"Some Say Paranoid, and I Say Victim" The Bahamian Political Tragedy and A System In Need of Change.

"The faces may have changed, but the policies and structure of the past system of oppression have not dismantled the oppressive economic and ugly political structures of the past that divided Bahamians into (have and have nots). The secrecy of how we are governed is still the nemesis in the darkroom of political corruption. The politics of state victimization and petty disregard of anything Bahamian is still the old enemy of The Common Good. As a result, the people are losing faith in our democracy."

With Out An Official Response From The Minnis Administration, And After Months of Uncertainty and Much Frustration. BASIC, However, Understands That The Proposal To Update The Vehicle Inspection Services in The Bahamas Would Not Be Accepted.

As A Result, The Team At BASIC and Our International Partners, Sadly and Regrettably, Have To Announce Our Effort In The Bahamas Is Officially Abandoned.

To The 100s Of Bahamians Who Submitted Their Employment Information, We Appreciate Your Effort and Interest In Wanting to Be a Part Of This Cost Saving and Life-Saving Improvement Safety Effort in The Bahamas; for Bahamians.

Again, We Are Thankful For Your Support.

BASIC

There is nothing in the rules and procedures that cover today's modern motor vehicles for safety efficiency. The vehicle safety testing that follows the International Road Safety Testing Standards (that the Bahamas is a signatory) for safety efficiency are non-existing; even the manual vehicle stopping distance test is null void and failed to be carried out. There are still existing "headlamp" (and not headlights) testing, a wall-mounted plywood piece on the wall installed in 1954. Furthermore, the ONLY reference to safety in your rules and procedures is "Reflector" there was the addition of the word roadworthiness, and there in itself, is a contradiction by definition and current operation. ...so many of us are keepers of Petty Grudges riding down on the backs of Bahamians, stagnating progress or are accomplices to some other selfish if not duplicitous agenda.

A properly functioning brake or turning signal serves no one's interest but the lives saved when these simple safety instruments function properly and are maintained, as they should. A 45 - 55 dollar annual safety check of these motor machinery "would be minimal" in comparison to the now high rate of medical care.

As a country, we need to study, seriously and act upon the "self-hate" and defeatist assumption we have for each other, or when "it's a Bahamian" is mentioned or anything to move our country forward, it becomes a thing dejected; something is very wrong with this behaviour. The top aquaculture producing countries (Vietnam, Thailand and China) have the much more devastating annual typhoons, and they pack up, batter down and have survived each year, bounce back and carry on; why not do the same for the Bahamas?

Why are we losing these opportunities? Why is the stagnation in our growth - from 1967 to now, the number of game houses and the striping company is the extent of the black Bahamian Industrial Growth.

Would you please ask yourself who long can we survive on a $21,000

The Bahamas Exports $1.316 billion (2017 est.), but Imports $9.097 billion (2017 est.) seafood products included.

Fisheries is an over 200 Billion Dollar Industry, and The Bahamas has one thing that our nearest next competitor don't have - our proximity to the world largest seafood market @ 133 Billion Dollars; In 2016, U.S. fisheries supported 1.7 million jobs and contributed $212 billion in sales.

https://www.fishwatch.gov/sustainable-s…

"I just don't get it."

Failure by the Attorney General’s Office, again! and this would be failure number what? It sounds like someone should be fired for incompetence.

The size of a project that employs 10 - 20,000 persons is the size intended to run that industry and should not be an object of anyone subjective opinion. A BahaMah, Kerzner or Sandles are not told that they should downsize because that industry needs 5,000 employees (to clean, greet, feed, entertain and manage and provide safety for its guess) or asked to split the work into phases and prove each phase before expanding.

One commercial size aquaculture site that is providing a complete culture cycle “from the egg to the plate” and its many areas of expertise (hatchery, nursery, grow-out, feeding, cleaning, testing, monitoring, harvesting, sizing, gutting, washing, checking, packing, boxing, labelling, order fulfilment, cold storage, processing, shipping logistics - administration, security and management) will consider 20,000 employees small in comparison to the market demand.

