent of the Bahamian population.

“We are only starting to see the depths of the problems this country faces,” Mr Myers told Tribune Business. “If it can’t attract the educated people to come back and run the businesses and institutions of this country, it’s going to fall flat on its face.

“If we can’t find educated Bahamians, we have to look at foreigners, whether we like it or not. We have to start opening up to the idea that we need help.

“If we had good leadership and management in place, we will not be having these problems.”

Mr Myers said the Bahamas’ latest slip in the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ rankings to 121st spot “is a good indication that there’s a lot of sub-par leadership and management in the system”.

The Bahamas has slipped consistently in those rankings, and Mr Myers said the decline had its roots in a variety of governance, education and economic factors.

“I don’t know if the citizenry of the country understands the depths of the issues, the problems,” he added.

“There’s no one thing causing our ailments; it’s a combination of a number of things that are causing the decline of our socio-economic indicators.”

Mr Myers said the keys were to improve Bahamian educational achievement, and enhance efficiency, transparency and accountability in governance. Otherwise, he warned, crime will continue to rise, and economic output (GDP), unemployment and the ‘ease of doing business’ will further contract.

“If we don’t have political parties that are making these things number one, two, three, four and five on their manifestos and agendas,” Mr Myers said of the governance issues, “they really they have no business being in government.

“Because if we don’t fix these things, it will be to our peril.... There’s no discussion of public sector reform, fiscal reform, accountability, transparency and efficiency. It’s just not happening fast enough. It’s irresponsible.

“The public should be outraged at any political party that does not have these things high on their agenda A party without those on their agenda is just not worth voting for.

“The only thing we should be focused on is to get the Government and leadership to roll up their sleeves and change the direction of our governance.”

Mr Myers likened the Bahamas to an aircraft that was “nose down and headed to disaster, and we have to pull the nose up if we’re to have any chance of saving the aircraft.

“Once it hits the ground, it’s all over. That plane is never going to fly again. If we graze the ground, and don’t smack into it, we may be able to recover, but if we can’t get the pilot and crew in place that recognises we need to pull up, it will be a disaster. I don’t see that happening.”

The ORG principal said the Bahamas could not now merely settle for maintaining the “status quo”, and needed to improve in multiple areas if it was to remain a competitive economy and attract foreign direct investment (FDI).

“The goal must be to improve,” Mr Myers told Tribune Business. “Anything that indicates we are not improving, and the status quo remains, is a very serious problem. We need significant improvement in all sectors mentioned.

“We’ve said before that to be standing still is to be left behind. Other countries trying to improve and do right by their citizens are going to leave us behind. Those countries that want to do right for their citizens are going to improve, and we’re going to be left behind.”