Natural Resources: A Blessing Or A Curse To The Bahamas
I hear a lot of
discussion in the Bahamas about natural resources such as aragonite, limestone,
salt and even the possibility of oil being discovered in the Bahamas and many
believe that these and other natural resources are the key to economic
development for the Bahamas and its citizens.
And while the discovery of things like oil could generate much needed income,
I don’t buy into the idea that these resources will make the Bahamas a rich
country, and I am even more skeptical that it will make the Bahamian people
wealthy. Let’s take the emotionalism and
the idealism out and simply look around the world, there are many countries that
are wealthy in terms of natural resources such as oil, gas, diamonds, cobalt
etc, but while wealth literally oozes from the ground, their citizens live in
abject poverty with limited or no access to basic things like clean water,
proper sanitation, healthy care, education, basic infrastructure etc. The masses of the people in most of these
countries see very little material benefit from the country’s natural resources
and in many ways, it is said that such places are not resource blessed, they
are resource cursed. Cursed because they
are unable to use those resources to grow their economy and improve the lives
of their citizens.
Without trying to be
cliché, case in point is the continent of Africa which has 30% of the world’s
mineral reserves but the wealthy western nations with its insatiable demand and
greedy multinational companies have been the true benefactors, not the African
people. But this scenario is not limited
to the continent of Africa but can be seen in countries all over the world and
it is primarily because of things like:
1.
Corruption, poor governance and weak
policies
2.
Lack of Capacity and skills to process
and refine minerals by third world nations
3. Environmental rape and over extraction of the resources of poor countries by multinational companies from rich countries
Now let’s be realistic and imagine the character of
many of the politicians in the Bahamas.
Politicians who deny Bahamians access to resources such as Crown Land
but hand it out like hot cake to foreign investors. Think of how they negotiate with the cruise
ship companies bowing low with concession after concession but with only token
benefits for Bahamians. This story is
repeated all over the world and can begin to explain why resource rich countries have some of the lowest
standard of living and why its citizens live in poverty and desperation.
An interesting fact however is countries like
Singapore with no perceive natural resources are wealthy could be argued that
they invested in their people. For
example following its independence from Malaysia in 1965, Prime Minister Lee Kuan
Yew set about transforming Singapore, overhauling its education system creating
a nation of highly skilled and discipline people. This has resulted in Singapore being the most
business friendly nation in the world and its citizens enjoy a high standard of
living. It is said that “Singapore
offers first world conditions in a third world region” (Quality of Life in
Signapore).
There are also countries
that are resource rich and their citizens also benefit. For example, Norway has a Trillion Dollar
Sovereign Wealth Fund which aims are the responsible management of the
country’s oil resources for the benefit of its citizens and future
generations. It is a financial
institution to take care of the wealth of the Norwegian People’s savings. The focus is therefore on managing the assets
for the benefit of citizens and not for the enrichment of a selected group of
greedy and corrupt officials and corporations.
Prior to the discovery of oil in the 1960s the back bone of the Norwegian
economy was fishing and shipping.
Interestingly, Britain and Norway has the largest oil reserves in the North
Sea. But, unlike many third world nations
which seem to negotiate with foreign companies from a position of weakness,
they are aggressive resulting in their Sovereign Wealth Fund being the largest
in the world. However while Norway
invested its funds and became a wealthy nation, Britain on the other hand used
the funds from its oil boom to back reforms to the British economy such as
privitatization and cuts to income taxes
to revitalize the economy. These
policies were initially successful but eventually the bottom fell out when oil
revenue declined. So for countries to
profit from its resources, they must also make good policy decisions with good long
term benefits. Britain and Norway had
access to rich oil reserves, but the policy of Norway proved more beneficial to
its citizens in the long run.
Alaska also has a
Permanent Fund which seeks to more evenly distribute the wealth derived from
its oil reserves. This fund puts a share
of the fund directly into the hands of the citizens. It is believed that giving the Alaskans their
money it reduces government corruption and creates a more balanced
society. While in theory, I like the way
the Norwegians invested the wealth derived from its oil reserves, I also like the idea of putting a portion of
the funds in the hands of citizens. Now
I am not an expert in finances or investments but I can still appreciate what
Norway did, but, from where I sit, I don’t think I have sufficient confidence
in our governments nor its public servant technocrats to act in my best
interest or to create policies that would empower everyday Bahamians. Case in point, Crown land is entrusted to the
government on behalf of the Bahamian people, but foreign investors seem to
benefit most. Further, its policy on
Crown Land makes me sceptical about their ability to equitably manage any
resource. Their entire approach to
making land accessible to the Bahamian people brings to mind a process mired in
bureaucracy, political favoritism, bias in favour of foreigners and outright
theft. I hate to speak ill of my own
people, but we have a saying, “foreigners get the red carpet and Bahamians get
the red tape”. Further from African to
the Caribbean, many third world leaders are so in armoured with white people
and their multinational companies and their false promises and fancy machinery
and equipment that they are too busy ingratiating themselves to their “white
lords” to strongly negotiate for the benefit of their people. In most cases, these persons are self
serving, self aggrandizing and short sighted and their greed and shortsightedness,
results in poverty and lack of empowerment for their own people. Consequently, I favour putting a portion of
the funds directly in the hands of Bahamians as they do in Alaska because it’s
nothing like giving people the tools to control their own destiny. But in their defence, outside of the
corruption, these multinational companies are as savy, as they are slimy, with
many with the financial muscle to hire the most skilled and trained persons or
agencies to siphon the wealth of many nations.
Further, their profit margins exceed the GDP of many in the developing
world so they out fox our leaders and rape our land. It should also be noted that the poverty and
lack creates such desperation, that leaders can think of little more than
feeding their people and providing some relief from the misery which their
citizens endure, I think they would make better decision were it not for the
empty stomachs of their people and the political instability that exist. Incidentally, much of the instability is the
result of western interference and policy decisions designed to exploit a
country’s mineral rights. Now when you
consider the financial might, the intellectual capital and the lack of sound
governance, strong policy and the greed
of the local politicians, do you think the Bahamas will fear any better with
British Petroleum than the African nations feared against Shell, Chevron,
ExxonMobil etc. We are in a catch, the
intellectual skills and abilities that the developing nations need to propel
itself and grow their economies are lured away by the industrial nations.
The precious resources that should be a blessing are sometimes viewed as
a curse because, they are plundered by the west, and their people continue to
suffer. Therefore, while many pin their
hopes to finding oil etc, the best thing the government can do is invest in the
Bahamian people. If we “all a we”
Bahamians cannot benefit from the oil or any other resource, its better it
stays in the ground.