The three critical advantages the Bahamas have over the nearest competitor in the seafood industry are:

Proximity
Proximity
Proximity

Not to mention the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), Sustainability and Food Safety. Environmental challenges in the gulf and fishing restrictions everywhere else make the Bahamas ideal for this development.

The global demand is for fresh (Fresh, Never Frozen) seafood, which the Bahamas (and the Caribbean) can fulfil, ideally.

When the IDB is telling The Bahamas (it must implement several policy reforms to develop its “blue economy”), it’s not referring to “Split the work into phases and prove each phase before expanding”.

The question to ask this administration “why not give full support to build this industry” or who are the politicians are protecting, or is it the dark face of our nemesis; the “White Guy” who must come into building the industry because Bahamians are still victims of the culture of the ugly grudge of self-hate that has marginalised us to where we are now.

"Aquaculture and ocean-related biotechnology have not been properly exploited" is only the tip of the "poor attitude mountain" this administration and its managers have Re: industrial aquaculture development in the Bahamas and, in fact, any development by Bahamians, as it were.

I recently had to abandon my discussion with this Administration because of its lack of vision, disrespect and the careless attitude I encountered, presenting what could become a major challenge to the industry leaders in the multi-billion dollar global export seafood industry. And what I can only conclude as a petty grudge or just a simple hatred for things Bahamian.

Globally the Blue Economy has an annual value of at least $2.5 trillion each year from the combination of fishing and aquaculture, shipping, tourism, and other activities. But the vision this Government have of Bahamians in this regard is what was said to me "Bite-Size" that you must start small and that you are too big-eyed for having the big vision of creating an industry that can easily employ 10 - 20,000 Bahamians in the Modern Aquaculture and Marine related industry.

Lately, I have learnt that millions of dollars are made available for Bahamians, as recently noted by our Ambassador Maria O’Brien The Bahamas will gain access to the $100 million Climate Services and Related Applications Programme, which supports development in agriculture and food security, health, water, disaster risk reduction and energy and is a key part of building the country’s ability to reduce the impact of the climate crisis and increasingly powerful hurricanes.

O’Brien said: “There are many programs available for Bahamians from EU-funded organizations, and with a skilled team of technical officers who can perform at a high level in Brussels, we can do even more for the country.

Ambassador Maria O’Brien and her staff are doing an excellent job of bringing forward solutions that have been available to Bahamians for years, which eases the frustration of the private sector who may not qualify for funding assistants in areas like aquaculture from traditional financial institutions.

But the sad reality for Bahamians seeking to develop industry in small island nations like The Bahamas; where assistance from funding countries and institutions become available to politically motivated administrations. The funding received is nothing more than campaign money for the sitting political party, whose view is to get maximum coverage from a few dollars while ignoring the more sustainable and more viable option of developing industry and employment - over party agenda, personal legacy and misguided ambition.

To this end, I support the IDB position that “upon compliance with a set of policy reforms” that promote sustainable investment in The Bahamas’ marine industries and “strengthen the legal and institutional framework” for promoting an ocean-based economy. Describing the arrangement as a “policy-based guarantee”,

And there I was thinking that my PTI Project was the only Bahamian created industry that this administration trashed and its leadership accused of fronting by Mr Bethel. Then laughed at after being invited to make a presentation before the Cabinet of The Bahamas.

My PTI (Vehicle Safety Inspection) Project would create 300 new jobs for Bahamians and save lives; and provide the Road Traffic Department with 12 service locations throughout the Bahamas, at no cost to the Bahamian People.

PTi in the Bahamas would ensure that the motoring public follow internationally accepted guidelines for safe driving. An example of how PTi saves lives: An industrial-sized vehicle would never be allowed to operate on public streets without the universally agreed necessary reflective apparatus or parked in a motoring lane without clear and advanced "Danger Approaching" warning signs.