Friday, July 31, 2009

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Shake-up at NIB There are two ways to view the executive management shakeup at the National Insurance Board (NIB). On the one hand, it could be classified as a prudent business decision, if we are to believe the explanation given by NIB Director Algernon Cargill. On the other hand, in these tough economic times, the sending home of the five NIB executives – apparently not because it was a downsizing exercise for economic reasons, as Mr. Cargill indicated – could be regarded as a cruel and heartless thing to do. In an official statement, Mr. Cargill said risk assessment studies "were conducted by two respected auditing firms with a Bahamian presence, and by an external firm." "All of these confirmed that NIB, in its current state, carries considerable business risks and that, consequently, there are opportunities to improve NIB's operational efficiency," the statement noted. "After reviewing the external recommendations, jointly with the unsatisfactory findings of prior year risk assessment and the internal control and system assurance findings, the board concluded that expedient action was required in order to re-align and reposition NIB strategically for the longer term." Certainly, Mr. Cargill's explanation sounds quite reasonable and supports the point of view that it was a prudent business decision. But in the House of Assembly on Tuesday, members of the Opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) suggested a more sinister reason for the dismissals: political victimization. Indeed, Dr. Bernard Nottage, MP for Bain and Grants Town, made the disturbing accusation that at NIB there have been senior members who have been going around finding out "who supports whom for whatever reason" and that there are members in the House "who have people who work at the National Insurance Board who go around terrorizing people and putting them in fear of their jobs." It would not be surprising if this were true, given the fact that victimization is a pernicious practice that has been dyed into the political fabric of this country and is considered to be an acceptable form of payback to political opponents. There are people who could tell you "horror stories" of crass victimization by the PLP under the leadership of the late Sir Lynden Pindling, and in many cases no attempt was made to disguise the reasons why some persons were being victimized. Because political polarization has been institutionalized in The Bahamas, there is no question that this practice was also utilized during the Free National Movement's first term as the Government, considering that there were a whole lot of FNMs who endured heavy doses of victimization during the PLP's first 25 years as the Government and they were now in the position to exact their revenge, so to speak. That circle of victimization more likely than not is continuing under the current FNM Government, but we would like to think this is not the case with regard to the dismissal of the five NIB executives. If it is, then former NIB Chairman Philip "Brave" Davis, MP for Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador, was absolutely correct in describing the dismissals as a "dastardly act." As the minister responsible for the NIB, however, we have got to accept Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham's word that the dismissal of the five "was not a political decision." In fact, he told the House that he was "not even aware that the event would happen today and in any event I certainly didn't expect it to be five." Be that as it may, there must come a time in The Bahamas when our politicians – on both sides of the political divide – agree to discourage victimization in any shape or form in all areas of government. Thursday, July 2, 2009