Bahamians have to be some of the most negative people in the world. Look through today’s newspapers many ads for quality jobs. The reality is tourism has never been so good. We are on the cusp sans a recession in the United States of an economic boom. There is so much opportunity, by the end of the year this will have filled down throughout the economy and touched every Bahamian household. Look at almost a billion dollars foreign investment in the pipeline for the next two years. Yes things have been bad for a long time but the dawn always comes and as we say in the islands day has done clear. Open your eyes, seize the opportunity it is there.

What a sham and waste of hot air. We all know there is no accountability for rogue cops in this country, they are protected and can abuse and even kill with impunity. We need an independent investigative commission made up of lay professionals and even that will probably not work, this country is too corrupt to expect justice.

Pathetic. No accountability. No Justice. No peace.

It also makes great business sense for companies to have as many shareholders as possible as this creates loyal customers. I patronize those businesses that I own stock in and offers shares to Bahamians. I therefore buy my gas from Shell, never from Rubis. Why should I help a foreign company that does not give a damn about me when I could help a Bahamian one I am a shareholder of? I know that with every purchase I am benefiting in the sale. I rather shop at Solomon’s than at supervalue. If Mr. Roberts had an IPO for supervalue he would have a built in base of very loyal shareholders who are also customers.

It is an interesting story you were told and there may be some truth to it but I suspect very little. The facts are that commonwealth bank has more than 4000 different individual Bahamian shareholders, the Arawak Port over 10000. Those are not inconsequential numbers in a population as small as ours and could be much larger if the government cared more about stock ownership and wealth equality.

For those wise and lucky Bahamians who hold on to their shares long term, share ownership can be financially liberating and life changing. It has certainly changed my life. I bought into Bahamian companies with the earnings from my first paychecks, very small amounts, but consistently month after month, year after year. As Albert Einstein said the most powerful force in the universe is compound interest. I was able to retire after only working 13 years. What I did any Bahamian with a modest income, frugal lifestyle and discipline along with investing savvy and some luck can achieve, but it would have been impossible without the opportunity to invest in Bahamian companies and by extension BISX.

I must say I know very little about the structure or terms of our entry into WTO. It shows that the government has done a terrible job explaining it to the Bahamian people. I am certainly in the camp that is sceptical that the pros will outweigh the cons. But I am confident that we have the discretion to mandate a certain level of Bahamian ownership in these companies if there is the political will to do it. The United States is in the WTO and prohibits more than 25% foreign ownership in any domestic airline carrier. I would imagine there are many other examples of this.

I am sure too that as broad a base of Bahamian ownership in these companies is the way to go. It simply empowers the average Bahamian to have an opportunity to share in the wealth creation in this country. It makes no sense to restrict a local market so a few individuals can reap the profits of artificially high protectionist restrictions that raise the cost of living throughout the country and they refuse to allow others who pay the cost of these subsidies to benefit as well. Government needs to do more to incentivize firms to offer shares to the public.

It is time to move on from having a few wealthy families dominate retail in this country. It amounts to a subsidy where the profits are restricted to the very few. Meanwhile the masses pay a higher price than they would otherwise. Let these large foreign conglomerates enter the market and because of economies of scale prices will fall. Perhaps institute a regulation where at least 50% of the shares in these companies are offered to the Bahamian public. As it is now these private firms are very tightly held and it leads to the widening income inequality we are facing today.

Case in point is Mr. Roberts who is the largest shareholder in commonwealth bank which IPO ed in 2000 and has thousands of Bahamian shareholders benefiting from its success. It allows a very wide base of Bahamians to benefit from the economic pie. Supervalue on the other hand does not. To encourage firms to be listed on BISX those that meet a certain threshold ( say at least 25% public ownership and at least 1000 Bahamian shareholders) should pay a far lower business license fee than those firms that hoard profits in the hands of the few.

What an absolutely beautiful man who I had the privilege to know well. His kindness to me and my family is a debt I can never repay. Our nation has lost one of its finest sons. A short story illustrates the grace of this man. I was in the office of a very prominent surgeon. He knew of my relationship with Monsignor so he asked about him, thinking he only casually knew father, I told him how he was the most talented, spiritual, warm priest had ever met. I told him how he was born to be a priest and went on. The surgeon listened to my soliloquy, and when I finished he smiled and gave me his experience of the man simply saying “He is love.” It was my turn to shut up and listen as he related that Monsignor was his friend, confidante and refuge in his very busy, stressful life.

What a life throughly well lived! He also was a wonderful cook, great writer and poet, charismatic homilist, loved telling jokes and pulling pranks always ending in his warm and easy smile, was passionate about everything culturally and indigenously Bahamian (he was enamoured with the Fox Hill community and silk cotton trees). And I could go on and on.

Quite simply though he can be described best in three words, “He is Love”.

Maybe so.

We should have a strict mandatory retirement age for all civil servants, one that can only be extended for very few individuals only under exceptional circumstances, perhaps only on the approval of cabinet. This will help with the unemployment situation in the country as well.