<\/a>We are told that since the Christie government\uffb4s election more than a year ago, there have been no more than two Immigration Board meetings on these applications. At least that was the situation up to June\uff97 two months ago. We have no reason to believe they have bestirred themselves to hold any meetings since then.<\/P><\/p>\nMany residents blame the Immigration department \uff97 the civil servants \uff97 for the delay. However, the blame is misplaced. The Immigration Board is not the civil service, it is the Cabinet \uff97 the very heart of government. <\/P><\/p>\n
We are told that these applications have to come before the Cabinet \uff97 even spousal permits, which under the Ingraham government were treated as automatic after the couple had lived together for five years.<\/P><\/p>\n
In nothing that is done is there any sense of urgency, or appreciation that because of delays a person\uffb4s life or business has to be put on hold until a government official makes a decision. There seems to be no appreciation that in most instances \uff93time is of the essence\uff94 and contracts can be lost because precious time was lost. Mr Christie as a lawyer should understand what this can mean.<\/P><\/p>\n
For example, we were recently told that it could take up to a year to probate a will. We know of a will that took seven months to probate, and the persons involved, although they thought it an unacceptable length of time to wait, were pleased they had got it under a year.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93How can a family carry on a business,\uff94 commented a lawyer recently, \uff93when his children can\uffb4t get his will probated?\uff94<\/P><\/p>\n
And what does government care. The dead hand of inefficiency is felt by almost every business in this country. There are so many ways that private enterprise is held back, either by the slow pace of various government departments or government\uffb4s lack of a broad vision for the country.<\/P><\/p>\n
Recently, we have heard too many young Bahamians, who have so much talent to offer this country, say they have to get out because they feel their dreams are being smothered by narrow-minded bureaucracy.<\/P><\/p>\n
It is such a shame.<\/P><\/p>\n
In the tourism business we have heard that communication between the Ministry of Tourism and the Tourism Board has never been worse.<\/P><\/p>\n
During the last administration the Ministry of Tourism and the Tourism Board would pool their advertising resources so as not to duplicate and thus waste precious dollars.<\/P><\/p>\n
There was a concerted effort and a joint plan to use government\uffb4s and private enterprise\uffb4s tourism dollars to best advantage in a joint promotional strategy.<\/P><\/p>\n
We understand that these lines of communication have now broken down and the private sector \uff93hasn\uffb4t a clue\uff94 what is going on.<\/P><\/p>\n
In other words, they are each going their separate ways. As anyone with an iota of business sense knows this means that there is now wastage of public funds that we are constantly being reminded should be managed prudently.<\/P><\/p>\n
Not too long ago Prime Minister Christie was describing the ingredients of a true leader.
\nHe said the test of leadership is not to feel insecure about one\uffb4s job or position, but to allow those around the table to blossom into their own.<\/P><\/p>\n
Mr Christie might be content to allow a certain amount of blossoming, but this can\uffb4t be allowed to go on at the country\uffb4s expense.<\/P><\/p>\n
In the end there is only one man who can hold the political fibre together and that is the leader. He can listen to the opinions of others, and weigh the advice that is given, but in the end there is only one man who can make the decision \uff97 the leader, not those spreading their wings and blossoming around him. There has to be a strong tug from the centre to keep the whole together. The Bahamas is getting too much \uff93blossoming\uff94 and not enough of a strong tug forward from the leader.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93Vision is not enough, it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs,\uff94 said Vaclav Havel, president of the Czech republic.
<\/p>\n
The Bahamas needs a prime minister who is prepared to lead his people up those stairs. <\/P><\/p>\n
Editorial, The Tribune<\/B>
\n
September 1, 2003<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Vision is not enough, it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs, said Vaclav Havel, president of the Czech republic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243971\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}