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Address by
the Right Honourable Perry Gladstone Christie
Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas
To
The College of The Bahamas
On the Occasion
of the
Launch of the
National Policy Research Fellowship Programme
Wednesday,
November 29, 2006
Bahamas
Tourism Training Centre
The
report of the United Nations’ World Commission on Environment and
Development known as ‘Our Common Future’,… states that
sustainable development is that which "meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs”.
Ladies
and Gentlemen:
We
gather today on this historic occasion to launch an initiative that
holds the potential to spark further growth and development of our
nation.
What
is even more valuable, it is a programme, which can help to ensure
that the advances made in our time are hallmarked by quality and are
sustainable for the benefit of generations of Bahamians to come.
We are
here because we are fully committed to building the capacity of our
nation to examine itself, renew and advance itself among the
right-thinking powers of the world.
Today,
we are constructing yet another platform that will provide those
future Bahamians with the means to meet the needs of their time.
We
must, however, keep to the forefront of our minds that development,
to be sustained, must be intrinsic and not imposed.
In
other words, development must well up from the most ardent desires
of the people; it must be a natural offshoot of the country’s
ability to adapt to the changes taking place within our borders and
beyond them.
Historically, changes that have been forced upon a people have not
been maintained. In fact, that which is imposed tends to produce
discontent, disintegration and a disconnect between the well-meaning
change agent and the subjects of the change.
It
becomes apparent, then, that research into geography, history,
culture and all the other aspects of national identity—will be a
point of solid articulation linking the initiators of change, the
necessary changes and those accepting change.
Research can, therefore, cause there to be a symbiotic, rather than
a conflicted relationship between development and the beneficiaries
thereof.
I
believe that this thought accords well with one of the notions
promoted by the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (UNESCO,
2001), which suggests that “development understood not
simply in terms of economic growth, but also as a means to achieve a
more satisfactory intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual
existence". This should emblazon in the hearts and on the banners of
all who march in the van of development—our efforts are vainglorious
without it.
In
other words, development in a developing country is less about
building a bigger national bank account than it is about building
the well-being of a people. Our focus as a developing, multicultural
nation must be to plan strategically our growth and development to
encompass a holistic and balanced approach, paying close attention
not only to economics, but also intellect, morality, spirituality.
To
accomplish this we must elevate the place of the thinkers in our
land, those who can analyze and strategize and produce original
thought.
We
must begin to appreciate and facilitate the production and
protection of intellectual capital. In this way we will join the
ranks of the developed countries that produce information and not
just consume it.
We
must begin to introduce and support a research-based culture, to the
point where our programmes, services, initiatives, investments are
based on concrete, sound, reliable evidence and not just on
experience and instinct alone.
This
separates the powerful from the powerless.
Recently, I came
across a beautiful proverb from Africa that is very relevant to the
current situation; and which I continually share:
“Until the lions
have their own authors, the tale will always be that of the
hunter.”
Until we can
understand and come to terms with our own reality, write our own
story, and generate our own information, we will forever be at the
mercy of those that do.
We need
institutions that will facilitate specific research needs and
support policy ideas in youth development, culture, tourism, anchor
projects, investments, financial services, education, social
services, policing and corrections, urban renewal and planning, just
to name a few.
The goal must be
to form research programmes of such quality that people from the
public and private sectors will recognize their worth and be
attracted to participate.
So I have come
here today to help you launch the National Policy Research
Fellowship Awards Programme that must become and I believe will
become, one of this country’s most trusted and hardworking servants
at this junction in our history and development.
I am fascinated
by history—to read it, hear it told and follow the threads of it to
see what accounts for the world as we know it today.
What is even
more amazing is that we live history daily, but many never realize
it. History is most often apprehended in backward looks and
sometimes never by the people who caused it to be.
As Prime
Minister of The Bahamas, I’m particularly interested in the forces,
people and decisions that have shaped, are shaping and will shape
the future of this country of ours.
A sample of
historical subjects that cry out for scholarly research at the
College of The Bahamas
There is a
lamentable dearth of Bahamian historiography and in
consequence there is an alarmingly high degree of ignorance about
our history at virtually all levels of our society, especially among
our young.
There are so
many important personalities, events episodes and places in our
history that merit scholarly research, writing and publication.
Permit me to
present a sampling of just some of the personalities that cry out
for in-depth research, writing and publication (in no particular
order):
Joseph Gould
Watkins:
he was one of the foremost civil rights activists in the early 19th
century, along with other men of colour like Stephen Dillet, James,
Thomas and Samuel Minns and John Boyd (who, incidentally, was the
first published poet in our history when his book “The Vision”
was published in London in 1834 by the well-known publishing house
of Longmann’s).
