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GOOD GOD WHAT A TIME WE HAD: the campaign waged by the Progressive Liberal Party to be elected to the office of the government of The Bahamas came to a magnificent crescendo on Friday 4th May. It was on Clifford Park where the PLP staged the largest rally The Bahamas has ever seen. Remember that it was the PLP who claimed Clifford Park as its own during the successful 2002 campaign. Before that year, Clifford Park was always the scene for state occasions. From 2002 onward, the park was converted into a people’s forum, much like the PLP seized the Southern Recreation grounds as its own during its successful campaigns of the 1950s and 1960s. So this is 2012, twelve years later and it appears that the PLP is poised to win the next general election. They have reclaimed Clifford Park as their own. Nothing can compare to the crowds that assembled on the park during this past campaign. And so our photo of the week is that of the crowd assembled on Clifford Park for the PLP’s final rally there for this campaign on Friday 4th May. The occasion, the scene was captured by Peter Ramsay.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK YOU NOW THAT MAN STILL FOOL WITH LADY P
Last week, we reported that Dame Marguerite Pindling, the widow of the founding Prime Minister of our country, spoke from a public platform in response to the use of her husband’s image on an FNM platform by the Leader of the Free National Movement and the Prime Minister of the country Hubert Ingraham. Mr. Ingraham in one of the most insidious moves of his losing campaign was seeking to show that he was the true heir of Sir Lynden Pindling and not of the now Leader of the PLP Perry Christie.
This we said last week was the sign of someone still nursing a deep hurt from a long ago era. He is a man who though highly successful who cannot put behind him the battle scars of the past. He found himself expelled from the PLP, an organization that he had joined as a young man; an organization that he always aspired to lead and yet he found himself rejected by the man Lynden Pindling whom he most admired. He has never forgotten it and never forgiven the Pindlings.
So in 2012, 12 years after the death of Lynden Pindling, the ghost of Lynden Pindling still haunts him. He is haunted by the past. Imagine play at an FNM rally a clip of Sir Lynden Pindling. Yet that is what he did.
The key though is that Sir Lynden in the excerpt used by Mr. Ingraham did not say that Hubert Ingraham was his most illustrious protégé. He said that he was the most illustrious protégé to date, meaning up to the year 1997 when the speech was being delivered. It was true since Sir Lynden had picked Mr. Ingraham to be a politician and then nurtured his career as Party Chairman of the PLP and then a Minister of the government. Despite the falling out and expulsion, Mr. Ingraham became a Prime Minister. Up to that time no other protégé of Sir Lynden had accomplished that objective. Clearly, that no longer obtains since Perry Christie was chosen as the heir to the PLP, also became Prime Minister and remains the leader of the PLP of Sir Lynden.
The idea of debating this however seems farcical. A big grown man fighting to claim the legacy of someone that he helped to trash. That was the point that Sir Lynden’s widow sought to make in a statement published on his site just last week from the PLP’s rally of the week before.
Now it does not stop there thought. Dame Marguerite is an 80 year old woman. In a culture that reveres old age and in a culture where most people respect the fact that a widow is entitled to defend her dead husbands reputation, you would expect that the Prime Minister would just shut his stupid mouth. Keep his bloody mouth shut and leave well enough alone. But that’s not our Hubert. He could not leave well enough alone.
He went back on the public platform on May and attacked Dame Marguerite saying that she never liked him; that he and Perry Christie used to always talk about Dame Marguerite never like them. He said that he had nothing to apologise for and that Dame Marguerite was only hoping to get back to a life of privilege which had been denied her and that the FNM and its supporters would see to it that she would never ever get back to power.
As the kids say: “ Wow!”. We really feel sorry for Hubert Ingraham. That was simply a sick thing to do. It is however symptomatic of what we face here under his government. He is just a nasty, embittered, silly man who does not have the good sense and judgment when to simply leave things along. What does he expect a widow to say when you attack her husband who is dead and not here to defend himself? How does he expect to win that battle?
There are two words which have resonated in this campaign that came from Hubert Ingraham and they are apt to describe this situation: “Unbelievable! Unthinkable!”. You said it Mr. Prime Minister.
Number of hits for the Week ending Saturday 5th May: 136,461
Number of hits for the month of Month of April ending 30 April, 2012 : 631,197
Number of hits for the month of April up to Monday 30th April 2012 up to midnight: 79,996
Number of hits for the year 2012 up to Saturday 5th ay 2012 up to midnight: 3,076,323
VINCENT VANDERPOOL WITH HIS HAND IN THE COOKIE JAR?
In the old days, you would have had to stop the presses. The PLP had the facts in their hands on Wednesday 2nd May. So on Thursday 3rd May, they could wait no longer and they put the entire matter into the public domain. The fact is that Vincent Vanderpool Wallace, who has been a singular failure, as the Minister of Tourism, had contracted with a dummy company in the United States which ended up with the Ministry of Tourism wasting two million dollars to a scam. The public servants in the Ministry discovered the problem and tried to get the contract cancelled and he refused to agree. It turns out that there was also a contract for personal services negotiated with the same man who turned out to set up the dummy corporation. They tried to get that stopped and he again refused. It was only when the matter was brought to the attention of the Prime Minister in March of this year that the latter was ordered ended. The Prime Minister took no action against the Minister.
Last week, we reported that Fred Mitchell MP had made a formal complaint against the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas against an ad that was published on TV which associated his image with a so called “ Visa Scandal”. This was an ad sponsored and designed by the Free National Movement. A writ was subsequently issued against the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas in defamation. Subsequently to that letters before action were issued to Cable Bahamas for playing the same ad. A formal complaint was made on the matter to the Utilities Regulation Competition Commission (URCA). On May, URCA issued an interim order in which said that the ad had to be withdrawn from television or Mr. Mitchell’s image removed from the ad. The companies chose the latter. So the ad is now running without Mr. Mitchell’s image. Mr. Mitchell issued the following statement after the URCA order:
I wish to say that in no way shape or form do I condone or support the content of the ad. The ad is in fact untruthful but there is a narrow distinction and a legal one between untruthfulness and defamation. It is the defamatory aspect only on which I complained. The FNM's political commentary while untruthful is their commentary and people will treat it with the contempt it deserves. I thank Raynard Rigby for his work on this matter. An action has been filed in the Courts by the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas in defamation and they are to be served shortly. I am pleased at these interim steps to recover the damage done to my reputation.
The following statement was issued by Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill on allegations of FNM vote buying in Fox Hill:
News Release
For Immediate Release
3rd May, 2012
FNM TRIES TO BUY ELECTION IN FOX HILL
Today there was a face-off between the FNM and the PLP candidates in Fox Hill. Mr. Fred Mitchell MP came upon the FNM candidate speaking to PLPs in the area, who were turning her away. He questioned them and they said the following:
• $200,000.00 had been advanced to the FNM campaign in Fox Hill to spend in the last four days;
• That each of Mr. Mitchell’s generals were offered $2000.00 in their hands that day with the promise of $1000.00 per day until the General Election;
• That roofs were being fixed and lots cleaned and jobs offered at Atlantis.
Mr. Mitchell wishes to put this information in the public domain because it reaffirms what the PLP told the international observers this morning from Caricom and the OAS about the conduct of the FNM in this campaign.
THE ADVANCE POLL
The first voters have cast their ballots in the general election. The votes came in overseas consulates and embassies of The Bahamas on 1st May. Ballots were cast in Ottawa, Washington, New York, Miami, Trinidad, Barbados, Jamaica and London. The PLP sent election agents to those jurisdictions to monitor the polls. See story below In Passing. Within The Bahamas, there was also an advanced poll for the security forces who will work on Election Day and for the candidates and their poll workers. So the pattern is set. Each party of the three participating in the vote plus the independents set up tents around where the voting was taking place at the College of The Bahamas in the Hotel Training School and at the Kendal Isaacs Gym. The traffic getting to the voting places was a nightmare. The crowd control was not adequate and access to the buildings was packed with adherents from the parties screaming out chants and pushing paraphernalia into the faces of voters. The security was not adequate, the events were under policed. If an ordinary voter were faced with that mess why would they put up with it. They could easily have given up instead of running the gauntlet of shouts and intimidation. In one incident as the Leader of the PLP Perry Christie and his wife Bernadette arrived at the polling place, an FNM supporter spit on Mr. Christie's wife. The FNM denied it but later evidence from the press showed that it did in fact take place. The photo from the PLP’s Facebook page shows the scene at the advanced poll in Nassau.
THE GRAND BAHAMA GOLD RUSH ON 3RD MAY
PHOTO OF CLIFFORD PARK RALLY ON 4TH MAY
PHOTO OF ABACO GOLD RUSH 2ND MAY
PHOTO OF R.M. BAILEY GOLD RUSH 5TH MAY
MITCHELL SCORCHES HIS FOX HILL OPPONENT
Fred Mitchell MP Fox Hill speaking at the PLP's rally on the R.M. Bailey Park on Saturday 5th May attacked his opponent from the FNM. He said that one of the things he hates about politics are the
lies and the deceit. Mr. Mitchell was responding to the claim made by the FNM's candidate in the form of a question on a billboard in Fox Hill that the FNM posted which said: In ten years what has
Fred Mitchell done in Fox Hill? Mr. Mitchell answered the question by asking the FNM candidate to ask three of her campaign workers what he has done in Fox Hill.
We say farewell to Brave Edward Davis, the father of Philip Brave Davis, the Deputy Leader of the PLP in these two photos from the Memorial Service held by the PLP on Tuesday 1st May at its headquarters on Farrington Road and the next day at the Zion Baptist Church for the funeral. He was buried in the Lakeview Cemetery. The Leader of the Opposition and the PLP Perry Christie spoke at the funeral. The Minister presiding at the service was Rev. T.G. Morrison. The photo from the funeral is by Peter Ramsay.
PLP INDOOR RALLY BECAUSE IT RAINED 30TH APRIL
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writes from Freeport in a final appeal to voters of the country to vote for the PLP. He argues that when voters compare the record of the PLP under Perry Christie with that of the FNM under Hubert Ingraham, the choice on 7th May is clear: Vote PLP:
The PLP’s “Bahamianization/Bahamians First” policy has been the Hallmark of its very existence (for more than fifty years) from the time the organization came into being. It has always prided itself on having, as its fundamentally-based primary policy, the best interest and welfare of poor, deprived and downtrodden Bahamians. Bahamians who (by those who favor strict adherence to a “market forces” type concept of governance) would be allowed, ordinarily, to fall through the cracks without blinking an eye. As we go to the polls tomorrow, in the will of the Lord, we should do so soberly; constantly reminding ourselves which policies, of which political party, have our backs and VOTE our best interest and not allow our “spur-of-the-moment” emotions control us. In which case I have no doubt that, that choice would be the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP).
I quote you from a speech Perry Christie delivered recently; “Call me what you may (speaking directly to Hubert Ingraham); call me whatever you wish; say what you like about me but every morning I wake up of my life I care deeply and meaningfully for people; for their needs; their aspirations; their desires.” This is the clear difference between the two; Christie cares deeply for downtrodden Bahamians; Ingraham doesn’t give a damn about anybody but himself. Of the two choices, am sure, you will no doubt chose the former for when you hurt this leader (Christie) of a “second chance” hurts; in contrast Ingraham don’t give a damn if you hurt or when you hurt; he laughs when you hurt; he pretends now to care and be concerned but its election time and he needs your vote tomorrow but you will reject him overwhelmingly.
As you stand in those long lines, some with minds fully made up while others are betwixt opinions, contemplating what you should do please Sir/Madam consider the following facts as I make the case in favor of the (PLP) Progressive Liberal Party.
The growth in our economy, in 2007 when the PLP demitted office, was around 4%; two years later, in 2009 under the FNM, the economy shrunk by 4%. This converts, if my arithmetic is correct, to 8% shrinkage in only two years. These are FACTS the FNM cannot deny no matter how they try and no matter what nasty names Ingraham calls Christie. The fact is that Christie’s Administration performed excellently. Unemployment was reduced from the 16% it was when the PLP took office in 2002 to 7.6% when we left office in 2007 and now its back up (they say) to 22% in Grand Bahama; 34% among the youth and 15.9% nationally; these are indisputable facts Ingraham and the FNM cannot deny. The employed labor force was increased from 152,690 in 2002, when the PLP and Christie took office, to 171,490 in 2007 when we left. Thus the PLP created these 19,000 new jobs, along with several other thousands bringing the total to some 22,000, during its five years in office. These are undeniable, irrefutable facts which neither Ingraham nor his FNM government can deny no matter what nasty names he continues to call Christie.
Under Ingraham we have been losing jobs, not gaining them, at an absolute horrendous rate and they want us to vote for them? It’s unbelievable; unthinkable and extremely unlikely that we would, considering the facts; I personally would never vote for them not even in my dreams.
Consider this as well; when the PLP was in power, during 2002-2007, foreign direct investments into the country grew from $312 million in 2002, when we took office, to $1.2 billion in 2007 when we left. That massive increase, of foreign direct investments, accounts for the thousands of new jobs created by the PLP. It is the only way jobs are created; Ingraham brought no new investments to the country during his tenure and that is the reason why there was no growth and therefore no new jobs creation. Investors didn’t come because they don’t trust Ingraham and they will not come if we be silly enough to vote the bastard back in power. These are undeniable facts that the FNM government cannot deny no matter how many nasty names Ingraham calls Christie.
Consider also these facts; under Christie’s PLP government the average Bahamian household’s income increased from what it was, at $39,379, in May 2002 when the PLP came to office to $43,420 by May 2006; a national average increase, per household, of more than $4000 per year; similarly, per capita income rose from $18,958 in 2002, when the PLP came to office, to $21,659 when we left office in 2007; the FNM has resisted publishing the dismal records for our current status. These are undeniable facts which the FNM cannot deny no matter what nasty names the damn dictator decides to label Christie.
Tourism, during 2002-2007 when Christie was prime minister, grew to its highest levels ever when average hotel occupancy rates stood at 78% for the period. These are facts that Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace and box-fish head Hubert Ingraham cannot factually deny; they’ll try but the facts are undeniable no matter what nasty names they call Perry Christie. Major international rating agencies consistently gave Christie’s Administration “A” ratings for the way it handled and managed the Bahamian economy. The records are there as proof positive no matter what nasty names that no good, no manners piss-head decides to label Christie.
