By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Digital Editor

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net 

UNIVERSITY of The Bahamas Assistant professor Dr Danny Davis yesterday questioned whether it will require another pandemic to standardise the use of Bahamian expertise over foreign talent as academics convened for the start of a four-day conference on the Future of Democracy.

In his opening presentation, pointedly titled “The Bahamas Needs Another Pandemic,” Dr Davis noted that when COVID-19 shut borders and foreign consultants were unavailable, Bahamian professionals proved they had the expertise to deliver.

“I had the point that if the COVID had only affected The Bahamas, we would have brought in consultants,” he told The Tribune.

“But because it was a global pandemic, we couldn’t bring in consultants because those consultants were busy helping themselves. And so, again, another example of just believe in ourselves. We need to believe in ourselves, and we can get it done.”

From vaccine rollouts to moving university courses online, the lecturer and Assistant Vice President of Institutional Strengthening & Accreditation furthered that the reliance on homegrown talent to advance the nation should be standard practice, not a crisis exception.

He called on officials to institutionalise reliance on Bahamian professionals to slow brain drain and build sustainable systems, adding that once the borders reopened the country “tragically reverted” to outsourcing.

“We only respond and we only recognise the talent that’s in [The Bahamas] when we have a crisis, and I use the COVID example, and the online courses, as examples of where we’ve done that to our detriment in a way, by not recognising, not providing a fertile soil for the cultivation of these [students] that we generate as a university.”

Dr Davis also pointed to the vaccine rollout as an example of how data-driven decisions improved outcomes, from opening new centres to managing appointments, and questioned whether those lessons were effectively being applied today.

“My point is that even now with the childhood vaccination programme, we are not using the skills and knowledge that we gained during COVID,” said Dr Davis, an assistant professor in UB’s Chemistry department.

“That programme is going to come under threat fairly soon. We need to be ready to proactively position our mothers and fathers to bring their children in to get vaccinated. This is why we need to do this. Some of those things from COVID definitely will help us be successful.”

For its 4th installment, the annual conference turns its focus to ‘Social and Economic Justice, and Political Accountability in The Bahamas’.

Pointing the lens towards the institution, Dr Davis highlighted how over the 50-year history of the university and then College of The Bahamas, the selection of commencement speakers demonstrated a predilection for foreign success. His research found the majority of featured speakers were Bahamians recognised for success abroad, rather than those who excelled at home.

“The data shows that we’ve been predominantly using the individuals who were successful abroad as our speakers,” Dr Davis said.

“So we are sort of implicitly supporting or sending this message of foreign is better and I think we shouldn’t be a part of that message.

“This notion of us having to go abroad to establish yourself, no, we should be building our country with these skill sets. And I’m making the point that we do have the skill sets.

“People need an opportunity. We do have the brainpower. because [Bahamians] are successful abroad. So why couldn’t they be successful here?”

For Dr Davis, democracy is stronger when the nation demonstrates that its believes in local expertise and creates opportunities for professionals to thrive at home.

“People need an opportunity, he added.

“So it’s just an appeal. I’m not saying that we don’t use Bahamians as consultants what I’m saying is that we need to have institutionalised so it can be to the same extent that we saw during COVID.”