Update – Go Lean Commentary
“The Prime Minister bet his administration on the prospect of Carnival and now, its election time.” – Previous Go Lean commentary.
It’s official, that bet has failed! The Prime Minister (PM) of the Bahamas and leader of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) – Perry G. Christie – has been defeated. See full story here (posted 05/11/2017):
PLP Feel The Heat In FNM Landslide Win
New Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis
Out with the old, in with the new!
This commentary has observed-and-reported on the Bahamas for the last 5 years and the “bet” that the PM made was related to more than just Carnival; he also bet on:
- Music Festival-Event – The Fyre Festival event was a fiasco; it went up in flames on April 28, 2017 after getting government permissions and support beforehand. The mass population of Bahamian stakeholders – other than the government – knew nothing of this event until it was an international embarrassment – a “Black-eye”.
- Value-Added Tax – New 7.5% Sales & Use tax implementation increased the tax burden on the poor more than the rich.
- Baha Mar Resort & Casino – $2 Billion Resort & Casino stalled due to government meddling in the Developer-Banker conflict.
- Grand Bahama (Freeport) – 2nd City economic progress stalled; decisions on extending Investment Tax Credits were inexplicably stalled and extended for 6-month intervals, until it was finally granted for a reasonable period.
So when the outgoing PM dissolved Parliament on April 11, 2017 and called elections for May 10, it was the only chance for the people to vocalize their displeasure. They shouted an almost unanimous veto of Christie’s policies and administration, giving the Opposition Party (Free National Movement) 35 of the 39 seats in the House of Assembly – see Polling Results in Appendix B below. (We wish all success to the new government of Dr. Hubert Minnis, but our plan is different, better, as it relates to the full region of all 30 Caribbean member-states, not just the Bahamas alone.)
It is obvious that the outgoing PM also failed in the primary functionality of any Planning apparatus:
Understand the Market; Plan the … [Enterprise]
This point is detailed in the book Go Lean…Caribbean as a necessary responsibility for the new Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU is presented as a technocratic solution to the societal defects for the Bahamas and the rest of the Caribbean – 30 member-states in total. The book quotes (Page 57):
What are the Agents of Change that will affect our customers [citizens] and our competitors in the future?
Shakespeare described change as “an undiscovered country”. No one knows exactly what will happen next and when. The best practice is to monitor the developments in the marketplace, adapt and adjust as soon as possible. This description of a nimble response is the purpose behind “Agile” project management and other Lean management methodologies.
The CU will be lean.
Assuming a role to “understand the market and plan the business” requires looking at the business landscape today and planning the strategic, tactical, and operational changes to keep pace with the market and ahead of competitors. Strategic changes that must be accounted for now, includes: Technology, Aging Diaspora, Globalization and Climate Change.
Understanding the market means taking an accurate assessment of the status quo. What truly are the needs and wants of the community; and how much solution can we really provide, so as to balance our promises? This is Planning 101; understanding the market and planning the business, planning the security apparatus, planning the government, planning the Federation.
Federation?
This is the quest for the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This Federation is an initiative to bring change and empowerment to the Caribbean region; to make the region a better place to live, work and play. This Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:
- Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
- Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety for all Caribbean stakeholders and protect the resultant economic engines.
- Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.
The book features 144 different missions; all centered on a technocracy to elevate the societal engines of economics, security and governance. This is not easy; in fact the book describes this quest – unifying of the region of 42 million people into one Single Market – as heavy-lifting; paralleling the CU effort as a Caribbean version of the American Moon Shot in the 1960’s (Page 127). See this quote here:
The Bottom Line on Kennedy’s Quest for the Moon
On 25 May 1961, US President John F. Kennedy announced his support for the American Space program’s “Apollo” missions and redefined the ultimate goal of the Space Race in an address to a special joint session of Congress: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth”. His justification for the Moon Race was both that it was vital to national security and that it would focus the nation’s energies in other scientific and social fields. [10] This quest was succeeded. At 10:56 pm EDT, on 20 July 1969, the first human (American Astronaut Neil Armstrong) ventured out of the Apollo 11 landing craft and set foot on the Moon declaring: “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind“. [11]Other countries have had subsequent moon landings. See VIDEO here:
VIDEO – The History of: The Apollo Space Program – https://youtu.be/kAxWaqM5M80
Published on Apr 27, 2014 – The History Of series intends to inform and entertain viewers about recorded events in human history.
Support this channel: http://www.patreon.com/RobertDavis
For more information about the Apollo Space Program visit the Wikipedia page here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_p…
Music: Hans Zimmer – What Are You Going To Do When You Are Not Saving The World (Man of Steel Soundtrack) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpBnx…Thanks for watching.
- Category: Education
- License: Standard YouTube License
This commentary is all about the functionality of planning. Drawing reference to the Go Lean book’s treatment of planning, Page 125 listed this preface:
Planning
The Caribbean Union Trade Federation roadmap catalogs where we are as a region and where we plan to go. This section drills down on the advocacies important for planning the future of the Caribbean.The issues identified in this section will be incorporated in the CU Treaty with member-states and then in the subsequent constitution, (after an organized Constitution Convention).