The Christie Administration, as well, which inherited a broke and busted country tittering on bankruptcy, took an undeniably fragile economy, in 2002, and produced the results I provided above. How did Christie do it you ask? By targeting and pursuing major foreign direct investments like those listed herewith;
1) Baha Mar’s $1.2 billion Heads of Agreement.
2) Atlantis’ $1 billion phase 3 expansions.
3) $500 million Passerine at Abaco/Great Guana Cay project
4) Sir Lynden Pindling’s $450 million Airport redevelopment project.
5) $76 million Gold Rock Creek film studio in East Grand Bahama.
6) $35 million development at Pittstown Crooked Island.
7) $243 million resort development on Crab Cay Exuma.
8) Rum Cay’s $90 million resort Heads of Agreement.
9) $140 million Winding Bay Club at Cherokee Sound, Abaco.
10) The $300 million re-development of the Cotton Bay Club on South Eleuthera.
11) $75 million investment project in Central Eleuthera/Windermere Island.
The PLP government created 22,000 jobs, as a result of these foreign investment dollars inflows and our economy grew by 3.4% in 2005. Because of the fiscal prudence of the Christie Administration international rating agencies projected a growth rate of 4% for the years 2006 and 2007. Government revenue grew, under Christie, from $875 million to a whopping $1.3 billion and unemployment drop from the 16% it was when Christie became prime minister to 7.6% when he demitted office and Hubert Ingraham with his FNM government assumed control. Unemployment, as we speak according to Ingraham’s very questionable statistics, is back up to 16% nationally, 22% in Grand Bahama and 34% among the youth.
In addition to the above, the Christie Administration created the Venture Capital Fund to assist the business ventures of Bahamian entrepreneurs needing start-up capital. First time homeowners were encouraged, by Christie’s stamp tax exemption for amounts up to $250,000.00, to purchase their own homes which led to thousands of first time home buyers taking advantage of the exemption; Ingraham cancelled the exemption when he took office in 2007.
For the last five years the FNM government has had five of the six Grand Bahama members of parliament representing this Island in the Hon. House of Assembly. Three of these MPs were cabinet ministers; one the deputy Speaker of the Hon. Chamber and they had three Senators appointed on the Island. All of them together did absolutely nothing for this Island. As a matter of fact they stood silently by while Hubert Ingraham pissed all over us claiming his excuse for doing nothing was because he wanted nothing to do with Hannes Babak; now they are coming around talking about what they will do if we give them another five years? They’ve gat to be kidding; they ought to be ashamed to even show their faces in public and I guess this is the reason why Neko Grant would not go calling on voters. They should be asking for forgiveness; not votes.
Ingraham’s fifteen year record of failed policies, 1992-2002 & 2007-2012, compared to Christie’s very successful five year record, 2002-2007, is reason enough for us to go out tomorrow, reject Ingraham and the FNM, and vote PLP; no question about it. We should prayerfully and soberly consider what we do (before we do it) when we go behind that curtain. I appeal to you to forget the rhetoric; dispel the myths; drive away all those deceptive emotions and vote sensibly; vote for yours and your children’s futures; vote to put Bahamians first; vote for your National Health Insurance coverage for this may very well be your last chance to do so and get the health insurance coverage you need for yourselves and for your children; vote for compassionate leadership; vote for a caring government; vote for Perry Christie and the Progressive Liberal Party; vote PLP all the way. Perry Christie rescued us before; he’ll have to and will rescue us again.
Thank you
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
6th May 2012 election eve.
In another of his periodic ventures into public commentary since his retirement from public office, Pierre Dupuch, the former MP and former Minister writes this week about the personality cult which has developed around Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister and Leader of the FNM:
By Pierre V.L. Dupuch
May 3, 2012
Papa's Cult - A Short Story About Dictators, Obeah and the Gatekeeper!
Cults come in many forms. There is the infamous Charles Manson who thought he was savior of the world. There was David Koresh, the charismatic leader of the Branch Davidians in Texas, whose followers would do anything he said. There was Jim Jones, leader of the Peoples Temple, who killed himself and his followers in Guyana.
They were looked on as "nuts" and treated as such.
Germans are considered some of the smartest people in the world. But they let Adolf Hitler turn a political party into a Cult, which he controlled, and smart people became so blind as to let him kill six-million Jews.
Everyone said it could not happen on our side of the world.
But, in Argentina, Juan Peron took over a prosperous country, and virtually destroyed it with his totalitarian rule. After the War, Argentina was one of the world's greatest industrial powers. It was rich, successful, powerful, a country which had to be reckoned with on the world's economic stage.
But the people allowed Juan Peron to turn a political party into a cult, a one-man show. He was the boss, the leader, and he had no respect for the people or the country. What he said was final.
It has been written that as long as you can find a leader that has no conscience or scruples, one who will promise the people that he'll take from Peter to pay Paul, there will be a lot of Pauls around.
And so it was in Argentina, and Juan Peron was such a leader. He promised the people everything. He and his wife, Eva, were photographed literally throwing money out of the windows of the palace.
Under Peron, Argentina's debt grew, more money was printed and handfuls of money were thrown out to the people. Peron took from Peter to give to Paul. Some people loved him, and those that didn't were persecuted or killed if they disagreed with him.
But soon there were no more Peters to take from, but there was an increasing number of Pauls looking for a hand out.
Today, Argentina is poor, the people are begging on the streets. Overnight, it became a third world country.
But many people thought this could never happen in The Bahamas.
Unfortunately, it's happening right before our eyes, as the people and the press appear to condone the increasingly bizarre and irresponsible behavior of Hubert Ingraham, who has gone on a spending spree that has saddled Bahamians with unprecedented levels of debt. Every time he speaks, he's promising one-million dollars here, ten-million dollars there, a hundred-million dollars over there, and the beat goes on.
When I was Minister of Aviation, the budget Hubert Ingraham presented had allocated only nine-hundred thousand dollars for a new airport in Abaco. Now that he needs the votes, he's just completed a twenty-three million dollar airport in Abaco right before an election! I am happy for the people there. But nine-hundred thousand dollars becomes twenty-three million dollars overnight? Wow!
Yes, continue this and we run out of Peters and the Pauls will increase, and we'll go broke, and our children and grandchildren will become beggars. Is that what we want?
Our Constitution lays out clearly what system is to be used in our governance. It dictates that we use the Westminster System where the Prime Minister is first among equals. In other words, he is not to be a one man show. He should not create a Cult.
But are we, the Bahamians who are entitled to benefit from this country, allowing one man, Hubert Ingraham, to turn the Westminster system into a Cult? Is this what we want? Did we not complain when the PLP was heading that way?
Obeah is a Cult where the Gatekeeper, the person who decides life or death, is called Papa. Do you remember Papa Doc, the man who turned Haiti into a land of crime, murder, poverty and paupers?
Hubert Ingraham himself from a public platform said: "I am the Gatekeeper ... "
And it is said that the black hat he often wears is an Obeah hat.
Hubert Ingraham, I understand, has said: My name is "Hubert Papa Ingraham."
Tee shirts have been printed that say, "It's Papa or nuttin."
Ads run in the local press say, "He's my Papa, he'll take care of me."
His supposed "equals," elected Members of Parliament who are supposed to run the country, stand on public platforms and grovel over "My Papa."
Grown, well-to-do men and women who complain about the poor state of the economy, unprecedented crime and murders and skyrocketing National Debt say, "He's my Papa ... whatever he says is ok."
Have we gone nuts?
Do we really know what we're doing and saying?
Are we going to allow this to happen?
Are we going to let this Cult of Ingraham's continue to destroy our Bahamas?
May 7th will decide that.
May God, not Obeah, bless you and guide your decisions.
-30-
IN PASSING
FNMs In Barbados
There were 17 voters who voted in the overseas poll in Barbados. Of the 17, eight showed up in FNM T shirts.
Christie On Buying Votes
The Organization Of American States observation team and the Caricom team met with the Leader of the Progressive Liberal Party Perry Christie and his colleagues on Thursday 3rd May. The Leader told them that his main concern was that of the use of money to buy votes by the Free National Movement and in particular the use of the Public Treasury to buy votes.
Papa Says Haitian Bahamians Voting FNM
The clues have been there all the while. You can think of them as a series of dots. First at the FNM's
pro BTC rally last year, Hubert Ingraham their leader sent out a shout to Jean Bertrand Aristide, the
deposed Haitian President who had just been allowed to return home. It was the first of the dots. Then
the government embarked on a massive programme to give citizenship to Haitians living in The Bahamas.
They said the number was 2,600 but the information now uncovered is that the figure is more like 5,000.
This can easily swing the general election in the FNM's favour.The dots remained unconnected until last
evening 5th May when Mr. Ingraham speaking in what is his final speech as the country's last dictator claimed that Haitian Bahamians will vote for the FNM in this general election. One remembers that not so long ago the Haitian President came to visit The Bahamas and virtually told his countrymen here to vote for the FNM.
Now it appears all the dots are connected. Here is what we think: Haitian Bahamians are Bahamians like
any other Bahamians. They can see the time and they know from their ancestry what having a Papa can
cause. They remember Papa Doc and the mayhem he caused in Haiti. They will not vote for that. They
will not vote for crime and unemployment. They like other Bahamians will vote PLP.
13th . May ,
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Photo of the week:THE NEW PRIME MINISTER Perry G. Christie, the son of the taxi driver has been given his second chance, yet again. This is quite a fortuitous event. We congratulate him for having crafted yet again a great team and for the discipline and patience to triumph again. It shows what a fortuitous business politics is. The warning signs are up, the second time around has to be better than the first time. The country will not take to any appearance of dithering and it expects a regime change. The signs must go out first thing Monday morning that change has come the country. Otherwise what is the point? The Cabinet is now thankfully in place so work can begin. It's a great group. Enough of the parties and ceremonies, the hard work of getting the people of this country back to work is the first priority. The next is getting on top of the crime situation. Last week there were five murders in two days and the new Prime Minister said that the country was in crisis. Right now it is the PLP’s problem. It is not the FNM’s problem anymore so describing the problem is not going to help the PLP. In the meantime for five seconds let’s savor the fact that the ogre of the nation Hubert Ingraham has been beaten. Praise God for small mercies. A new Prime Minister is in place and that is our photo of the week, the swearing in at Government House on 8th May of Prime Minister Perry Christie by the Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes. The photo is by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK INGRAHAM SLINKS AWAY LIKE A SNAKE
There isn’t a gracious bone in the body of Hubert Ingraham. He could not even manage in his speech which we show here on the night of the PLP’s election victory to simply say, thank you and good night or even congratulations. He had to piss in the well as he was going out. Viz. the comment that he tried to reach the Leader Of The Opposition but could not. Disgusting to the end. This was a man who was still Prime Minister and with the police at his command could have found the Leader Of The Opposition if he wanted to find him.
Mr. Ingraham took no questions from the press at the end of the press conference on 7th May. He and his wife simply left the room from what we could see on the television. While he had nothing to say to the Bahamian press, he managed to speak to the Miami Herald ( click here for the link to the story). He told The Herald that he was rejected by the Bahamian people. He said that he was surprised by the result and that he did not expect it.
It shows how delusional Mr. Ingraham was right up to the end. You ask yourself how could a man as experienced and adept at politics as he publicly say that he did not anticipate such a drubbing and repudiation by the electorate. It means that he and his colleagues were simply out of touch, totally lost about where the population was.
What is also interesting is the bevy of excuses that the FNM folk made, led by the former Prime Minister. Desmond Bannister, the former Minister of Education, said it was not Ingraham it was the infrastructure and the recession. Mr. Ingraham himself later found a voice for the Bahamian press to say that the PLP had bribed the voters of the country. Now that is interesting. How you “bribe” 75,000 voters is quite interesting.
Here’s what we know about bribes. Down in the MICAL seat of Alfred Gray won by 22 votes, with a voting population of less than 1500, the FNM had the officials in that seat hire one hundred people on their temporary work programme. Then the Jump Start programme that they had to help entrepreneurs get started which is a grant programme, instead of delivering cheques to the recipients, they actually delivered the cold hard cash down to the people of that constituency and put it in their hands. That’s what we know about bribery.
In Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador where PLP’s Deputy Leader Philip Davis won his seat in a squeaker with 84 votes, the week before the general election some 200 hundred people were put on the public payroll by the FNM administration. That’s what we know about bribery. Those are documented and those have to be revealed to the Bahamian people.
Then to top it off, the coup de grace of his final statement was that he was resigning as Leader of the Free National Movement. He added he would not take his seat in Parliament and would resign the seat in North Abaco. Add to the words about him, the word “coward”. Having created the mayhem and the mess in his party, he up and leaves and simply says: “I will see you later. Do well!”
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill told The Miami Herald in the same article in which Mr. Ingraham was quoted that he did not believe Mr. Ingraham and he would believe it when he sees it. We say the same thing. Mr. Ingraham is a pathological liar. He is so deceitful he can’t ask for water when he’s thirsty. Don’t be surprised if that resignation never happens and we are lumbered with this man for years to come. That is why the Commission Of Inquiry is so necessary to look into the conduct of the FNM government with regard to the general election and with regard to the sale of BTC and with regard to the road works in New Providence.
Someone made the point that since Barrack Obama has been president of the United States, we have heard nary a peep from George Bush about public policy. That should be the same with Hubert Ingraham. He has lost. He has lost in disgrace. But even in losing, he has no grace. He is simply a bitter, nasty little man who does not know when to slink away into the tall grass like a snake.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 13th May 2012 up to midnight: 190,679
Number of hits for the month of May up to Saturday 13th May up to midnight:286,386
Number of hits for the year 2012 up to Saturday 13th May 2012 up to midnight:3,282,173
The new government of the country, a Cabinet of 22 Ministers and Ministers of State were sworn in all by Friday 11th May. The Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes did the honours. The Prime Minister was sworn in on 8th May; the Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis on 9th May; the Ministers dealing with crime and the economy on 10th May and on 11th May the balance of the Cabinet. This photo was taken on the steps of Government House by Peter Ramsay and shows the following:
INGRAHAM'S FAREWELL ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS
Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham went to Abaco to announce that he is quitting them on 19th July. Boo! Hoo! Hoo! We thought he was not going to take his seat. No doubt there is some historic fact behind this and we wait to to see. That was the same say Sir Lynden resigned from the House. Boy! He cannot even stop copying the man after all these years.
