Rev Keith Russell Warns the FNM

On utter nonsense

The silly season is here again; and during this season we don’t only encounter the regular nonsense, we are also bombarded with a constant stream of utter nonsense.

There is a narrative out there, trying to gain traction, that PM Minnis “did a yeoman’s work with the hand that he was dealt”. Moreover, the narrative continues, two back to back catastrophic hits, CAT 5 DORIAN and COVID-19, overshadowed his tenure. Utter nonsense! Mr. Minnis is who he is even if these never happened.

It wasn’t any of these catastrophes that caused Mr. Minnis to stand in the people’s parliament and lie about Oban. Neither of them caused him to lie about the post office deal either. Nor did they prevent him from dismissing two judicially condemned ministers. It is not Dorian or Covid that still has us waiting for that BEC report or the reports that ought to have been given after each emergency order. Maybe it is Covid that is preventing him from supplying the Auditor General with the names of the persons or entities that got Covid contracts.

Did either of these catastrophes cause him to be rude and belligerent to reporters and the Bahamian people? Did these specters cause him to raise vat, when he promised vehemently that he would not? Perhaps it was the hurricane and the pandemic that propelled him to cut subvention to athletes, but raised travel and entertainment allowances for his ministers and their wives.

And while we are at, let’s blame the catastrophes for those million dollar sidewalks and that one hundred million and counting hotel in Lucaya, rotting in the August sun. Let’s blame them for the abandonment of Ragged Island, the egregious travel visa and Renward Wells.

I could go on, but the 16th of September soon come; and I have made the point. Stop it already! Stop blaming Dorian and Covid for Mr. Minnis’ disastrous behavior and performance. It is his character that is the real catastrophe. He has proven to be inept, rude, lacking in compassion and a chronic liar. All of which makes him abundantly ill-equipped to be Prime Minister of this country—again! But I guess the above were all “OUTLIER EVENTS completely out of his realm of control.” No the hand dealt does not define the man, but his character does.

I write; you decide