Watkins’ main
claim to historical fame, however, may lie in the fact that he was
an important link in the evolution of Bahamian Methodism out of the
local Church of England.
He was clearly a
prodigy because the records of the (Anglican) Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel (SPGA) reveal that at the age of 16 he was
already regarded as one of the most influential of all the local
Wesleyans.
Watkins would go
on to play a leading role in helping Methodism establish a
denominational identity separate and distinct from the Anglicanism.
In addition, he
would be headmaster for many years of “The Associates School”, one
of the few schools providing academic instruction for children of
the poorer classes in the early 19th century.
Watkins’ story
needs to be fully researched, written up and published!
Bert Williams
: long before Denzel Washington, long before Sidney Poitier, long
before even Paul Robeson, there was a man called Bert Williams, a
Bahamian, who achieved world-wide fame as a stage actor and
performer, especially in the United States in the early part of the
20th century.
He was a
trailblazer and an inspiration to successive generations of actors
of colour…..and he was a Bahamian! His story needs to be told!
R.M. Bailey:
he was a Barbadian who immigrated to The Bahamas. (As a point of
genealogical reference, he was the grandfather of Cleophas Adderley
Jr. and Helen Ebong and the great-great grandfather of Contanza
Adderley).
Although a
tailor by trade, he was another individual who was way ahead of his
time. He was one of the earliest proponents of secondary education
for the masses and was instrumental in getting in the Government
High School inaugurated in 1925.
Bailey’s tailor
shop on Dorchester Street was a gathering place for social
progressives and reform-minded thinkers.
Although he may
have been unlettered, R.M. Bailey was one of the intellectual giants
in the early 20th century Bahamas. His story also needs
to be told!
The role of
Bahamians in the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).
As you all know,
the UNIA was the institutional vehicle for Garveyism.
Next to the
Civil Rights movement that flowered in the 1960’s, there has never
been any greater expression of black consciousness and solidarity in
the United States than there was under Marcus Garvey in the 1920’s.
But how many of
us are aware of the great role that Bahamians played in the
development of the UNIA, especially in Florida, New York and
Philadelphia?
Perhaps foremost
in this regard was a Bahamian by the name of Frederick
Augustus Toote. Toote headed the UNIA in Philadelphia, who
sat on the highest executive councils of the organization and who
was generally regarded as one of the more influential associates of
Marcus Garvey.
Toote’s story –
and that of other prominent Bahamians in the UNIA (Joshua Cockburn
and Oscar E. Johnson among them) - needs to be told!
Dr. C.R. Walker:
he was a political radical, social progressive and brilliant
intellectual who was way ahead of his time in so many different
ways. Dr. Walker was an important figure in the early black
consciousness movement in The Bahamas, out of which would evolve the
struggle for political empowerment and Majority Rule.
You can’t
understand Pindling and his generation or indeed the present
generation of political leaders without going back in time to study
people like C.R. Walker (and others like T.A. Toote and L.W.
Young).
Walker’s story
needs to be told!
Frances
(“Mother” ) Butler:
She was the mother of the late, great National Hero, Sir Milo
Butler. What is perhaps less known, however, is that she was a
social heroine in her own right.
She was a
pioneering figure in the development of organized community support
for the poor and indigent way back in the early part of the 20th
century, primarily through the instrumentality of the Mothers Club
that she founded. Hers is a story that also cries out for in-depth
research and writing.
Rodney Bain
and the “Cat Island Enlightenment”:
This is really
one of the more remarkable and inspiring stories of the 20th
century Bahamas:
The story of how
Rodney Bain, the son of Ezekiel Bain (who for a time was the
representative in the House of Assembly for Andros) returned home in
the 1940’s with his white English wife – a wonderfully gifted lady
by the name of Gillian.
Rodney had been
well educated at university in England but because of his
interracial marriage he was “banished” by the establishment to Cat
Island, one of the most primitive and educationally deprived areas
of the colony at the time.
But the story of
what he was nonetheless able to accomplish almost single-handedly is
told by a roll call of that cadre of Cat Island men who, despite all
the odds, would rise to positions of great importance in our
country:…
The list
includes persons like Ambassador Dr. Davidson Hepburn, retired
Supreme Court Justice Joseph Strachan, and retired Commissioner of
Police B.K. Bonamy, among many others.
What an eloquent
testimony to what is sometimes referred to as “the Power of One”!
Rodney Bain’s story needs to be told!
There are so
many other important personalities whose life stories cry out for
full-scale biographical treatment.