Remarks by Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham
Coopers Town, Abaco
12 May, 2012
I’ve come to express sincerest thanks and appreciation to Abaco and particularly to the people of the North Abaco Constituency: Grand Cay, Crown Haven, Fox Town, Mount Hope, Wood Cay, Cedar Harbour, Coopers Town, Fire Road, Blackwood, Green Turtle Cay, Treasure Cay, Leisure Lee, Murphy Town and Dundas Town for electing me as your MP on 8 consecutive occasions. I also express my thanks to Central Pines for electing me on two separate occasions.
Many of you have voted for me on each occasion, twice as a PLP, one time as an Independent and 5 times as an FNM. This is a singular distinction for me, to have you support me wearing three distinct hats – I thank you for your confidence, your loyalty and your support.
One thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven or 38% of the 4,130 people registered to vote in this constituency in this election were not born yet when I was first elected on the 19 July, 1977 at the age of 29. I am now 64.
I have spent more than one half of my life in your service. I ran again this time to Head the Government for a 4th time; the Bahamian public rejected my message and denied my request. I accept their determination and in the Westminster tradition of electoral democracy which we adhere to, I have determined to end my public life which has spanned more than half my own lifetime.
When I was first elected to the House of Assembly in 1977 we had 5 polling divisions; 1,292 people voted and I received 892 or 69% of the votes cast.
Fast forward to today, there are 12 polling divisions in North Abaco and 4,130 persons voted. I received 2,235 or 54% of the votes cast.
I will resign as Leader of the Free National Movement on the 26th May when we hold a Special Convention to formally elect a new Leader of the Party. I have lead the FNM for 19 years, and for 15 of those years I also served as Prime Minister. I will resign from the House of Assembly on the anniversary of my first election – the 19th July – two weeks before my 65th birthday, the mandatory retirement age for civil servants.
And so, tonight I ask you to accept my determination to retire from public life and to return your seat to you.
Over the coming weeks I ask you to discuss amongst yourselves whom you would choose to replace me as your FNM Member of Parliament. Be assured of my support for your decision.
I acknowledge my debt to you and express my gratitude. I leave with my reputation in tack; I gave you decent, honourable and incorruptible service. I did my best for you and I leave you now much, much better off than when we began.
I especially wish to recognize and thank some of the people who have been my eyes, ears and hands in most, if not all of my election campaigns. Indeed, they organized and determined how we would approach each campaign and told me where to be and when to speak.
I express special gratitude for support over the years from all of you for which I am forever grateful. I mention in particular Everette Bootle and all the people of Coopers Town, Roosevelt Curry, George Russell, Flaywood Saunders and the Heilds of Grand Cay; Agatha Russell in Crown Haven; Millie McIntosh in Fox Town; my Mount Hope family -Unca Allan and Aunt Movina and Samuel Mills, indeed, all the Mills Family of Cedar Harbour; Mount Hope, Coopers Town, Fire Road, Blackwood, Green Turtle Cay – particularly Floyd Lowe, Michael Levarity, George Reckley and Lincoln Jones; Treasure Cay; Rev. Roland Swain (deceased) and the Gomez, Simms and all the others in Murphy Town, and my Dundas Town family - – the Mills, Hepburns, Humes, Nesbitts, Strachans, Morleys, and Sawyers; and the Archers and the Mills in Dundas Town.
In this election especially I thanks and express my gratitude to Winsome Ferguson, Dolly Mills, O.C. and Malvern Cornish, Kevin McIntosh, Roosevelt Curry and all the others for the part they played over the years and most especially in this my most recent re-election campaign.
I thank all the people of Abaco for their faithfulness and loyalty and support. It does my heart good to know that I love you and that you love me in return.
It does my heart well that Abaco has joined Long Island in being amongst the most faithful of Family Island constituencies to our Party since I joined the FNM in 1990. We are Abaco; we are never fearful and we will not abandon the FNM ship! So I will be replaced as your MP by another FNM!
To know that I have been your MP one has only to look around from Grand Cay to Dundas Town and Central Pines which did not exist in 1977.
We have come from communities that got water from open wells or rainwater tanks in Green Turtle Cay and Grand Cay, to communities with piped water; from kerosene lamps in Little Abaco and Grand Cay to electricity, from no telephone service to hardline phones, cell phones and internet access; from no paved roads outside of our communities to paved roads from Crown Haven in the north to Sandy Port in the South and to paved roads in every community; from an All Age School in Cooper’s Town to the primary and high schools we have today; from no recreational spaces to public parks and public recreational spaces in Grand Cay, Fox Town, Cedar Harbour, Cooper’s Town, Blackwood, Green Turtle Cay, Murphy Town and the Treasure Cay Beach Park – the list goes on and on and on.
I leave a number of projects in train for you: new subdivisions for community expansion in Crown Haven, Fox Town, Cooper’s Town, Green Turtle Cay, Dundas and Murphy Town; the new port at Conch Rock and the Angle Creek Fish Bridge and asphalt paving of the Treasure Cay Airport.
The new terminal at Marsh Harbour Airport is nearing completion. The new Administrative Complex is complete and the Central Abaco Hospital is under construction.
I will be returning to my law office in Nassau and re-opening my law office in Marsh Harbour and spending more time here in Abaco at my house in Cooper’s Town and in the seas of Abaco – “fishnin”.
I am honoured for the privilege to have been of service to you. On my own behalf and that of my wife Delores, our children, relatives and friends I say a BIG thank you to all.
I love all of you.
MITCHELL IS FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND IMMIGRATION
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill was sworn in on Friday 11th May as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration at Government House. The photo is by Peter Ramsay.
PLP ANSWERS THE FNM ON VICTIMIZATION
The new Leader Of The Opposition Dr. Hubert Minnis claimed quite incredulously that the PLP was victimizing people who are FNMs since the victory on 7th May. The PLP issued the following statement in response to the allegation:
Statement
Progressive Liberal Party
Opposition Leader claims of victimization baseless
10th May 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Progressive Liberal Party roundly condemns as false and baseless, the claims of victimization made by opposition leader Dr. Hubert Minnis in today’s edition of the Nassau Guardian.
Dr. Minnis said that “they’ve (the PLP) not been in office more than two days and they have already started victimizing Bahamians, yet they say Bahamians first”. Well the PLP is not surprised that Dr. Minnis, who has not been the leader of the opposition for one full day, is already leading his party in a campaign of lies and deceit against the government. This behavior is reckless, irresponsible and unbecoming of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.
The PLP is unlike the FNM government that started its administration in 2007 with the pernicious stop, review and cancel policy that accelerated the country’s descent into an economic recession. Further, the temporary workers hired by the FNM government during their final days in office in 2002 were kept on by the incoming PLP government and many of those workers were made permanent and pensionable.
Between 2002 and 2007 the PLP government went on to add some 22,000 jobs to the economy and significantly improved household incomes. We are not in the business of putting Bahamians on the unemployment line – we have a track record of creating good paying jobs for our people.
The PLP has a solid and proud record of putting Bahamians first.
If Dr. Minnis has substantiated evidence of victimization that he claimed, the PLP challenges him to produce this evidence.
We invite the FNM to set aside petty political mischief and become constructively engaged with the government in an aggressive and sustained effort to fight crime, reduce violence, to keep Bahamians safe and to restore the battered and severely weakened economy of The Bahamas.
THE PLP REPLIES ON INGRAHAM ON BRIBERY
Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham speaking after the election of the new Leader of the Opposition Dr Hubert Minnis said that the PLP won the election because they bribed the voter. He becomes more absurd. The PLP issued the following statement in response to the allegation:
Statement
Progressive Liberal Party
Ingraham continues to disrespect Bahamians
11th May 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hubert Ingraham suffered a massive defeat in the general elections. What is really pathetic is that Bahamians spoke so loudly and he still has not heard them -- just as he was deaf to the needs of people during his years in government.
Only someone who lives behind high gates could afford to ignore the nation's skyrocketing crime crisis, but Hubert Ingraham ignored it during his last term and continues to ignore it to this day, instead fabricating bizarre explanations about his loss rather than face the truth about his failed leadership.
Ingraham and Minnis should be aware that the way forward for their party is not more lies. They would do better to reflect on the their party's failure to keep people safe, and their failure to invest in and believe in Bahamians even as they ran up the national debt to give hundreds of millions in contracts to foreigners.
The people spoke on May 7th -- for once, they must stop the lies long enough to listen.
PHOTO OF THE VICTORY CELEBRATION
When it became clear that the PLP had on the general election with 29 seats to 9 for the FNM, the crowds headed to Clifford Park for a victory celebration. The photo is by Peter Ramsay
HOW THEY MARKED IN FOX HILL
The PLP’s Fred Mitchell won the Fox Hill seat handily and convincingly. His majority was 877 votes over his nearest opponent Shonel Ferguson of the Free National Movement. The DNA’s candidate Kendal Smith got 351 votes. The totals are as follows: PLP 2448 FNM 1571 and DNA 351. Mr. Mitchell won an outright majority. When the two opponent’s numbers are combined, he got 525 votes more than the they did. The photo of the celebration in Fox Hill on the night of 8th May is by PLP Media.
FRED MITCHELL’S LAST ADDRESS OF THE CAMPAIGN
Last week, we reported on the final address of Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill to the PLP’s crowd assembled at the R.M. Bailey Park on Saturday 5th May. We present the video which was captured by C. Allen Johnson.
THE FULL CABINET
The Cabinet Office released the following press release on Friday 11th May giving the names of those who now form the Government:
PRESS RELEASE FROM THE CABINET OFFICE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRIME MINISTER CHRISTIE COMPLETES FORMATION OF HIS CABINET
The Cabinet Office announced today that Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie, has advised His Excellency the Governor-General to complete the formation of the new cabinet with the following additional ministerial appointments:
HON. FREDERICK A. MITCHELL – MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS and IMMIGRATION
HON. V. ALFRED GRAY – MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, MARINE RESOURCES AND
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
HON. SHANE GIBSON – MINISTER OF LABOUR AND NATIONAL INSURANCE
HON. GLENYS HANNA MARTIN – MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND AVIATION
HON. MELANIE GRIFFIN – MINISTER OF SOCIAL SERVICES
HON. DR. MICHAEL DARVILLE – MINISTER FOR GRAND BAHAMA
HON. DR. PERRY GOMEZ – MINISTER OF HEALTH
HON. KENDRED DORSETT-MINISTER OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND HOUSING
HON. DANIEL JOHNSON - MINISTER OF YOUTH SPORTS AND CULTURE
HON. HOPE STRACHAN – MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT
AND AVIATION
HON. KHAALIS ROLLE - MINISTER OF STATE FOR INVESTMENTS IN THE OFFICE
OF THE PRIME MINISTER
This second and final group of ministers will be sworn in at Government House at 4pm this afternoon. In announcing the final group of ministers, Prime Minister Christie said that under ordinary circumstances he would have gone with a smaller cabinet but that the extraordinary challenges facing the country today demanded that he assemble a cabinet that would be able to simultaneously tackle these challenges on a broadest possible front. Accordingly, the cabinet in its totality is approximately the same size as the cabinet that was announced by the former Prime Minister following the 2007 General Election. The Prime Minister also indicated that he would be making mid-term ministerial adjustments with a view to bringing into the cabinet some of the government backbenchers not included in the first round of selections. The Prime Minister advised that this was particularly important having regard to his commitment to ensure the promotion of ‘new generation’ candidates to a dominant position in his government during the course of the present term.
The Prime Minister also announced that:
Mr. Anthony Moss, the Member–Elect for Exuma has been appointed Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources;
Mrs. Cleola Hamilton, the Member of Parliament-elect for South Beach has been appointed Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Aviation and;
Renward Wells, the MP-elect for Bamboo Town, has been appointed Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Works and Urban Development.
Mrs. Hamilton, Mr. Moss and Mr. Wells will be sworn in at a separate ceremony at Government House on Monday. The Prime Minister also announced that at the opening of the new Parliament on the 23rd May the Government would move for the election of Dr. Kendal Major, the member-elect for the Garden Hills constituency as the next Speaker of the Hon. House of Assembly; and for the election of Deon Smith, the member-elect for the Nassau Village constituency, as Deputy Speaker.
The Cabinet Ministers previously named were: Perry Christie, Prime Minister and Minister Of Finance; Philip Davis, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Of Works and Urban Development; Bernard Nottage, Minister of National Security and Government Leader in the House of Assembly; Obediah Wilchcombe, Minister Of Tourism; Jerome Fitzgerald, Minister Of Education, Science and Technology; Ryan Pinder, Minister Of Financial Services; Allyson Maynard Gibson, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs; Damien Gomez, Minister of State in the Ministry of Legal Affairs; Michael Halkitas, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance; Keith Bell, Minister Of State in the Ministry Of National Security.
A RELEASE FROM THE PLP’S PR PEOPLE
The Greenberg Report on the 2007 general election loss formed the blueprint for the way forward for the PLP. It worked like a charm in a sense because based on that report the party started to plot its way forward. The company that produced the report and were advisors to the campaign of 2012 released the statement below with regard to the success of the campaign 2012.
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Congratulates Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie and the Progressive Liberal Party on Historic Election in The Bahamas
In a landslide victory, the PLP took 29 of 38 contested constituencies based on preliminary results - one of the biggest victories in Bahamian history. This is an increase of 11 seats for the PLP from the last election in 2007. They will have a strong majority in the next government, and Christie will lead the country as the new Prime Minister of The Bahamas.
In addition to winning a decisive majority, the PLP defeated Branville McCartney, the leader of the new Democratic National Alliance, in his race to represent the constituency of Bamboo Town.
Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham conceded defeat to the PLP, announcing that he would give up his seat in the House of Assembly and retire from public life after more than 30 years in politics. It is likely that the PLP will fill his seat in the North Abaco constituency.
The PLP ran a strong campaign that centered on believing in the potential of the Bahamian people. “Believe in The Bahamas” resonated with voters as the current government’s policies failed to put the Bahamian people ahead of special interests and neglected a staggering problem with crime. The PLP’s detailed plan to fight crime, create jobs for Bahamians, and double the investment in education and training was strongly endorsed by the electorate.
“Christie and the PLP achieved a great victory last night," said Kristi Lowe, Senior Associate, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. "We extend them our best wishes as they approach the challenges of reducing crime, reviving the economy, and enacting policies that put faith in what the Bahamian people can achieve if given the opportunity.”