Scriptural Quotation – Proverbs 29:18 (King James Version):
Where there is no vision, the people perish …
The book then proceeds to list these chapters on planning for the Caribbean stakeholders to consider:
The topics in the photo depict a community ethos – the national spirit that drives the character and identity of its people – of learning from other societies who have succeeded and failed at the planning-governing process. This vision was anticipated from the beginning of the Go Lean book, opening with these pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 14):
xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.
xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.
xxxiii. Whereas lessons can be learned and applied from the study of the recent history of other societies, the Federation must formalize statutes and organizational dimensions to avoid the pitfalls of communities like East Germany, Detroit, Indian (Native American) Reservations, Egypt and the previous West Indies Federation. On the other hand, the Federation must also implement the good examples learned from developments/communities like New York City, Germany, Japan, Canada, the old American West and tenants of the US Constitution.
There is planning first … and then there is delivery.
Planning and delivery are 2 separate and distinct functionalities, but one drives the other. The Go Lean movement, with the branding of Lean in the name is all about the art-and-science of project delivery. The book explains (Page 4) that the Caribbean Union Trade Federation considers the word lean to be a noun, a verb and an adjective. It considers lean as a “core idea to maximize value while minimizing waste. Simply [put], lean means creating more value for stakeholders with fewer resources. A lean organization understands value and focuses its key processes to continuously increase it. The ultimate goal is to provide perfect value to the customer/constituent/beneficiary through a perfect value creation process that has zero waste.”
With confidence we can declare that the CU will “understand the market and plan the delivery”. Truly, then …
… “a Change Is Gonna Come”!
The Go Lean book declares that for permanent change to take place there must first be an adoption of new community ethos. The roadmap was constructed with the new community ethos in mind (see Page 20), plus the execution of strategies, tactics, implementation and advocacies to deliver on the plans for an elevated Caribbean.
Yes, this plan, the Go Lean roadmap is conceivable, believable and achievable. We can make the Caribbean region – all 30 member-states – better homelands to live, work and play. 🙂
Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!
Sign the petition to lean-in for the roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.
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Appendix A – Cited Footnote References
10 – Kennedy, John F. (25 May 1961). “Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs”. Historical Resources. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. p. 4. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
11 – Murray, Charles; Catherine Bly Cox (1990). Apollo: The Race to the Moon. New York: Touchstone (Simon & Schuster). ISBN 0-671-70625-X.
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Appendix B – General Election 2017
Commonwealth of The Bahamas – *OFFICIAL RESULTS*
Note: Her Excellency Dame Marguerite Pindling, Governor-General of The Bahamas, has invited Prime Minister-elect Hubert Minnis to be sworn in at Government House at 5 pm [on May 11, 2017].
—–
Free National Movement (35 seats)
✔Hubert Minnis (Killarney)
✔K. Peter Turnquest (East Grand Bahama)
✔Adrian Gibson (Long Island)
✔Brensil Rolle (Garden Hills)
✔Brent Symonette (St. Anne’s)
✔Carlton Bowleg Jr. (North Andros & the Berry Islands)
✔Desmond Bannister (Carmichael)
✔D. Halson Moultrie (Nassau Village)
✔Darren Allan Henfield (North Abaco)
✔Dionisio D’Aguilar (Freetown)
✔Donald L. Saunders (Tall Pines)
✔Duane Sands (Elizabeth)
✔Elsworth Johnson (Yamacraw)
✔Frankie Campbell (Southern Shores)
✔Frederick McAlpine (Pineridge)
✔Hank Johnson (Central & South Eleuthera)
✔Iram Lewis (Central Grand Bahama)
✔James Albury (Central &a South Abaco)
✔Jeffrey Lloyd (South Beach)
✔Lanisha Tolle (Sea Breeze)
✔Mark Humes (Fort Charlotte)
✔Marvin Dames (Mount Moriah)
✔Michael Foulkes (Golden Gates)
✔Michael Pintard (Marco City)
✔Miriam Reckly-Emmanuel (MICAL)
✔Pakeisha Parker-Edgecombe (West Grand Bahama & Bimini)
✔Reece Chipman (Centreville)
✔Renward Wells (Bamboo Town)
✔Reuben Rahming (Pinewood)
✔Rickey Mackey (North Eleuthera)
✔Romauld “Romi” Ferreira (Marathon)
✔Shenendon Cartwright (St. Barnabas)
✔Shonel Ferguson (Fox Hill)
✔Travis Robinson (Bain’s & Grant’s Town)
✔Vaughn Miller (Golden Isles)
—–
Progressive Liberal Party (4 seats)
✔Phillip Davis (Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador)
✔Picewell Forbes (Mangrove Cay & South Andros)
✔Glenys Hanna-Martin (Englerston)
✔Chester Cooper (Exumas & Ragged Island)