I challenge you
to identify them, to research them, to write them up, to publish
them, and to disseminate them in a way that will bring them into the
classrooms and homes of our people, and around the world.
I have come to
say that you and I—the people of this country—are shaping history as
much as being shaped by it.
You and I have
the grand privilege to build a nation out of a country that now
stands at the flood destiny of which Shakespeare wrote of almost a
half a millennium ago.
I may be at the
helm, but if we are to catch the tide that leads on to fortune, I
need navigators with keen eyes on horizon, sextant and stars to help
me to steer a profitable course. You are and should be those
navigators.
This country is
in the thrall of history. Whether it will take us to developed
nation status in an ordered and peaceful manner or whether it will
break us will depend on the quality of the decisions we make,
especially regarding the paths we follow to development.
The philosophy
of my Government on development is to site what are being called
“anchor” projects throughout the archipelago to do exactly as the
title suggests—provide a stable economic base upon which other
concomitants of development can be grounded.
It is this same
reasoning that has given birth to the National Health Insurance
Bill, which makes provision for the building of polyclinics and
small hospitals through out our islands.
Right now,
hundreds of millions of dollars are being committed to anchor
projects in the form of foreign direct investment and, lately, many
have been questioning the wisdom of using FDI as a source of
development capital.
Many fear a
diminution of sovereignty that may be occasioned by unreasonable
demands investors may make of Government.
These are valid
and even vital questions that demand answers from those who direct
the development process.
The first
question is easy. The Bahamas, like many small island developing
states, has a limited range of options for development funding, a
fact that has direct bearing on the development schedule.
Foreign direct
investment is one of our major options and probably the best at this
time, if one considers the immediacy of our needs.
Bahamians in
such places as Ragged Island and Mayaguana, the people of Rum Cay,
Long Cay and others among our scattered brethren feel that they have
waited long enough to be brought into the 21st century,
on a basis of equality with their countrymen—and justly so.
The people of
Sweeting’s Cay and Moore’s Island, have the right to the same high
aspirations for themselves and their children as other Bahamians
hold.
This means that
the reality of development in a chain of islands is that access to
good water, to health services and schools, to good roads and to
jobs must be multiplied one hundred fold.
Governments
blessed with contiguity of landmass can rely on sharing resources,
electric grids, pipelines, security forces and all of the other
necessities for civil life.
We can’t. In The
Bahamas, each island is a separate plant.
No matter the
similarities among islands, each supports a distinct society and
culture with distinct needs. Infrastructure and development as a
whole must be fitted to those specifics as much as we can.
Another
development reality is that Government doesn’t have deep enough
pockets to answer so massive a challenge without partnership.
The reality of
The Bahamas, as a small island developing state, is the need for
foreign direct investment.
It is the most
viable and readily available means of paying for development at this
time.
As Prime
Minister, I believe that there are far more pertinent and, indeed,
urgent questions regarding the development process that we must ask
and find answers for.
Let’s take the
case of an island like Mayaguana.
Inhabiting just
three widely separated settlements, the population has remained
basically in stasis at about three hundred or so for the past two
decades and has been fairly homogenous by history, ethnicity and
culture.
Bear in mind too
that the electrification of the major settlements of this country
was only completed in the present century.
When a major
tourist resort or second-home development is sited in such places,
we need to know the potential impact on that society.
How will such
development in those communities impact the construct we currently
know as ‘Bahamian’?
In the face of
an influx of thousands of foreign visitors annually, how do we go
about preserving a desired ethos and way of life?
Let’s face
facts—anything we inject into such communities, whether it be a
resort or 21st century intensive farming methods, will be
an intrusion into the fabric of the resident society and will bring
about change, no matter how imperceptible, no matter how beneficial.
What should the
decision be—forego development or manage change?
There is no
doubt of the desire of the people of who live in these places—they
want what we want.
It is left,
then, to a responsible central government to research and manage
change as beneficially as possible.
As I have avowed
openly many times of late, I fear that private sector development
will outstrip Government’s ability do all that is necessary to
ensure relevance in the context of Bahamian history, culture and
ethos.
This is where The College of The Bahamas enters the picture.
Everything in
national life, all decisions made about national life, should be
touched or enhanced to some degree by the scholars of our national
institution of higher learning.
Now that you are
pronouncing yourselves ready to be chartered as a university, and I
believe you are, my government is counting on it and will be looking
to you for many things:
We look to The
College to create forums for and, in alignment with national
strategy, lead research and well–reasoned debate on issues of
national importance. We look to your scholars to bring a new level
of objectivity to public debate.
