Dear Editor,
I have read the 58-page report on Bahamas Cultural Development by the talented young Ian Poitier that is being attacked from many quarters including the present Minister of Tourism, on grounds of excessive cost – either $400,000, or “over $1 million” , depending on what you read.
It contains a great many good ideas, some previously stated, and others brand-new. Some are for specific projects, others for organizational structures, both private and public. Its implementation is bound to be expensive, time consuming, and demanding of good-will and ingenuity. It may well be considered too all-inclusive and too superficial to be an effective program.
Whether it represents “value for money” cannot be answered in the abstract but only in reference to realistic plans and intentions. The problem is that it was contracted by the previous Government, apparently at the direct urging of Prime Minister Christie, who was well-known for making grandiose announcements of public projects and then doing nothing to follow up or refine the details.
It is not even clear whether Mr. Poitier was to be paid a one-off sum to write a report, or whether he was being hired at a salary of $400,000 per annum to lead a cultural department, or being given a departmental budget, or something in-between, or whether there was any assurance that other Government agencies would cooperate with his recommendations. Mr. Poitier was naïve in being surprised that the dollar amounts raised startled eyebrows.
It is now up to the new Ministry of Tourism and Cabinet to clarify these matters. If they simply plan to read his Report and then file it away, with no retention of his services, and no Government-wide cooperation – then, yes, it is so much waste-paper that must simply be written off as an unwise, pointless expense, and Mr. Poitier would be well advised to plan his return to England.
I hope that Minister D’Aguilar, and the new Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, (and the Cabinet as a whole) will take a wider view. They will have to meet whatever contractual terms the previous Government signed, but I hope they will then negotiate a sensible long-term arrangement to enable Mr. Poitier’s undoubted talents and experience to be used for the benefit of this country. Rational decisions can be made about implementing the plan in stages, perhaps putting as first priority the thorough up-grading of Ft. Charlotte, Ft. Fincastle, the Queen’s Staircase and the Water Tower, so that they can be prominent icons of both our history and our culture.
Criticism should not be directed at Mr. Poitier, but at our previous Government’s feckless way of contracting for services.
Sincerely,
Richard Coulson
July 3, 2017
Mr. Coulson has had a long career in law, investment banking and private banking in New York, London, and Nassau, and now serves as director of several financial concerns and as a corporate financial consultant. He has recently released his autobiography, A Corkscrew Life: Adventures of a Travelling Financier.