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, working with lead strategist Dalit Toledano, was proud to provide Christie and the PLP with public opinion research, strategic advice, and digital consulting during the election campaign.
The team working on the Bahamian campaign included the followingGreenberg Quinlan Rosner political consultants and research professionals:
• Kristi Lowe - Senior Associate
• Margaret Havemann - Analyst
• Kelly Rincon - Project Associate
• Lester Polchlopek - Programmer
• Patrick Faust - Director of Digital Strategies
• Alex Kennedy - Digital Project Coordinator
• Matt Rothenberg - Digital Project Coordinator
SIGN OF A VICTORY
STALWART COUNCILOR B WRITES TO PUBLIC SERVANTS: TURN YOURSELF IN
Ten years ago when Prime Minister Christie formed his new PLP government, no one in the public service was let go. Even political operatives were allowed to work out their contracts. Permanent government employees who went above and beyond the call of duty to the point of breaching General Orders in pursuit of the FNM agenda were not disciplined. That decision proved to be a colossal mistake for the PLP. It was misinterpreted as weakness.
In this 2012 election cycle, Senior Civil Servants were so sure of the FNM victory at the polls that they threw caution to the wind and exposed their political bias to the point of wearing the color red at official government functions. They further signed government contracts without the appropriate checks and balances and approval. In Grand Bahama they hired workers on the government program and paid the workers without even having places at various businesses to place them, all at the tax payers expense.
To those members of the service who in the process lost their way in executing their duties in a fair and equitable manner, I say turn yourselves in. To others who have committed minor infractions, I say confess. To the most Senior Civil Servants who over the past few days, I say there is an honorable course of action. It makes no sense using back channels trying to reach ministers in an attempt to start burning the candle at the other end.
In order for the Public Service to work efficiently and seamlessly from one administration to the other, senior members of the service must hold themselves to the highest standard. But in this cycle, we see where the system has all but collapse in this regard. To those senior members, fall on your swords.
Finally, the PLP has a group of party elders call Stalwart Councilors who have learnt from their mistakes and where they see government policies faltering they will move with haste to bring pressure to bear on this administration to ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated.
Stalwart B
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writes from Freeport in response to the allegation by the new Leader Of The Opposition Dr. Hubert Minnis that the PLP was victimizing people. Mr. Carroll writes that this was laughable against the background of the conduct of the FNM in office over the past five years:
Do you want to know why am laughing my head off at this very moment? Dr Hubert Minnis, the new leader of the rag tag opposition, complaining and accusing the new PLP government of victimization.
Here is a man who sat around the cabinet table, along with Hubert Ingraham his leader and prime minister for five solid years, planning how to victimize every suspected PLP they could flush out in their quest to punish them for their political preferences.
Has Minnis forgotten that on the night of May 2nd 2007 his Leader couldn’t even wait to name his cabinet before firing Steve McKinney and Lady Philippa Russell from their jobs at ZNS? Has he forgotten that shortly after forming his cabinet, back then, his leader and prime minister went on an accelerated and aggressive mission to identify and punish every suspected PLP supporter working in the government service? Is Minnis’ memory so bad, all of a sudden that he now cannot remember how his leader came to Grand Bahama and ordered the cancellation of Urban Renewal contracts, indiscriminately, and firing every one of the employees and replaced them all with FNM supporters?
Has Minnis’ memory failed him so badly that he cannot now remember the many contracts that his leader cancelled, for ordinary Bahamians, and which were reworked and awarded to known FNM supporters? Has Minnis forgotten the many civil servants who his leader sent into retirement, involuntarily, with only fifteen minutes notices?
Have you forgotten, Dr. Hubert Minnis, that through these actions many Bahamians lives have been ruined to the extent that they would never recover again, ever, in this lifetime and now you propose to lecture us? You should be asking all those Bahamians, whose lives you and your leader have ruined, for forgiveness; we don’t expect to see statements such as, “They’ve not been in office not more than two days yet and they have already started victimizing Bahamians.” The precedent that your government has set, for these kinds of actions Hubert Minnis, the PLP could never match.
We, the new PLP government, will ignore your nonsense, Hubert Minnis, for we have much more important things to do like correcting all the wrongs your government committed against our people. Civil servants who were forcibly retired and their pensions withheld; legitimate contracts which were broken by your government; the many outstanding labour issues which in most cases your government created as in the case of the customs and immigration union matters; civil servants who were superseded in favor of junior FNM supporting civil servants and or Family members as in the case of the position given to and now held by Zhivargo Laing’s brother-in-law at customs in Freeport. Dr. Minnis, please take it from me, no one believes you when you pretend to care about Victimization; we believe that you care about few of your FNM generals losing their meal tickets but other Bahamians? Absolutely not; you don’t care for if you did you would not have been a part of Ingraham’s strike force, victimizing poor average citizens all these years.
Yes Dr. Minnis, if I were you I wouldn’t dare broach that particular subject; I would try and find some other issue on which to get traction for you and FNM rag-tag opposition has no credibility with this victimization thing.
Laughable! Unbelievable! Unthinkable! Is how I would describe the start-up role of this FNM party now in opposition; truly unbelievable?
Thank you
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport
James Catalyn, the playwright, wrote this note of congratulations to the new government on the web:
My congratulations to the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and all the Ministers of the Cabinet; the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and soon to be sworn in Parliamentary Secretaries. A more brilliant and educated team could not be assembled anywhere. All I have heard all week was how pleased everyone is about the selection.
We have to work together as a team, as we were together during the campaigning. We have to stay the course. We know that you will find many wrongs in your various ministries and we know that you will find many in opposition who would wish this administration to fail. Look at Obama, the Republicans are hell bent on making him a one term President and the supporters of the opposition have the same plan. REMEMBER 2002, when they bragged that we won the election, but were not in charge? We must have learnt a lesson from that!!! You cannot and will not achieve your goals if both your right hand and left hand are working against you. You cannot leave these people in place. Find other areas in which to place them
Be vigilant, be diligent, be on top of everything.
I learned from my days in the Ministry of Tourism with Sir Clement, how he was in office very early (by 7:00a.m.), read everything that came into the Ministry, knew his staff, knew what was going on, and kept both his feet and ears to the ground.
Since we like to quote the bible so much, remember, if your right hand offends you, cut it off.
My cabinet ministers, we have been given another chance to govern this great country of ours. We are confident that you will do that and with God's help you will lift us out the pits of hell.
Keep your feet firmly planted on the ground! Remember the people who put you in these lofty heights and remember "Putting People First"'. We witnessed enough in 2002. We CANNOT, we MUST not repeat the same mistakes again.
We must truly be an open government, of the people, by the people and for and let the people know the things they need to know. As a government, we must also tout our achievements and "brag" about them, so that the public may be aware. We need a good PR Department and certainly NOT BIS.
I may have written much and you may discard much of what I have written, but I wish only the best for my country and my government.
Remember, keep your feet and your ears to the ground; learn the difference between hearing and listening; ponder and heed. No one person knows it all, that's why we have a team...and a team works together.
May God bless and direct all of you.
James Catalyn
IN PASSING
Commission Of Inquiry
The PLP must announce within days the holding of a Commission of Inquiry into the sale of BTC to Cable and Wireless and the conduct of the FNM government and Hubert Ingraham on the road works in New Providence and the conduct of the government in the awarding of public contracts and jobs during the general election campaign.
BTC Crashes
On Friday 11th May, the cell phone system and data system in New Providence collapsed with text messaging not possible and during the day people could not hear what was being said when calls were answered on cell phones. It continued on 12th May with no explanation from BTC. Many cell phone calls would not go through. The phone system in The Bahamas has become worse under Cable and Wireless. These are good reasons for the Bahamian people to reacquire their asset.
The New Leader Of The Opposition’s Malapropism
Dr. Hubert Minnis is the new Leader Of The Opposition. Here was what he said in his first statement on Thursday 10th May as quoted by The Tribune on 10th May: "I am grateful for the confidence you impose in me and for the support you give me every day." What’s wrong with that picture? We got rid of one FNM leader who could not tell the difference between V and W and their pronunciations to save his life now this.
Taking Back BTC
The PLP on 23rd May should have the legislation ready to re-acquire the assets of BTC from Cable and Wireless. There is no time like the present.
Change The Oath Of Office
When each Minister of the government was sworn in they had to take two oaths. One was to be faithful to Elizabeth, the Queen her heirs and successors in law. The other is to keep Cabinet secrets. It is a rather long and rambling oath. The PLP ought to create new oaths which are more relevant to today’s Bahamas. This business of the Queen ought to go and the second oath should simply say that the Minister promises to adhere to the constitution of The Bahamas and be done. The second oath is a tongue twister.
Mother’s Day
Today is Mother’s Day in the new world. Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers everywhere.
The Line Up Of Wants And Needs
The election was not yet one hour old before the line up of needs and wants started. The PLP has a hell of job on its hands with everyone in the country wanting a job with the government.
Remembering The Flamingo And Its Men
10th May 1980 is a date that is forever etched in the collective memory of the nation and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force. It was on that day that the Cuban government’s air force sunk the new Bahamian Defence force ship HMBS Flamingo. Four lives were lost. Their colleague who remained remembered them in an official ceremony at the RBDF base last week.
What’s In Cassius Stuart’s Head?
The Tribune’s headline of Thursday 10th May said that Cassius Stuart who abandoned his Bahamas Democratic Movement (BDM) for the FNM so he could get a nomination for the Bamboo Town seat and who went down in flames on 7th May in the general election was contemplating running for Leader of the FNM. Boy this fellow has a hell of an ego. The whole next generation of leaders of the FNM Dion Foulkes, Carl Bethel, Tommy Turnquest and Zhivargo Laing were all defeated. All former Torchbearers, the youth arm of the FNM. They are not so muddled headed by defeat as to think stupid and impossible things yet here you have a newcomer to the party Cassius Stuart who obviously brought nothing to the party having lost his seat saying he wants to be leader. Must be mud in that head! Late word is that he will support the new Leader Dr. Minnis. Whew!
Gridlock At Government House
The swearing in of the first set of Ministers of the PLP government came on Thursday 10th May at Government House. These were the ministers responsible for dealing with crime and the economy. The ceremony did not finish in time for Government House to clear so that the Leader of The Opposition could get his instruments of appointment from the Governor General. The result gridlock at Government House with FNM leaders and supporters having to run the gauntlet of PLPs finishing their cocktail reception at Government House. Government House had to hold a reception at the Sheraton Hotel in order to accommodate the Leader of The Opposition.
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THE SECOND TIME AROUND: the Cabinet met promptly at 10 a.m. on Tuesday 15th May, for the first time since the general election which swept Hubert Ingraham and the FNM out of power and put the PLP back into office under Perry Christie at the helm. It was an assortment of the old and the new. The cartoonist Stan Burnside couldn’t resist. He decried any claim by the PLP that this was a new Cabinet and he posted a list in one of his cartoons: Perry Christie, Bernard Nottage, Glenys Hanna Martin, Fred Mitchell, Allyson Maynard Gibson, Obie Wilchcombe and Alfred Gray. How he begged the question could this be a new Cabinet? Well one supposes that what critics are for and you cannot please everyone all the time. The fact is the whole thing had a fresh look with lots of new faces, not just those who had been there before. Our photo of the week is the meeting of that first Cabinet under the new Perry Christie on Tuesday 15th May in the Churchill Building Nassau. The photo is by Peter Ramsay.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK THE FIGHT WITH INGRAHAM IS NOT OVER
There was a report doing the rounds last week from friends of the former Commissioner of Police Reginald Ferguson who remains in place over at the Financial Intelligence Unit. That report was that agents of the FIU were to be dispatched to assist the police in investigating whether or not donations were given to the PLP by the people who run the number houses in Nassau. The first question is even if that were the case, so what precisely turns on that. But it shows that agents of the former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham are well in place and ensconced in the system and that to us is a problem.
The PLP was voted into power to bring about change in the system. Yet one week after it is all over, the agents of the old regime are still in place. There is a need to move with dispatch and quickly if the change is not yet again to be frustrated by the agents of Mr. Ingraham.
It isn’t as if we do not know his playbook. In the year 2002, just before the general election he promoted 16 people to the rank of Undersecretary all of them supposed FNM supporters. That is the rank just below the top rank in the service. Very few people were promoted to Permanent Secretary during the PLP’s time. The result was that during the whole time that the PLP was in power from 2002 to 2007, the agents of Mr. Ingraham sat there and reported what the PLP was doing and did their best to sabotage what the PLP was seeking to accomplish.
We suspect the same thing is now at work. This is no time to get soft hearted. That is why the PLP must act quickly before the inertia sets in to move those who are associated with the old regime. Mr. Ingraham set the precedent. He was famous for saying that when you are in power, you have to be prepared to live with what you do while you are in government. We hope that he remembers that rule as the people who were associated with his reign of terror in this country are eliminated from the body politic one by one.
Here is an example of the problem. Last week there were screams and howls from the woman who markets herself as Krissy Love. She was brought in as a radio talk show host to replace Darold Miller on radio just after the FNM came to office in 2007. This was after Philipa Russell and Steve McKinney were summarily dismissed from the radio stations owned by the government. She is a rabid FNM. One of the web sites reported that shortly after the PLP returned to power she said from the public broadcasting network that she hated the PLP. They described it as a rant, like she was losing it. How could she expect to survive in this atmosphere saying such a thing? Her contract was terminated using the clause within the contract that either side could give thirty days notice or pay in lieu of notice. That was done. Legally followed. Now she is screaming victimization.
Krissy Love is Anglican. There is a line in the Anglican service that says: if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. We recommend that passage to her.
Second case is that of Johnley Ferguson. He is a former Vice President of the Senate under the FNM. He ran twice for the FNM and campaigned against the PLP with all his might during the last election notwithstanding that he was a public servant. He too was given his walking papers using the thirty day clause. The same thing that Hubert Ingraham did to Al Dillette former BIS Director General and the same thing that was done to Calvin Brown who worked at Urban Renewal in Fox Hill. No more no less.
What was that Mr. Ingraham said about being prepared to live with what you do in government when you are out of government.
Enough of the stories though. The more general point is this: we need for the PLP to put its people in place. The Permanent Secretaries have to be reviewed retired changed around. The staff to support Ministers in their work must be provided. The public relations battle against the silly cows like Eileen Carron of The Tribune must continue. The people who ran the PLP’s war room must be placed in the apparatus of the state to ensure that this battle is not lost.