We are going to
be looking to you to assess the level of our vulnerabilities and,
based on the results of your research, recommend to government
interventions that can mitigate our country’s exposure in relation
to proposed anchor projects and other situations.
Government would
also wish to know what role the University will play in putting in
place strategies to change thinking, where it may be unreasoned or
in need of updating with testable, provable facts.
Tell us—How
prepared are you professors to play leading roles according to their
disciplines or unique abilities or capabilities?
Your readiness
can bring a new level of quality to public policy-making.
I assure you
that it can bring millions of dollars for your own development.
My government
wants to know whether The College benefits in direct proportion to
the millions of dollars we inject into Caribbean institutions.
Your
participation in this venture can yield for this country the human
resource capital required to inform policy in public and private
sectors, thereby positioning The Bahamas as a producer of
information in a global context.
The Bahamas is
no stranger to ongoing research activities but has not been a direct
beneficiary of the results.
AUTEC in Andros
conducts military marine-based research, The BARC in Andros and The
GERACE CENTRE in San Salvador focus on research in archeology,
biology, marine biology and marine science where students come to
spend a semester of their studies. (The College has embraced a few
of these opportunities and you shouldn’t be missing any more.)
International
schools are coming in to do research—they should have a connection
with the national institution.
The Island
School in Eleuthera, a specialized secondary school, is currently
generating enough electricity by windmill for its own needs but is
currently feeding surpluses into the BEC grid.
I have learned
that they have begun to offer consultancy services to developers. If
an offshore agency is going to be doing this, it has to be in
conjunction with The College of The Bahamas, according to your
ability and readiness to perform.
I have
confidence that you are ready, even if it is just because of your
willingness to and speed at which you have formulated this programme
in response to remarks I made to you previously in this regard!
Even dearer to
my heart as a lover of history, daily gaining more and more of an
appreciation of its value in shaping a nation, I realize that we
must continue to be, and become even more so, a confident people who
know whence we came, who we are and where we’re headed.
We must help
Bahamians to become proud of their identity. My Government has
spent a great deal of money to acquire Clifton, having realized its
immense value to the heritage of the Bahamian people.
It has already
qualified as a potential World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Give us your
thoughts on how we might interpret the site to uplift our people.
UNESCO has marked Junkanoo as a Masterpiece in Intangible Cultural
Heritage. What role are you ready to play in helping to define
national identity and making the Bahamian people feel good about
themselves?
The College of
The Bahamas has some of this country’s most talented writers in its
employ.
Help us to tell
the story of Black Kate, so that she may take her place in the great
pantheon of abolitionists, who dismantled slavery.
She wrote no
treatises, made no speeches on the subject of slavery, but the
suffering she endured spoke volumes.
Poor Black Kate’
suffering in Crooked Island at the hands of the Mosses added
significantly to the growing weight of evidence that slavery was an
infernal machine masquerading as economic necessity and Christian
charity.
I invite your
social scientists to help us discover how we may use our story to
shape an orderly society that is sustainable.
I invite your
natural scientists to show us how we can have job-creating resort
and second-home development, while preserving the superb natural
legacy with which we have been divinely gifted.
I invite you to
stand watch at the gates of our inheritance as fiercely as
many-headed Cerberus guarded the domain of Hades.
Help us to put
development into a sound and reasoned context that will allow our
people to explore their possibilities.
Help our people
to dream and aspire without being overcome and defeated by those
dreams and aspirations.
You, The College
of The Bahamas, are telling us that, at thirty-two, you are a child
no longer; you have reached your majority.
You are telling
us that the relationship must change and you wish no longer to be
dictated to.
You should be
aware, however, that attaining your majority means equally that it’s
no longer seemly that you should ride on the coattails of Government
or be rescued from embroilments of your own making.
You must stand
up and be counted. Government and College must now stand side by
side as partners, making contributions in equal measure, one in coin
and the other in kind.
We are lagging
in many important respects, as far as research is concerned.
Why should I
have had to become Prime Minister before something as obviously
necessary as a national screening process for students with
disabilities to be engaged in the nation’s schools?
I now see the
championing of such initiatives as your part of the partnership.
For my
Government’s part, I commit to ensuring that the projects that are
rapidly multiplying will have a direct impact on The College.
This positive
impact will come, not only in terms of opportunities to participate
in related consultancies and research, but also in a return of
dollars to concretize the notion of “university” in terms of capital
funds, increased professional development opportunities and personal
emoluments according to a balanced and sustainable schedule.
The members of
the College Council, led by its Chairman and your Senior Team, led
by your President, had a foretaste of the earnestness of my
Government in our commitment to building the University of The
Bahamas.
