By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 30, 2021 — His Excellency Sidney Collie, Bahamas Ambassador to the United States and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), posted a collage of photos on his Facebook page on Saturday, October 30, 2021, of him and his wife, Mavis Collie, attending D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser Annual Cultural awards and special recognition night.
For the record, as the former Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager at the Embassy of The Bahamas for four-plus years before the change of government on May 10, 2017, I think Ambassador Collie has done an excellent job as The Bahamas’ top diplomat in the United States and is well respected in the diplomatic community.
I fully regret the fact that I was denied the opportunity to officially assist him in doing his job because of rank and raw victimization by former Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis. When my diplomatic position at the Embassy was revoked after the FNM became the government, I personally presented a proposal to Dr. Minnis when I was in Nassau promoting my novel WOES OF LIFE to do what I did at the Embassy on a contractual basis.
I was subsequently told by Ambassador Collie early in 2018 that a revised version of my proposal was approved and sent to the Attorney General’s Office for review. In response to my inquiries about the status of my proposal, Attorney General Carl Bethel confirmed that it had been sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, presumably to be implemented.
It never was. Initially I thought that former FNM Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest — who was the Minister of Finance and with whom I had rancorous political disagreements with when I lived in Freeport – was responsible for blocking the implementation of my proposal, but I was subsequently reliably informed that Dr. Minnis himself was the evil victimizer.
It is because my proposal was never implemented – combined with the Ministry of Tourism’s decision in December of 2020 not to renew a year-long agreement I had for $1,000 a month to assist in promoting The Bahamas – I started having serious financial problems that got worse as a result the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on my small business clients here in D.C. and Grand Bahama, to the extent that I am on the brink of being evicted.
As I noted, Ambassador Collie has represented The Bahamas diplomatically very well, and hopefully whomever replaces him – if he indeed is replaced – will likewise do as commendable a job as he is still doing, as indicated by the collage of photos he posted attending Mayor Bowser’s Annual Cultural awards and special recognition night.
I thought it would be a good idea to provide readers of BAHAMAS CHRONICLE with some background information on Mayor Bowser, which explains why there is widely considered to be a great Mayor by residents of the District of Columbia.
D.C. MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER’S CONDENSED BIOGRAHY
Muriel Bowser is committed to making sure every Washingtonian gets a fair shot in a growing and prosperous Washington, DC. Her administration is focused on making DC’s prosperity more inclusive, advancing DC values, and building safer, stronger, and healthier neighborhoods across DC’s eight wards.
Washington, DC is unique in the American political system – the mayor, DC’s chief executive, functions as a governor, county executive, and mayor. Like governors, Mayor Bowser runs Medicaid, issues driver’s licenses, and has tax authority. Like county executives, Mayor Bowser runs the local jail, and, unlike most mayors, also oversees the public school system. In 2020, Washington, DC is home to 705,000 people across 68 square miles, has a AAA bond rating, and an annual budget of more than $15 billion.
On November 6, 2018, Muriel Bowser became the first woman ever re-elected as the Mayor of Washington, DC and the first mayor to earn a second term in 16 years. Since taking office, the Mayor has taken bold steps to reset DC’s global and national competitiveness, speed up affordable housing production, diversify the DC economy, increase satisfaction in city services, and invest in programs and policies that allow more families to live and thrive in DC.Prior to becoming Mayor in 2015, Bowser served as the Ward 4 Councilmember on the Council of the District of Columbia – first elected in a special election in 2007 and re-elected in 2008 and 2012. As a Councilmember, she served as the Chairwoman of the Committee on Economic Development which created more than 5,000 units of affordable housing, passed legislation to build the new soccer stadium, and secured from the federal government the best portion of the Walter Reed campus for DC. She also led her colleagues to pass comprehensive ethics reform and increased transparency in government contracting.
Mayor Bowser earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Chatham University and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from American University, and received honorary doctorates from Chatham University and Trinity University. With more than 20 years of experience in local government, she first entered elected office as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in the Riggs Park neighborhood.