Hubert Minnis is the Leader of the Opposition in name only. He does not run the FNM. The FNM is run by Hubert Ingraham, never mind him pretending to retire and playing possum up there in Abaco. He is alive and kicking and we had better recognize it and be prepared to finish him off is this battle is to be won.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday19th May 2012 up to midnight: 120,819
Number of hits for the month of May up to Saturday 19th May 2012 up to midnight: 425,705
Number of hits for the year 2012 up to Saturday 19th May 2012 up to midnight:3,422,032
The Progressive Liberal Party has announced seven of the new senators who will take their seats in the Senate when the Parliament resumes on 23rd May. The seven will join Senator Allyson Maynard Gibson and Senator Keith Bell already appointed and serving in the Cabinet. The seven are all persons who lost in well fought races in the last election: Alex Storr, candidate for Long Island; Tanisha Tynes, candidate for East Grand Bahama; Frank Smith, candidate for Montagu; Julian Russell, candidate for Central Grand Bahama; Jerome Gomez, candidate for Kilarney; Gary Sawyer, candidate for South Abaco and Greg Burrows, candidate for St. Anne’s. The photo is from The Tribune.
PLP SWEARS IN PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIES
Prime Minister Perry Christie completed the formation of the executive branch of the government last Monday 14th May at Government House with the appointment of three Parliamentary Secretaries who will assist various ministers. They are Anthony Moss, MP for Exuma and Ragged Island, who will serve in the Ministry of Local Government; Renward Wells, MP for Bamboo Town who will serve in the Ministry of Works; and Cleola Hamilton, MP for South Beach, who will serve in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration. The photos of the presentation of the instruments and the swearing in ceremony are by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services.
FNM ANNOUNCES ITS FOUR SENATORS
They say when you get married, you should try something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. We were trying to match that axiom to the choice by Hubert Minnis, Leader of the Opposition of those in the Senate for the FNM. Dr. Minnis chose Desmond Bannister, the former Minister of Education who pretty much pissed off voters in North Andros by attacking old people during the campaign ( that’s something old); then there was Kwasi Thompson, the loser in the contest in Grand Bahama, who is generally well respected but couldn’t help but be one of the lemmings and jump off the cliff after Hubert Ingraham ( that must be something blue); Zhivargo Laing, the loser in Nassau in the Ft. Charlotte seat and who ahs developed a reputation for being one of Hubert Ingraham’s vicious attack dogs ( that must be something borrowed); the new kid on the block was Heather Hunt, whose first foray into politics ran her up against Jerome Fitzgerald, now the Minister of Education and the new MP for Marathon. The photo is from The Tribune.
THE NEW SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
Dr. Kendal Major, the newly elected Member of Parliament for Garden Hills for the PLP, is to be elected Speaker of the House of Assembly. In this he will succeed the hapless and hopeless Alvin Smith who was the most biased of Speakers in the history of the modern assembly. Mr. Smith could never turn down a request or suggestion from the Government side. Dion Smith, the MP PLP for Nassau Village is to be the Deputy Speaker. Let us hope they rule a fair house with decorum. Frankly we would expect nothing less from Dr. Major coming as he does from the Myles Munroe stable at Bahamas Faith Mission. What we hope is that with the new Leader of the House Dr. Bernard Nottage, the nastiness and bitterness of the Ingraham era is finished and that together the Speaker and the Leader of government business with the new Leader of the Opposition will run a different kind of House of Assembly. It is our suggestion that the Government provide the Speaker with a budget to run the House of Assembly and its committees and that all travel will be done directly from the budget of the House. We hope that there will be a management committee of the House which will be responsible for the running of the affairs of the House and the setting up of proper support for MPs so that they can do their work. If Dr. Major is able to do that and we think that he is, he will go down in the history of the country as the greatest of the modern speakers.
STALWART COUNCILOR B FROM FREEPORT ON EILEEN CARRON AND THE TRIBUNE
PEACE
Eileen Carron is the owner and publisher of the Tribune News Network. With the help of former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, she was granted a radio license in 1992. By all accounts, the Tribune News Network has had some degree of success. Mrs. Carron is a Bahamian and instead of celebrating her success, this lady seems bitter.
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham was cast out of the PLP and banished; he however, survived and became an Independent M.P. Then, subsequently, he was made leader of the FNM; and, in 1992 led the FNM to victory at the polls and became the second Prime Minister in an independent Bahamas.
Again a measure of success which few could ever imagined.
In these two cases of Carron and Ingraham we see what should be success stories that should be celebrated by all Bahamians, but instead we see bitterness. In Mrs. Carron’s case, we see a lady who has held a grudge for the Bahamian people for having rejected her father, the late Sir Etienne Dupuch. Mrs. Carron, in an editorial, reminded the Bahamian people how her father had done so much for them and in the end was rejected and defeated at the polls by Mr. Sammy Isaacs who she took great pains to outline that he as a mere plumber.
Mr. Ingraham, on the other hand, likened himself to a “Papa.” We say he was a shepherd of his flock. On election night when it became clear that the Bahamian people had had enough and rejected his message; Mr. Ingraham showed us just what type of papa he was. On election night we saw the crudest form and unstatesman like conduct by our former Prime Minister who led us for fifteen years. No orderly transition, just I gone, is our interpretation.
Finally, it would appear that Mrs. Carron and Mr. Ingraham suffers from the same malady call rejection. In the words of Martin Luther might help them to come to terms with their present condition. “Hatred paralyzes life, love realizes it, love harmonizes it, hatred darkens life, and love illuminates it.”
Stalwart B
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writes from Freeport about Eileen Carron, the publisher of The Tribune and her editorial the day after the general election in which she chastised the Bahamian people for their ingratitude, she said. Mr. Carroll quotes an old Bahamian saying: “There’s no fool like an old fool” to describe Mrs. Carron.
There is a saying which goes “there is no fool like an old fool.”
“Eileen Dupuch Carron,” Publisher/Editor of the Nassau Tribune since 1972, would certainly qualify for the category of “Old Fools” if we were to hold such a contest in search of the best of the old fools.
I read the opening statement to her editorial in the Tribune, appearing 8th May 2012, and concluded that only someone like her would compose a column filled with such diatribe. She said (for the information of those who didn’t read it) that “Bahamians went to the polls yesterday (meaning May 7th) and showed the depth of their ingratitude to a man (meaning Hubert Ingraham) who had dedicated 35 SELFLESS years to their service” unquote. I say to Mrs. Carron; “madam the contents of that column surely qualifies you (as a contestant) and puts you far over the top of all others in the business; for you have now attained the dubious distinction of being the first female Bahamian journalist to win the award as “ YELLOW JOURNALIST OF THE CENTURY.” You, madam Carron, ought to be ashamed of yourself. We are all aware of your close relationship with Hubert Ingraham, and the FNM, and we expect nothing less from you. We fully expect you to prop up Ingraham no matter how obviously silly it makes you appear; never mind his bad policies. We fully expect that while you’ll defend to the hilt Ingraham’s dirt you will never endorse anything good and proper the PLP does so let’s get that straight. No one is under the illusion that you, madam, would ever write positively about the PLP. What can you possibly mean, though, when you say that by exercising our democratic rights, to vote for the party/individual of our choice, that we are showing our ingratitude to Ingraham? The former prime minister, I submit, never performed any public service for free or selflessly; his service, in my opinion, has always had a huge price tag attached; he has never been that generous in his entire miserable life time. Much learning, madam, surely doth make thee silly. Do you not believe that we have a right to chose or not to choose as we wish? Do we not have the right (constitutionally) to chose or reject Ingraham or Christie or Branville? Or are you suggesting that we exercise those rights only when Ingraham is not in the mix? We have rights, madam, and we have exercised those rights (well) when we ousted that destructor on May 7th. Your father, I would imagine, would be most displeased to see just how twisted your views and opinions have become when it comes to matters involving Hubert Ingraham.
The lady suggested, further down her editorial, that it was because of Ingraham’s tenacity, level headedness, farsightedness and hard work that the economy of the Bahamas was kept from imploding as did other economies of so many other, larger and more prosperous, countries. Mrs. Carron knows this to be a bunch of hogwash and she knows, as well, that what she said here represents a deliberate distortion of the facts. Hubert Ingraham’s bad management of our economy, 1992-2002 and 2007-2012, has gotten us where we are presently; in this deep hole of national debt and deprivation. The so-called economy you are talking about, Mrs. Carron existed only because of the billions of dollars the FNM government borrowed. If Ingraham had to balance a cheque book, in order to feed himself and his family, he would certainly starve to death. The man has never, in his lifetime, had to run a business where he had to make a profit in order to make a payroll so I don’t know where you, Mrs. Eileen Carron, would have gotten the idea that Hubert Ingraham could manage anything successfully. Borrowing money, at taxpayers’ expense, to actually pay civil servants’ salaries and other bills, is not my idea of good and prudent management.
Your real problem, I submit Mrs. Carron, is that you are so pissed off about losing your grip on political power, that your editorial reflects, very vividly, the degree of your disappointment in the loss. Well you’ll just have to live with that loss, baby, as no amount of trash talk and imaginary lies will gain you any comfort from the hurt. Your concern has never been for us ordinary Bahamians because you never cared or showed any concern for the things that concern us local folk. Rather it’s the “agony of defeat” that has you all ticked off. Get used to the loss, Mrs. Carron, because fact of the matter your FNM party and Hubert Ingraham are not coming back any time soon; they have gone to the land of no return and you had better get comfortable with the idea. The 7th of May 2012 will be recorded in the annals of our history as the date; month and year Perry Gladstone Christie retired the man who claimed he was politically invincible. If it will be any comfort to you, though, I would like to assure you that time heals all things and this hurt too will pass.
Poor lady, she is so confused that, she went on even to accuse PLP Grant’s Town Member of Parliament, Dr Bernard Nottage, of actually paying persons, in his Constituency, cash for their votes. I ask you (Eileen Carron) which fool you think would give a voter in Bain and Grant’s town $5000, $10,000 or $15,000 (as you charged) for their votes. I wouldn’t believe that nonsense even if the fool, accused of such an indiscretion, were Hubert Ingraham himself. Get over it, madam, Perry Christie has successfully run Hubert Ingraham out of town and there is nothing that you, Bay Street or any other of his apologists can do about it. I couldn’t help reading on further, in her editorial, and making due note of the other asinine statements she made; statements such as; “we heard of instances of yellow shirts being presented with money wrapped inside as an inducement to take off the red and put on the yellow;” “there is no wound so painful than a man’s ingratitude;” “we urge FNMs to stand up and-yes, once more for the sake of their country expose this evil. If not, we shall all be guilty of silently acquiescing in a corrupt society. Are we to return so soon to being a “nation for sale?” unquote; this is what that intelligent (or so-called) woman wrote; she wrote as if FNM supporters (which are in the minority as indicated in the recent polling) have the exclusivity on common sense; Bahamian dignity; patriotism and the sincere best interest of the country at heart. She wrote as if it is exclusively PLP supporters who would destroy the country and not care a blast, when in fact it is the FNM’s leadership which is responsible for the mess with which we have to contend presently. The FNM is responsible for our economy being in this steep decline; they are responsible for our out of control national debt; for the high crime wave sweeping our nation; for our substandard education; for Bahamians being pushed aside and left out of ownership of major components of the country’s economic engines; for the poor performance of our GDP & GNP; for our diminished international presence and for all the reasons there are no effective plans in place for combating these problems. This is the kind of gross incompetence this well-learned, over-exposed world-class Journalist would have us believe she supports wholeheartedly; I don’t believe her for one minute that she would sit there, look me in my eye and tell me that this is the kind of crap she supports. Can it be that her age-old hatred for the PLP could drive her to this degree of journalistic insanity?
Eileen, you have really shown your true colors. I submit that it is the “agony of defeat” that has gripped you and have you writing such nonsense. You talk as if only persons supporting the FNM have the best interest of this country at heart and that persons who support the PLP are those who are only looking for personal gain; that we have no interest in advancing this country only breaking it down. You are so foolish madam for, lest you forget, if it weren’t for the PLP, and people like us who supported this organization from its inception, we wouldn’t have a country called the Bahamas. It is us who brought the Bahamas into existence when you and many of your people were screaming for secession; remember? If it were left to colonials, like yourself and others, we would still be a dependency of Great Britain just like our neighbor to the south, the Turks and Caicos Islands. Never in your life, madam, have you cast a vote in any general election in favor of the Progressive Liberal Party. That fact I can state with the greatest degree of confidence and, I might add, you never will. Therefore nothing you write, negatively, about the PLP and Perry Gladstone Christie would surprise me. The only thing that does surprise me, however, is the extent to which you are prepared to go (into the gutter) to prop-up that scoundrel Hubert Ingraham. I can suggest a good topic which could occupy your time more usefully; may I suggest that you dedicate the next few editorials, challenging your puppet ex-prime minister to address the matter of his alleged involvement as an undercover agent (confidential informant), for the US Drug enforcement agency? It is alleged that while he served in the cabinet of the Bahamas, as one of Sir Lynden’s trusted ministers he involved himself in the spy game against the Bahamas. Challenge him please (I challenge you) to answer the questions put to him (over time) by Gorman Banister and Bradley Roberts and have him to say whether any of the accusations are true. Challenge him, I insist, to explain the contents of the letters going back and forth, allegedly, between him and members of the American drug enforcement agency. Ask him what role, if any, he played as an alleged Conspirator against the Bahamas when it is alleged that he cooperated with agents of the United States of America’s narcotic agency? It is alleged, further, that his ID # was C.I 1622; ask him to explain its meaning. Please write and inquire about this matter and maybe we would finally be able to put that issue to rest. For my part though I will always have questions as to whether we, do in fact, have a real live traitor in our midst, walking around free, one who should be put before a firing squad for treason. Ingraham’s persistence in remaining silent on this score will be his undoing. It might be, madam, that because of the very obvious influence you command over this mongrel you just might succeed in getting him to come clean with us. This would be a far more useful and important issue for you to pursue than the nonsense you talked about in that May 8th editorial.
I am appalled, to say the least, at the low degree to which journalism has sunk in this free and democratic country. I can see clearly now why, in some jurisdictions, governments muzzle nasty, no good journalists who are of your mindset, madam Carron. Don’t put words in my mouth because I didn’t say that I condone such press restrictions but rather that I understand why some governments do what they do. You, Madam Eileen Dupuch-Carron, are a total DISGRACE to the profession.
