EDITOR, The Tribune.

2019 will go down as one of the toughest years for the average Bahamian. Yes, there are pockets of apparent success but I am certain that there are more Bahamians today who are worse off than they would have been a year or two ago. The misery index, in my view, has gone through the roof. It has been announced that the annual labour survey will not include Abaco for the first time in years.

No doubt, the passage of Dorian a few months ago has impacted the facts on the ground. Be that as it may, unemployment and the basic costs of living have gone up tremendously under the Minnis regime. One may say whatever he/she likes about the old PLP then led by Brother Christie but at least the average Bahamian could have found a job, no matter how menial and was able to eke out a semi-miserable life. Not so today. In today’s Bahamas it is a debilitating and depressing concern to simply keep a roof over one’s head and to provide the basic essentials for one’s self and loved ones.

As we round out 2019 this winter is one of discontent. In 2017 I venture to suggest that almost 56% of the electorate voted for the then opposition FNM.....not that they were actually members or supporters of that entity but because we had to get rid of Christie and his inner sanctum. With a new leader at the helm, the PLP has bounced back, big time. Yes, the New Deal PLP is a work in progress – one is almost able to feel the vibrancy and see the resurgence of this iconic and beloved political force.

Everything has gone up except employment and wages in the private sector. Many of our traditional unions are up in arms. Medical doctors have had to suffer the indignity of withdrawing their labour so as to drive home some basic complaints to the Ministry of Health and the Most Hon Prime Minister. The Teachers Union members are disgruntled despite the Minister of Education being a teacher of sorts. The hotel workers are grousing and walking off the job. Police and Defence Force officers are agitated over any number of issues. The Minister of National Security appears to be on a personal vendetta relative to high ranking officers in both branches.

Within the ranks of the FNM itself two members have crossed the floor. Some opine that gutless McAlpine will soon do the same but this is unlikely in my view. For many years this man of the cloth was hanging around the PLP seeking a nomination, which he never got. He’s in the House now and he knows that he cannot and will not receive a renomination next time around. It might not matter anyhow because snow will fall in Hell, I submit, before this hated regime is re-elected in 2022. Grand Bahama more than likely will go yellow with all five seats over there.

This is the winter of discontent and unless the Lord continues to tarry Minnis and crew will be gone sooner rather than later. You noticed that with the knuckle-headed Attorney General this regime has not been able to successfully prosecute several high profiled criminal and legal cases. The bumbling antics of that outfit are compelling reasons why the AG should be decent and offer his resignation. At least one cabinet minister had the gall to lash out at the FNM regime for not doing enough, fast enough for countless Bahamians.

The winter of discontent has set in and with the oncoming frost and snow, 2020 will be an even colder one than this year. I predict an increase in the rate for VAT; stamp duty; NIB contributions; electrical and other utility rates and fees for housing dead people at the morgue. No one, least of all me, is or should be happy to witness, right before our very eyes, the political demise of this heartless government.

To distract the wrath of the unwashed masses Minnis and them are now proposing, as a political sop, to decriminalise small amounts of marijuana, and more hiring in an already top heavy civil service. The FNM is fast becoming known as the party of fruit cakes and master deceivers. In my opinion they are leftist leaning and taxing people to death to fund pie in the sky projects and to line up the ducks. No winter, however, lasts forever. A brand new era of sunshine is just around the corner.

ORTLAND H BODIE, Jr

Nassau,

December 14, 2019.