-
Share This:
-
Rate this article:
Weather
Partly Cloudy
Max: 86°F | Min: 75°F
| Time for new leadership |
|
Published: Mar 06, 2012
Dear Editor,
Race horses retire, movie actors, singers, musicians, sports stars, doctors, lawyers, it does not matter which line of work you do. At some point in time, retirement is inevitable. For many years the government’s mandatory age of retirement for civil servants was 60. It is now 65. In the government-owned corporations, it is 60. For the most part, the set ages of retirement were not arbitrarily chosen. One or two main factors would have been considered. One of which I am positive would have been work output and productivity. Case in point, it would be ludicrous to think that a person who has worked for the civil service for 30 years would have the potential to do more when he or she is now at the age of 65. Hubert Ingraham and Perry Christie are at the ages 64 and 68 respectively. By contrast, Branville McCartney is only 44. Ingraham and Christie have approved of the mandatory work age of the civil servants. To me it is a double standard for the two men to sanction the civil service and public corporations retirement at ages 65 and 60 respectively and ask the Bahamian pubic and these same civil servants to put them back in office for a term that will put them well over the retirement age. Another case in point, it would be unreasonable to think that we could expect much more from Ingraham and Christie than what we have already received. Ingraham and his government in 1992 rescued The Bahamas from the days of corruption in government and the drug era that are still plaguing our country today. We were said to be a “country for sale”. An era we would like to forget as Bahamians; an era when we were not proud to be Bahamians. He propelled The Bahamas to another level where we soared and experienced much growth. The then energetic, aggressive Ingraham called for greater transparency and accountability in government. He immediately opened up the airwaves and deepened democracy. Bahamians were now able to be free to express and demonstrate their likes and dislikes with their country’s governance and to do so without intimidation and victimization. Ingraham and Christie together have accomplished much but Bahamians should expect to get much more and not settle for passed accomplishments. With the country’s challenges in crime, immigration and the recent global recession that have our country’s economy in a downward spiral, it would be absurd to think that Ingraham and Christie have the energy to fix these issues and many more considering the present escalation of crime and violence among our youth and the depletion of our resources by legal and illegal immigration. The former two challenges have defeated both gentlemen. There is no passion to fix these problems. The will for both men is not there. In Ingraham’s address to the nation on crime, even though it was well overdue he showed no real passion to fix the problem. The adrenaline is not there. It is gone, the fire is out. The blood of too many of our sons and daughters is crying out for real justice. Our immigration problem is out of hand and is a contributing factor to crime to a certain extent. McCartney is young, bright and intelligent and has the energy to move this country to another level. The passion and will is there and he is determined to win this election not settling for second place. His team of candidates talks about creation and innovation and growing the economy, creating jobs and a better way of life for our people by placing emphasis on First World education. As citizens of this country, we do not owe Ingraham and Christie anything by giving them another five years to drag slowly along with vital issues like crime and immigration. Our national security is at risk and we need immediate solutions. We do owe them our gratitude and our respect for the work they have done. The global recession will end and the economy will pick up as it usually does but when it does, we need better management of our resources. Any fool can borrow money and spend it on things to make himself look good. The infrastructure of roads and other works, we should come to expect these things from our government and not look at these things as monumental achievements. I am surprised that something as important as age and physical health of the candidates who want to lead this country are not up for discussion and debate. Remember this, “To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” The fact of the matter is Ingraham and Christie want to reign on some one else’s time and when they decide they don’t need it anymore, hand it to whom they want to hand it to, another puppet, a little Ingraham or Christie reincarnate, one whose strings they can pull. Their fire is out, the aggressiveness is gone, and there is no more adrenaline left. Like the young strong Ingraham took power from the right honorable father of our nation, power too must be taken from him and Christie.
– Mr. DNA |