Ingraham has departed the political scene just as shamefully (in my view) as he came onto it and I, Forrester J Carroll, say good bye and good damn riddance (he should have been chased off the scene a long before now). He will now live high off the hog while we, the people, who his policies have affected so adversely, must adjust to existing on the mega crumbs and be grateful for them. Thank God, though, help and hope with the PLP is here. You should now do the country a favor, Mrs. Carron, and take your leave of absence (as well) from the journalism scene. Maybe you can join your friend, Hubert Ingraham, on weekends on his yacht for cocktails and reminiscence over how the two of you screwed up this country.
Thank you
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
May 2012.
The following commentary was taken from a letter written to bahamaspress.com:
May 15th, 2012
Dear Bahamas Press,
Chrissy Love was relieved of her duties as host of the talk show Immediate Response, and I don’t think I am alone when I say, she was asking for it!
I am not a fan of her style as her tone was often confrontational, she often talked down to her callers, she never really broadened the debate and she never hid her love for the FNM! But what was so ironic was how she often chided Bahamians for being “diehards” to any political party when she so obviously displayed the same behavior.
For someone who always talked about the Bahamian people needing to do and become better in order to take this country to the “next level,” her behavior on air at times undermined her very plea.
For the last few months, she boldly and brazenly campaigned for the FNM on air! It wasn’t subtle at all! She let her FNM bias hang out for all to see and she didn’t care!
Now there isn’t anything wrong with supporting the FNM or PLP, but as the host of a national show, it was unbecoming and she never even tried to show a measure of restraint or fairness the closer we got to the election.
I think she acted the way she did because she, like Papa, thought victory on May 7th was a sure thing! And if victory was a sure thing, she then could behave without fear as she knew her position at ZNS was secure.
So as the voting results poured in on the night of May 7th and it became clear as time went on that her party had been bitched slapped out of office by the people, her belly “break down” as we say and started praying to the Father, Son, Holy Spirit and Ally Baba as she knew her ass was grass!
Seems like Chrissy made the calculation that if they fire me, I’ll scream victimization; if they keep me as host of the show, I will carry on just as bad or even worse and criticized the new government relentlessly! She essentially put the management of ZNS between a rock and a hard place.
ZNS and this new government was damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Whatever the decision, she assumed, she came out the winner. So ZNS fired her and the next day she is in the papers, screaming victimization.
Now here is what is so ironic about this, Steve McKinney and Phillipa Russell was fired as soon as the FNM took office in 2007 and Ms Love was their replacement. The FNM replaced hosts that were anti-FNM with a host that wasn’t! Its that simple! But we were not appalled by the firing, many Bahamians were appalled at the way Mr Ingraham did it, at a mass rally, less. So where was Ms Love’s outrage when these two people obviously got victimized?
How is what happened to Steve and Ms Russell any different than what happened to Ms Love? If Ms Love is claiming that the PLP victimized her, then she is also claiming that the FNM victimized Steve and Phillipa!
Is Ms Love suggesting that its only victimization when the PLP takes this action and not when the FNM does the same? All the FNM’s who are coming to Ms Love’s aide, where were you in 2007 when something similar happened to others, who presumably, were not FNMs? Victimization is bad regardless of who does it right?
Ms Love says free speech is dead in the Bahamas because of her firing! No Ms Love, free speech didn’t die when you were fired, it died five years ago when the FNM administration lead by your Papa, fired Steve and Lady Russell. Papa set the precedent and now you tasted it!
Are Steve and Ms Russell’s right to free speech less than your Ms Love’s? Let’s just call a spade a spade, Ms Love was an FNM tool! Is that simple! She put herself out there and precedent had already been set as to how to deal with people like her by her own party’s former leader! So she needs to stop acting the fool, collect her severance and move on.
Her own actions since the elections was one that suggest to me that she was begging for ZNS to fire her and they granted her wish! So as far as I am concerned, her cry of victimization is weak and without merit! She can not point a finger at the PLP without pointing a finger at the FNM!
If she hates what was done to her, then she should have hated what was done to others whom she replaced, publicly stand up to her party and denounce victimization regardless of who did it and not accept the job when it was offered to her in 2007!
This “look at me, I’m a martyr for free speech” act by Ms Love is a bunch of Bimini bullsh**. She knew what she was hired to do and she did her job well. Her party loss and she, like every other political appointee, she have resigned the following day!
Altec
AltecBahamas2012@yahoo.com
Miguel Taylor writes from Freeport on the theme of victimization. He quotes Thomas Jefferson to support his argument.
Dear Editor,
Please afford some of your valuable space on your website at next posting to offer a brief commentary.
Thomas Jefferson one of the Americans founding fathers, principle author of the American Declaration of Independence, and third American President was quoted for saying
“Such is the moral construction of the world that no national crime passes unpunished in the long run... Were present oppressors to reflect on the same truth, they would spare to their own countries the penalties on their present wrongs which will be inflicted on them in future times. The seeds of hatred and revenge which they sow with a large hand will not fail to produce their fruits in time. Like their brother robbers on the highway, they suppose the escape of the moment a final escape and deem infamy and future risk countervailed by present gain.”
This couldn’t be more fitting, especially when we take into account what is happening post-election 2012 here in The Bahamas. The intelligentsia (some) in our society would have many to believe that we have now re-entered the dark ages where the politics of our country is concerned. All manner of rumours, baseless accusations, hidden agendas find themselves surfacing, all in an attempt to discredit a new government that is not even a month old yet. Amazing isn’t it? One such would be the cry of VICTIMIZATION. Seriously, how naïve of and oblivious to reality can these folks be?
Well, if I may add my ‘five cents’ I’ll say this…To those that cry out victimization, and that the new govt should be seekers of change and set new standards, instead of the ole ‘tit for tat’......well my questions are, why now....why set the new standards now.....why wasn't this done in the last 4 1/2 years? Certainly it can't be that now because the tables have turned, there is a need to cry for fair play. In the words of Edith Wharton: “People pay for what they do, and still more, for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it simply: by the lives they lead. ”
Karma is indeed an unsuspecting b&^ch!
I am etc.,
Miguel D. Taylor
For comments and/or fee back email:
migueldctaylor@Hotmail.com
IN PASSING
The Composition Of The Senate
The FNM has named four senators ( see story above). The PLP has named ten senators. They have two more they can appoint. Since the PLP won the three quarters majority in the House, the Senate will reflect that fact with three quarters of the seats going to the PLP.
BTC The PLP Must Stay The Course
The Trib business carried an article last week that was quoting liberally from some British expert that the PLP should not take back the majority shares in BTC, the phone company from Cable and Wireless. The argument of this expert was that this was going to send a bad signal to the international community about the reliability of The Bahamas as a place to invest. No one in their right mind should take this expert of The Tribune seriously. The fact is Hubert Ingraham and his FNM made a corrupt deal with Cable and Wireless and ever since they took the company over there has been a steady deterioration in the quality of the phone service: dropped calls and the inability to hear what people are saying on the cell system. We have two recent examples, one in Belize and the other is in Zambia where the telephone companies have been renationalized. The PLP needs to move with dispatch to get the majority shares back n BTC.
Speech From The Throne
The state opening of Parliament will take place on Wednesday 23rd May with Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes reading the speech from the throne which will map out the legislative programme of the government for the next session.
No Contest For FNM Leadership
It appears that Tommy Turnquest, Dion Foulkes, Carl Bethel and Zhivargo Laing, the former Ministers of the FNM who all lost after jumping over the cliff with Hubert Ingraham in the last election have all accepted their fate and will not contest the position of leader of the party against Dr. Hubert Minnis. Loretta Butler Turner, also a former Minister and now the MP for Long Island says that she will run for Deputy Leader. Anthony Musgrove,a former Senator is going to run against Carl Bethel for Chair. Desmond Bannister, now a Senator and a former Minister of Education, said he will run as well for Deputy Leader as will defeated candidate Cassius Stuart. The convention for leader of the FNM takes place on 25th May.
Zhivargo Laing Should Shut Up And Be Quiet
He was one of the most nasty of all of the lieutenants of Hubert Ingraham. He was prepared to do anything or say anything it appears that Hubert Ingraham wanted him or needed him to say. He was so horns waggled by Mr. Ingraham that he gave up a seat in Grand Bahama where he had a fighting chance to fall on his sword in Ft. Charlotte in New Providence. Yet now he is appointed to the Senate to the FNM and still has a lot to say. He claims that the PLP is backtracking from its statements made during the election campaign with regard to the economy. He seeks to dismiss it as public relations. The difficulty with this is that Mr. Laing is not credible. He claims to be a biblical scholar. He needs to go and read Proverbs which tells you that there is a time for every purpose under heaven. This is the time to be quiet Mr. Laing
Davis On FNM Issued Contracts
The Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis told the press last week that the new government despite the economic challenges in which it finds itself will have as its top priority jobs and crime. He also told the press that he had discovered that within the last days of the FNM, they had issued 80 contracts valued at some 80 million dollars.
Telcine Turner Rolle Dies
She had one child and during that difficult pregnancy she had a serious stroke. She was not expected to survive. Yet she did and recovered and made a contribution to the writing community of The Bahamas with her play Woman Take Two. Mrs. Turner Rolle sadly passed away last week. She is survived by her husband the artist James Rolle and one son Arien. The poet Obadiah Smith wrote his tribute to her:
Do You Think Cassius Is Sexy?
In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, he Cassius, Caesar’s assassin was described as having a lean and hungry look. Cassius Stuart who abandoned his Bahamas Democratic Movement (BDM) just before the last election after being swallowed up in the blandishments of Hubert Ingraham to become an FNM candidate in Bamboo Town in a losing effort has the same characteristics. He is also getting the reputation of having bad judgment. Bad enough that he abandoned his father-in-laws PLP to run for the FNM. He was on his Facebook page on Friday 18th May pleading with the public that he did not say what The Tribune reported him to have said. First that he would run for leader of the FNM. We thought he must have had mud in his head to think so. Then he said did not say that he was sexy and people would vote for him. He said he actually said that the FNM had to reshape its image and become sexy for people to vote for it. Oh well. The press reported that he said that he was sexy and the ladies would vote for him. He said on his face book page that he wanted an apology from The Tribune. Sounds like he simply needs to keep his mouth shut. The Trib obliged by printing the sexy photo of Mr. Stuart from his Facebook page which we print below. Add to that laughing stock.
Spitting In The PM’s Coffee
When the Prime Minister Perry Christie moved into his office at the Office of Prime Minister on the day after his swearing in, he got a message from one of the lower downs in the building who supports Mr. Ingraham that she would spit in his coffee when it was being made. If this is true should this person still be around him?
Mitchell At The Mayo Clinic
It’s that time of year again, Fred Mitchell MP has been making the annual trek to Rochester, Minnesota for the annual physical. Here is pictured in front of the Mayo Building on Friday 18th May.
Moody’s And The Mortgage Plan
The PLP now has the same complaint that the FNM had just a couple of weeks ago. The people at Moody’s who do these ratings exercises of your sovereign credit simply don’t know what they are talking about. For some reason they have taken a dislike to the PLP’s plan to try and save people’s homes. They say that the plan will cost 250 million dollars and that there is a significant moral hazard involved in that there is with the rescue of bad mortgages a disincentive to people who regularly pay their mortgages to continue to do so. First: the plan is not going to cost 250 million dollars. Secondly, Michael Halkitis the Minister of State for Finance said that not every defaulted mortgage is going to be rescued. The point is this: you cannot sit back and allow people who have been living in their homes for years to lose their homes in the circumstances of this extraordinary crisis without government intervening. Even the banks in the United States recognize that they must take some responsibility for the mess in which we find ourselves today. So Moody’s needs to get a life. Needless to say The Tribune who opposes everything the PLP does was busy stoking the fires of opposition to the plan, carrying what ordinarily be a business story on its front page section A instead.
The Scramble For Opportunities
Time is almost up. The day that the general election was decided you had people lining up in front of the doors of the new PLP MPs asking for jobs and contracts. It is as the former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham would say: unbelievable. There is no time for the new government to catch its breath. But there is a saying in The Bahamas, you must be careful what you wish for. This is one of those times. Our system is brutal. We see from the crime issues and other issues that they are no longer FNM problems, they are now PLP problems. The PLP must move with dispatch or lose the goodwill and the initiative.
Mitchell Represents Christie In Barbados
The Second Caricom/Mexico Summit takes place in Barbados on Monday 21st May at the Hilton Hotel there. Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration will attend the meeting with the Mexican President Felipe Calderon on behalf of Prime Minister Perry Christie.
Mitchell To South Africa
The Global Diaspora Conference spear headed by the South Africans and initiated by the African Union is to meet in Johannesburg, South Africa in its finale on 25th May. The meeting will be led by South African President Jacob Zuma. The conference was the idea of former President Thabo Mbeki who wanted to establish linkages around the world with people of African descent and to plot a common future. It was postponed following Mr. Mbeki’s departure as President of South Africa but his successor has now embraced the vision and the conference climaxes on 25th May. Fred Mitchell MP and Minister Of Foreign Affairs is to lead the delegation for The Bahamas representing Prime Minister Perry Christie and will join Alfred Sears, the former Minister of Education who is in South Africa as a representative of civil society for the conference.
Clay Sweeting Misses The Cut
In announcing his Senate team, Prime Minister Perry Christie said that it was the greatest regret that he was unable to appoint Clay Sweeting to the Senate but that he was not old enough to get the appointment. Mr. Sweeting is 26 years old and you need by the constitution to be 30 in order to get that job in the Senate.
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NEW PARLIAMENT BEGINS:Prime Minister Perry Christie and his new generation MPs took the oath office in the House of Assembly on Wednesday 23rd May. They took first the oath of allegiance to the Queen her heirs and successors, and then an oath of qualification which said that they knew not of any reason why they could not be MPs. The oath of qualification is too long and the one to the Queen is an anachronism. They need to be changed. Notwithstanding that everyone took the oath and our photo of the week is that of the PLP’s new team after taking the oath of office. The photo is by Peter Ramsay.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK NOTHING IS IRREVERSIBLE
Ingraham incapable of being anything else but a jackass. There he was in the Nassau Guardian talking to his favourite female reporter in his most bombastic sense, attacking the PLP as being incompetent. His ma is incompetent. He said that his policies were irreversible. One supposes that he is talking about two things in particular.