In their
historic meeting with the National Cabinet last Wednesday, my
Government had the opportunity to demonstrate, through a number of
commitments for support, that the move to university status not only
has our financial backing, it is a matter of firm conviction among
members of the Government.
As the first of
many benefits, it is my pleasure to announce the establishment of an
endowed chair in Urban Renewal at The College of The Bahamas.
We will assist
you to secure the necessary funding to build the Northern Bahamas
Campus, your new library, you Wellness Centre and redevelop the
Bahamas Environmental Research Centre, which I have been assured is
the nucleus for an increased COB presence on Andros.
Make no
mistake—The College must always be a treasured icon in the eyes of
every right thinking Bahamian and resident in this land of ours.
You are a child
of our Independence and your alumni, as leaders in every sphere of
endeavour in The Bahamas, have helped to shape, solidify and breathe
life into what was just a document at midnight on July 9, 1973.
I have come here
today to celebrate with you the development and launch of the
National Policy Research Fellowship Awards. This is certainly a
promising vehicle by which you can deliver what the government so
ardently desires of you and what this country so clearly needs.
I see it as a
mechanism that can support the national research and data collection
efforts of central government by conducting more detailed, specific
analysis of the larger bodies of data.
For instance,
out of the Labour Market Survey produced by the Department of
Statistics, the Fellowship Programme may wish to conduct a manpower
assessment and projection for a particular category of profession or
industry, to identify the number of potential employees needed and
at which levels.
This information
can be used with educational and curriculum planning and preparation
of our secondary and tertiary students in particular.
Additionally,
the data may be used to create an instrument to recruit those
currently with the appropriate qualifications and identify those who
may need to re-tool or re-train.
This information
can be fed back into the electronic labour or skills database or
bank housed in the Department of Labour to be accessed by
departmental personnel and employers alike as part of their
recruitment strategies.
Can you see the
connectivity and alignment here?
The national
research framework then, must be driven first and foremost by a
national vision and strategy. This is the overall direction and
vision for the country.
Ideally, this
should be a non-partisan, collaborative effort that focuses on the
development pillars of our society and economy.
It should
identify us, bring clarity to who we are and what we want our
country to be in the future for at least the next twenty years.
Out of this
vision should come initiatives, programmes and services that will
ensure that the vision is accomplished.
Consequently,
every entity and agency will be working toward common goals in an
orderly, organized fashion. This will drive the allocation of funds
and personnel as well.
Herein lies one
of the central roles of research.
Once ideas are
put forward, the strength of the programmes and services will depend
on the quality of the evidence gathered to prove or disprove their
value and scope.
As a
consequence, more effective planning and implementation can be
done. What is even more important, once an initiative has been
implemented, more research through monitoring and evaluation must be
done to determine the results and outcomes both quantitatively and
qualitatively.
A national
policy framework for research is essential to bring cohesion to all
the research and writing needs I have just described. We need:
Research-based
strategic planning for
•
Investments and financial support
•
Access to international funding
•
Human resource planning, recruitment and training
•
Trends and projections
•
Organization development i.e. process and performance improvement
We need a
variety of controls to sustain the quality of research and yield
greater accountability in our approaches.
And not least,
we need linkages among agencies
for strengthening,
partnerships, information sharing, and coordination of services to
avoid costly duplication and to create synergy.
I congratulate
President Hodder, the Office of Research, Graduate Programmes and
International Relations, led by Dr Linda Davis, which has
spearheaded the venture and will function as its directorate to
ensure its growth and continued viability.
Collecting data
and completing research is not an inexpensive exercise, so I applaud
the merits of this proposal as it has found ways to fund itself.
This self-
reliance is likely to make the effort meaningful for its
participants.
The College,
aligning itself with national goals and needs, can then begin, in
tandem with the Government, to sensitize the community at large
about the importance of research and getting a quality product for
the funds spent.
I am told that
the Programme will include your students offering them small
stipends and/or college credit.
As far as is
practicable, I ask you also to invite other interested students of
other local colleges to participate.
This will
continue to advance the work as well as promote a research culture
among our young scholars.
I congratulate
all the scholars among you who will give teeth to what is now but a
paper tiger.
In closing, I
sincerely thank each of you, and those upon whose shoulders you
stand, for the contributions you have made and continue to make for
our country’s development.
Development,
after all, is not the sole responsibility of the Government;
sustained development is the responsibility of us all.
Furthermore,
wide participation of this nature, can lay the foundation of that
which all committed Bahamians desire—the sustainable independence
and sovereignty of our treasured land.
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