The Ingraham government tried to design a situation where the government sold BTC, the phone company and fenced it in such a way with voluntary clauses to so bind the government that if the government tried to escape from their obligations, the penalty would be as much as 100 million dollars. We have said before such clauses are void for public policy reasons and we are confident will be struck down by the courts. Further, it should be clearly understood by Cable and Wireless that they are a company with a bad reputation and are not wanted in The Bahamas.
Already the PLP is receiving reports that money is being taken out of the country by Cable and Wireless in unprecedented amounts; that the company has relegated its Bahamian employees to servants and the company is simply not fit and proper for the modernization of the phone company. It would be a breach of good faith for the PLP to renege on its commitment to get the majority shares of BTC back for the Bahamian people.
Secondly, there is the issue of the Port. Mr. Ingraham tried to construct a monopoly deal to 19 families which gives a monopoly to the port of Nassau for the next forty five years. This is obscene and should not stand. The port is in the wrong place. Already, the decision is wreaking havoc on one ship owner who thought he had a deal to have customs clearance at his brand new facility in Farrington Road. He built it on that understanding but the families told him that notwithstanding the promises of the Customs Department and the former Prime Minster, he would not get permission to have customs clearance at his facility. So said so done. Mr. Ingraham reneged and the facility now stands idle and the Bahamian company stands to lose the facility if the PLP government does not reverse this decision. However, Mr. Ingraham tried to construct a deal for the port that gives precisely that power to control freight into the country by these people.
What Mr. Ingraham did was conscionable. He says it cannot be reversed. He should be shown better than we can tell. Nothing is irreversible. The laws of nature tell us that every day. What one man does, can be undone by another man. The late George Mackey used to always say: not only one woman born a crazy child.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 26th May 2012 up to midnight: 139,488
Number of hits for the month of May up to Saturday 26th May 2012 up to midnight:579,374
Number of hits for the year 2012 up to Saturday 26th May 2012 up to midnight:3,575,701
INGRAHAM SINGS SWEET SONG AT FNM SPECIAL CONVENTION
Hubert Ingraham gave his swan song to the FNM convention. It was all about him. I I I. Never accepting that he did many things wrong. He did everything right. He has left his party in shambles. His hand picked successors Dr Hubert Minnis will be controlled from the outside by the former prime minister. He could not defeat Loretta Butler for Deputy Leader. His choice for whom he campaigned actively at Nesbitt's Desmond Bannister went down in flames. But he got his wish electing another puppet Charles Maynard who will no doubt continue his attack dog politics. All of the traditional FNMS went down to defeat and it is clear after the special convention on26 May that Hubert Ingraham will try to rule from the grave. Unless the FNM deals with Hubert Ingraham they will continue to stare defeat in the face. He has ruined them and given them a reputation as a nasty selfish bunch. Choosing things and roads over people.
Generally well received, the speech from the throne delivered on 23rd May in the public square is this old tradition we got from the British where the Queen or King as the case might be would come down to Parliament and give the government’s programme for the session. We go through all the traditions of sending a committee of the house ( Picewell Forbes MP South Andros, Cleola Hamilton MP South Beach, and Loretta Butler Turner MP Long Island) goes to ask the Governor General to come down to address the House. The Governor General comes and then the House closes the door in the face of his messenger, a tradition from the Brits again to show symbolically that the House is its own boss. The House then goes to hear the Governor General read a speech which lays out the policy for the session but which is written by the Cabinet. The speech was well received by the crowds who gathered. There were FNMs out in their shirts (see photo of Carl Bethel FNM Chair with former candidate Shonel Ferguson and former MP Brensil Rolle) cheering their side. The PLPs were out in full force cheering their side. Hubert Ingraham, the former Prime Minister, was booed by the crowd. The speech promised a referendum on gambling whether to have a national lottery and whether to regulate web shop gaming.
On 24th and 25th May, the Nassau Guardian published three articles giving excerpts from an interview with the former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. He ought to have been in the House of Assembly while he was doing the interview but chose instead to sneak out the back door like a thief in the night and then start pontificating in the afternoon light. He is insidious. Nevertheless, we publish this in his own words because these are the marching orders to his troops. He is still the spirit behind the Free National Movement. Without him, they are nothing and we think its important for you to know just what the devil is thinking:
24th May
The speech from the throne does not say anything that is revolutionary or that is inconsistent with the past policies of The Bahamas, specifically. Some things in it I think are quite doable and I certainly would support them. I thought for instance that the commentary they made on mortgage relief was a sensible doable proposition similar to what we had proposed while in office and were having discussions with the banks on.
It was quite different from what they promised to the public of The Bahamas, which was a thoughtless undoable proposition. What they put forward today (23rd May) is workable so that someone who’s been paying their mortgage consistently for a long period of time has fallen on hard times because their income is reduced can be provided some relied and assistance from the government.
As for the Police Act, it makes no difference if they choose to amend it. I just hope they don’t screw the police up like they did the last time. I just hope that the police force will have a structure so that they don’t have a gang of chiefs and very few Indians. The public requires and needs a structured force.
On BTC, the reality is that many of the things we did are irreversible. Never mind the talk; the reality is they remain the reality for The Bahamas, notwithstanding any noise you hear to the contrary.
25th May
The FNM will rebound and do very well the next time because this government (PLP) is incapable of being anything other than a bad government. The PLP is incapable of being anything other than incompetent, incapable of doing anything other than to talk talk. You watch the action, watch the results, it’s not going to be long now before people compare the promises made with the delivery record…
I heard the Deputy Prime Minister say he want a Commission Of Inquiry. That would be fit. It would be the first time there is one where they call me as a witness when I don’t need a lawyer, no preparation, just show up and say what is it you want to know. I have agood record I am proud of…
One reason[the party did not win] could be that the party did not have enough money to mount a successful campaign. We thought we would win; we had all indications we would win the election. The results of the election did not reflect what we heard on the ground of the campaign.
25th May
I sought to run for a fourth term and considered stepping down as Leader of the FNM but did not because I felt obligated to the party…
I did not want to leave the country when it was still reeling from the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis and could benefit from my experience…
The party would have had great challenges had I stepped down and not led the party into an election. As you know, leadership is a very divisive issue in any party but I did consider that and determined it was best for me to lead the party into the election which I did and lost…
I did my best; I am a very satisfied man. I am very comfortable that what I did in office will withstand the judgment of history and that people for years to come will compare others with my tenure.
I am not sad. The reality is I had not expected to be there by now. I intended to be out of the House of Assembly in 2002 and prepared myself mentally or that. When I came back in 2005, I came back as a result of the pressure from people and their request. I felt I had an obligation and I said then and I repeated it often that I would stay on as long as people would have me…
Perry Christie said on the radio I was no linger his friend and I suppose that is the relationship from his point of view. I don’t want to be friends with somebody who does not want to be a friend with me. I called him election night and didn’t get him, had my aide speak to his aide so he know I called him. He hasn’t returned my call.
I saw him this morning ( 23rd May) , shook his hand and wished him the best. I have nothing against him I don’t hold grudges and he may.
THE NEW SPEAKER
Dr. Kendal Major, the MP for Garden Hills and Dion Smith, the MP for Nassau Village were as expected elected to the positions of Speaker of the House and Deputy Speaker of the House. The new Speaker on 23rd May as he took the oath of office said he hoped that civility would be part of the code of conduct of the House. He added that the wig and gown that he wore would only be for the ceremonial occasion and that he did not intend to wear it again. The photo is by Peter Ramsay of the new speaker.
MITCHELL IN SOUTH AFRICA
“I have had the advantage of reviewing the draft of the declaration and say that we [The Bahamas] broadly accept its conclusions. In particular we embrace the need for the south south dialogue. We especially embrace the call to action in the investment in education and culture. In education, the Bahamas government has pledged over the next five years to double its investment in education. Education is the key to success in so many areas. It is important in eliminating poverty.” These were the words of Fred Mitchell MP and Minister of Foreign Affairs as he spoke at the Global Diaspora Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa on 25th May. The summit was sponsored by the South African government headed by President Jacob Zuma and by the African Union. It has been seven years in the making and brought together people of African descent from across the globe to discuss the future of African peoples around the world. The United States caused a bit of controversy at the end when it objected to the fact that no reference was made in the outcome document to the contributions of African Americans to Africa’s development. An amendment a quickly made and the summit ended with a unanimous declaration and plan of action. The Bahamas delegation included former Minister of Education Alfred Sears and Foreign Service officer Frank Davis.
They are described by Perry Christie as the next generation of leaders of the PLP and indeed they are. This is how they looked on their first day as they reported for work in Parliament at the Cabinet Room. The photos are by Peter Ramsay.
THE LADIES AND THEIR HATS
The only thing that might possibly rival the parade of hats at a state opening of Parliament would be the parade of hats at the patronal festival of St. Agnes Anglican Church in Grants Town in Nassau. This photo captured the hat parade of the distaff side of the power structure in little Nassau. The photo is by Peter Ramsay.
AL JARRET DIES
Sir Lynden Pindling speaking at the funeral of the late Sir Milo Butler quoted the song of Simeon to say farewell to Sir Milo: Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace…for mine eyes have seen the glory of thy salvation. That is an apt quote as we say farewell in this space to the late Al Jarrett, the former RBC FNICO banker and the former Chairman of the Bank of The Bahamas who battled tirelessly to help the PLP win the general election just past. In one sense his ambition was fulfilled and realized with the new PLP government in power. He departs in peace. Rest in peace brother Al. Mr. Jarrett died on Tuesday 22nd May
PLP RESPONDS TO INGRAHAM
Hubert Ingraham with his arrogance and stupidity was in the press last week saying that the PLP could be nothing else but incompetent. (See story above WHAT INGRAHAM HAD TO SAY) There is an old calypso that goes: Jackass will dance and bray, let him bray, let him bray. That is perhaps an apt response to much of the idle foolishness that Hubert Ingraham said about the PLP in his interview in the press. The PLP however had a formal response to what he said which we show below:
Press Statement
By
The Progressive Liberal Party
PLP Response to Ingraham comments in Guardian
May 25th 2012
Hubert Ingraham's forecast of failure of Perry Christie's New Government clearly portrays him as an angry and bitter man.
The PLP calls on the former Prime Minister, Hubert Ingraham, to do the honourable thing: face the sunset and move quietly into retirement because the Bahamian people loudly rejected him on May 7th.
The people of the Bahamas were convinced that Hubert Ingraham and the FNM were not just a bad government, but also one that failed to believe in Bahamians.
His wicked assault on the lives of ordinary Bahamians brought about the most rapid decay in the standard of living for our people in recent memory.
Under Ingraham’s failed last term, Bahamians witnessed unemployment at an all-time high, an unprecedented explosion of crime, a record level of business closures and a stalled Tourism growth as stop over arrivals sunk to 1980's levels.
Hubert Ingraham led a government with the worst records ever in the history of the Bahamas.
Moreover, the former government was so bad in its last term in office that evidence strongly suggests it used and abused the public purse to continue with its wicked assault on the Bahamian people.
Evidence of these actions is a shame and a scandal to say the least.
Bahamians across the length and breadth of the Bahamas voted for change in their country, resoundingly electing Rt. Hon. Perry Gladstone Christie and his team of new generation leaders, to deliver a new spirit of leadership in The Bahamas.
Hubert Ingraham and his crystal ball projection is yesterday’s news. Bahamians now have a government that is ready to work for them, ready to build a brighter and prosperous Bahamas. Ready to believe in them and ready to set the Bahamas firmly in the right direction once more.
END
STALWART COUNCILOR B WRITES FROM FREEPORT ON THE NEED FOR THE FNM TO ACCOUNT
PARLIAMENT OPENS
On May 23rd, 2012, Bahamians turn their attention to the swearing in ceremonies and the reading of the speech from the throne by Governor General, Sir Arthur Foulkes, in Rawson Square, downtown, Nassau.
The speech outlined the new government’s legislative agenda as well the priorities of the new government. It also marks the time when MPs’ wives get to adorn their hats and fine clothing. On Wednesday, viewers were not disappointed.
It was noteworthy that three FNM failed candidates in the election showed up on Bay street adorned in their red FNM shirts. They were Carl Bethel, former Chairman, BrensilRolle, former Parliamentary Secretary, and Shanelle Ferguson, former candidate for Fox Hill. In the case of Bethel and Rolle, these two men wielded considerable power over the lives of the Bahamian people; but on May 7th, 2012, were brought low, and once again, were made mere mortals.
In Parliament viewers were surprised to see the once mighty former Prime Minister, Hubert A. Ingraham slipped in to the House of Assembly through a side door. It would appear that the former Prime Minister could not find the courage to face the people that he had lorded over for fifteen years. Mr. Ingraham was there to take the oath of office and sign the register and no sooner had he done this; he again, slipped out. This was notthe actions of a former leader. It showed, after all these years, he did not acquire the attributes of a statesman. So, it came as no surprise that former Prime Minister Ingraham in an interview with the Nassau Guardian, Friday’s edition, intimate that the PL P was nothing but talk and he expected them to fail. More importantly, he thought the FNM will rebound in short order. In short, the question now must be asked: As an elder statesman who said he will retire from active politics, does this reflect the attitudeof someone who is about to ride in to the sunset? There is an old saying,” every bye aint gone, and every shut eye aint sleep.”
On reflection, could it be that Mr. Ingraham and his government have left the country’s finances in such disarray that it would take at least three years for the Christie’s administration to dig itself out of the ditch that Ingraham would have purposely left for him. A good example of this reckless and irresponsible behavior was the purchase of the old Freeport Inn for the sum of 1.9 million dollars. On what authority was this building purchased? Did Parliament appropriate this expenditure? I believe it was a destructive way to saddle the incoming government with a building according to former Work’s Minister, Neko Grant, it has to be demolished. If the purchase was done through the Public Hospital Authority, the government should move with haste to hold the Directors of the Authority accountable for that purchase. I believe that these Directors may have failed in their fiduciary responsibility as Directors. If it is determined that best practices were not adhered to these individuals should be dealt with according to law.
It has also been whispered that the Government of the Bahamas, in the final analysis, incurred a 500 million dollar deficit. To my knowledge, the finances of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas are governed by the Financial and Audit Act which spells out the way in which public funds are to be dealt with. It also details the checks and balances that are to be adhered to. That Act is the rule to which public servants should be governed by.
In recent memory, no one has ever been held to account for public money particularly in the area of abuse. If it turns out that the executive in this instance went far beyond Parliament’s authority with respect to expenditure; it would mean that no one in the Public service was serving as watchdog.
Finally, if the new PLP government does not hold these persons who acted irresponsibly with public funds to account; then this government will become complicit in the wrongdoing by the former government.
Stalwart B
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writes this week from Freeport about the legacy of Hubert Ingraham which he says was a deliberate effort to hobble the PLP’s ability to govern the country. He confidently predicts that Perry Christie will dig the county out of the hole.
Perry Christie, whatever you FNMs may have thought of him during his last term in office, has certainly shown you who he really is this time around. He promised, during the campaign, that he would hit the ground running and well, he hit the ground running, didn’t he?
Within days of taking office Christie’s full cabinet and slate of Senators were all in place and-yes-they’ve all hit the ground running.
Bahamian history books (I state here without fear of contradiction) will record that this 2012 cabinet is the best, most diverse, most qualified, most energetic and most aware of what needs to be done to dig us out of this hole in which Ingraham has left us. There is not one minister, in my view, who is appointed in a position where he or she cannot function well and all Christie’s Senate Picks, (I’ll tell you) were mine as well. I have even predicted, as of right now, who will be the President and Vice-President of the Upper House. Christie seems really fit and ready to go. I am expecting, quite frankly, big things from our government; notwithstanding the deplorable conditions we’ve inherited from the ousted inept FNM government. I should tell you that I am already predicting, to persons I come in contact with, that within eight months-yes I said eight months-they and we will see huge investment projects being announced and coming on stream. I don’t think that I am being overly ambitious and neither do I feel that I am being overly optimistic.
We are all very aware, I believe, that the country’s finances are in shambles and if what the party’s national chairman had to say, when he appeared on the Ortland Bodie show earlier today (21st May), is any indication of what we should expect to find then we are not even in a position, at the moment, to purchase an extra loaf of bread. We are aware that Hubert Ingraham intentionally did this to us; he did the same in 2002 and now he has done it again, but Christie dug us out of the hole in 2002-2007 and he will do it again. Ingraham reminds me of the scrooge who the little town hated and rejected and when they really had enough of him they drove him out of town. Eventually he got the message and left but not before he filled his canister with water, from the town’s only fresh water supply source, then pissed in the well-a real damn “scrooge-dog-in-the-manger.” But the PLP will rescue the nation again and then (just maybe) the pundits will give Christie his due.
I’ve noticed what (I suppose) will be the theme for the basis of arguments to be put forth, during this parliamentary cycle, by the rag-tag, demoralized FNM parliamentary group in opposition. Their theme will be to dwell on the promises the PLP made during the campaign, notwithstanding their knowledge of how they intentionally left the country in financial crises and ruin-left it in such dire financial straits so as to ensure that the new government would have no wiggle room to do anything. They went wild, two weeks or so before the general election, and approved-get this-some eighty contracts totaling more than $80 million-contracts which they knew could not be funded and which they knew the PLP government may be obliged, given the way they were awarded, to take another look and determine what of them are priority and which are not. I believe Ingraham and Laing determined that the FNM couldn’t win the elections and so went about determined to mess things up for the PLP. They wanted to put Christie in such position that the only prudent thing left to him to do, given the country’s financial constraints, would be to, at the very least, delay the start up of most of the contracts indefinitely if not cancel them altogether. If the new government opted for the latter then they would be able to argue that the PLP, as well, would be guilty sometime in their governance of “stopping; reviewing and cancelling” approved contracts; but the devil is a liar. This is why, I submit that, it is important that this new administration impanel a commission of inquiry, comprised of all local talent, with specific terms of reference to investigate the financial dealings of the disgraced former FNM government; in addition to be mandated to investigate the give-away of BTC; the over budgeted New Providence road project and the 20 year monopoly given to the owners and operators of the new port at Arawak Cay. People are calling for this and I certainly concur; we let them off the hook in 2002 and they used Christie’s tolerance and niceness, at that time, against him. We should have learned our lesson and not let them off the hook this go around. The nation needs to see the dirty, filthy, rotten deals the FNM government made, for no one can convince me that individuals, very high up in the FNM cabinet, didn’t make big bucks on the BTC give-away deal especially. It is shameful that the Ingraham government-no matter what Ingraham thinks of Christie-would have arranged to sign contracts, in collusion with the purchasers of BTC and the Builders of the New Port at Arawak Cay, which were constructed in such a way as to leave no escape clauses for either party in the event an escape was sought. Ingraham admitted as such when he appeared in an exclusive interview with an NB12 reporter last week. He admitted, in response to a question asked by the reporter, that the new government would be hard pressed to find a legal way out to regain control of BTC and or the New Arawak Port because (he admitted) his government made sure that no escape clauses were included in the contracts. This man should really be sent to jail for what he has done to the Bahamian people. I stand to be corrected but all normal contracts are usually drafted in such a way as to include clauses for either party; those without, as in the case with BTC, are done intentionally and in collusion by the two parties. Ingraham’s idea, in the case of both these deals, was to make sure Christie couldn’t regain control unless we pay heavy penalties. I believe that in the case of BTC we would have to pay them $100 million in penalties if we attempted to take it back in the first year; $80 million if we did so in the second year and so on and so forth. Ingraham actually drafted the BTC agreement to favor the purchaser and I wonder why. Could it be that the rumors going around the country that Ingraham received huge kickbacks when the entity was sold are true? Could it be that the rumor, regarding the arrangements with the undersea fiber optic cable where it is being said that it was not actually sold in the package but was retained by three Bahamians, one of whom is said to be Ingraham, who have formed a company in the Isle of Man for the purpose of leasing it for big bucks to Lime? Could all these rumors be true? The proposed commissioner of INQUIRY could ferret out the facts and if true prosecute the culprits.
As well the FNM will attempt to use “victimization” against us, as one of their talking points, but we shouldn’t allow them to play on our emotions for they have no credibility on this or any other of these like issues. If they wish to brand us for firing all of Ingraham’s appointed consultants; transferring and or replacing Ingraham’s puppet heads of departments or re-calling every single diplomat Ingraham sent abroad as being victimization then so be it. I couldn’t imagine that ex-senator Johnlee Ferguson (former Vice-President of the Senate; former Chairman of the FNM; former losing FNM candidate, against his first cousin V. Alfred Gray in the M.I.C.A.L constituency in the 2002 general elections and again against Mr. Oswald Ingraham, in the South Eleuthera constituency in the 2007 general elections) actually wanted to remain in his Ingraham appointed position, under Christie, as a consultant to the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Science? It’s unthinkable and unbelievable that the former Chairman of the FNM would stoop low in my view as to require the new minister, his first cousin the Hon. V. Alfred Gray, to give him a letter firing him before he would leave? I was, quite frankly, astonished when I was told that Johnlee appeared in a news clipping claiming, and complaining, to have been victimized. If I were him, as proud as I think I am, I would have tendered my resignation the night of the elections when it was determined that the FNM had lost. He has to know that there is no way in hell that he (especially) could serve in the Christie Administration and besides why would he wish to, I ask him? When the PLP would have won, on the night of 7th May, all of you who are not pensionable civil servants should have packed your georgie bundles, leave the keys to the offices and cars on the desk and leave. You served at Ingraham’s pleasure; you should not now expect to serve at Christie’s as well; the PLP has a deep bench of deserving persons who are more capable, willing and waiting patiently to be called by Christie to serve so why would prime minister Christie settle for throw-over’s from the Ingraham Administration? Christie needs persons who believe in his programs and who will promote them vigorously and joyfully not people like Ferguson, and others, who would not miss an opportunity to frustrate the new PM’s plans and objectives; this should be a no brainer for the former Vice-President of the Senate. Christie will tell you that he made that big mistake in 2002 but won’t let that happen again and so I call on all you guys, whoever you are, to submit your resignations and leave with your pride intact before having to be booted off the job.
As I see it both FNM teams, in the upper and lower houses of parliament, will have a tough time finding issues on which they could have credibility in opposition. The can claim no credibility, as a government, on finding solutions to our escalating crime problem or the economy or putting Bahamians first or on health care; nepotism; on victimization or anything else. They must standby, silently, and watch the masters (PLP) at work. If they do so, with an open mind, then maybe, just maybe, when they emerge from their wilderness experience-their hiatus if you will- sometime in the year 2027 they would have learned enough to run a country prudently but as of now they might as well sit back and relax because they will be in the political wilderness until that time, I predict. The amount of misery they rained down on Bahamians 2007-2012 is more than enough and we are not about to forget the perpetrators any time soon.
Zhivargo Laing was bold enough to come out of seclusion (hiding), I see, to appear on Wendell Jones’ “issues of the day” show on Sunday afternoon (20th May). I did not listen or watch the entire show but was listening at one point when Mr. Jones asked him what he thought Ingraham’s legacy would be. Of course the dejected young man, determined to defend the character of that despicable dethroned dictator, opined that his legacy will be one of “freeing Bahamians and causing them to never again fear their political leaders,” or something to that effect. I have never heard of anything so ridiculous; for if there were ever a political leader, in the country’s history, that struck fear in a sizable percentage of the citizenry it was Hubert Ingraham. The only other, who would come anywhere near him in terms of striking fear in Bahamians, was Sir Stafford Sands and Sir Stafford wasn’t half as bad as Ingraham. At least, under Sir Stafford, Bahamians weren’t driven to the breaking point of having to resort to living in their cars while parking them near the beaches, when nights fell, for their protection. I often wondered, and still do, in which world does Zhivargo Laing reside. Like the dictator he was Ingraham struck fear in everyone, who thought that their livelihood was only secured as long as and to the extent they were prepared to continually prostrate themselves at the feet of the dictator, and they include all those who ever served with him in his cabinets; the only exceptions being persons like Pierre Dupuch, Tennyson Wells and Algernon Allen. He struck fear in all the rest of them including Zhivargo Laing.
I visited the Customs Department’s harbor office this morning and was told by an officer that she was so pleased that she was able to help remove the FNM from office; she told me that she found out that her name was one, on a long list of names of suspected PLP supporting customs officers, who were targeted for dismissal right after the general elections should the FNM had won. What shocked me was when she told me that the dismissal letters were already typed and waiting; her letter, she said, was dated May 9th; the suckers actually thought they were going to win. At ZNS, I am told as well that, two days before the general elections it is alleged that Kay Forbes-Smith visited ZNS Freeport’s office, apparently, for the express purpose of identifying a particular PLP supporter also targeted for dismissal; I am told she passed the suspected PLP lady’s desk and simply said in passing, “Oh so you are S..Sh..na R..le” are you? And then she left the building. Their plans have all been thwarted, however by Providence Himself and I’ll tell her like the customs officer, at the harbor, told me she told the FNMs on their staff, after the 7th May; “The farmer now has both the gun and the bullets.”
The country is now breathing a sigh of great relief and it feels good.
Thank you.
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
May 2012.
James Catalyn, the comedian and playwright, writes again this week, this note which first appeared on the web. We share this commentary because we believe it provides some insight into the high level of pride and expectation that PLP supporters have for the new government.
Congratulations to all. Never before has there been so impressive an assembly of young and seasoned, talented Parliamentarians. We are all proud of you, hold you in high esteem and expect great works, even as you face the great challenges ahead of you.
Please remember to keep on believing in the Bahamian People. Please remember to keep both feet planted on the ground and keep your ears to the ground. Please remember that no man is an island, and no one person knows it all, (something we tend to forget), and we've come this far as a team, so let us keep the team spirit alive. As you listened to your constituents during your campaigning, you need to keep listening to the voices still crying in the wilderness. Some of us have been down this road before; remember the mistakes of 2002 - 2007 and correct them. (The feeling is that we have been in the wilderness for the past 10 years, because we did not remove or shuffle the enemy). DO NOT KEEP YOURSELVES SURROUNDED BY WOLVES IN SHEEP CLOTHING.
Your right hand and your left hand must be of one accord and in accordance with what we as a government wish to achieve. You are reminded that we experienced this in 2002 when we refused to remove the enemy and they did everything to under mind us. We the people are not prepared to let history repeat itself. As stated in an earlier email: "if your right hand offends you, cut it off".
The party needs a good PUBLIC RELATIONS team to tout your accomplishments, two of which are the Ministry for Grand Bahama and the recreation of Ministry of Financial Services. The public need to be constantly reminded. Note; ZNS, cH.12, the Tribune, Guardian and Punch are all keeping Hubert and the FNM alive and in the forefront. The two morning "drags", did not even have the courtesy today to publish a picture of the PM on the front page, save the one shared with Hubert Minnis in which the PM was the secondary character.
With all due respects to the Christian Council (?????!!!!) we cannot let them hold us hostage. They do not speak for many of us, nor are they respected by many of us. Bring GAMBLING to the people in referendum as promised and don't tie it in with anything else. Get a clear position on that from THE PEOPLE. The people spoke when they elected us, let them speak again. Keep in touch with the people.
In 1992, the FNM painted sidewalks and government buildings to create the illusion that they were doing something. As soon as earthly possible, we need to return the police presence to the schools. That is something VERY POSSITIVE that people can see and make a big splash about it.
We the people prayed for our deliverance, now we pray for you, our government.
Keep focused, keep your eyes on the prize, keep your feet on the ground and keep your ears open. We the people are counting on you and will hold you accountable.
A little long, but just thought you'd like to know! Sleep well tonight...tomorrow is a work day.
IN PASSING
National Security Minister Tours The Prison
Bernard Nottage, the National Security Minister is shown in this Nassau Guardian photo touring the prison on Thursday 24th May. It was revealed by the minister that overcrowding is a serious concern at the facility. The Prison Superintendent Ellison Rahming said that it was made worse by the fact that the FNM passed mandatory sentencing and bail laws. The Minister said that this was a matter that had to be addressed. He denied that the PLP was soft on crime. Mr. Nottage is shown in the Nassau Guardian photo on his tour.
Complaints About Protocol
There have been a litany of complaints from PLPs who turned up at the state opening of Parliament on 23rd May about how they were treated at the opening. The party faithful criticized the bedside manner of many of the protocol officers and said that the organization of the seating seemed to be disorganized. Many are threatening to boycott the Independence celebrations if improvements are not made.
Bahamians In South Africa
Fred Mitchell MP and Minister of Foreign Affairs, headed the government’s delegation to the Global Diaspora Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa on Friday 25th May. Alfred Sears, former Minister of Education was there as a guest of the South African government as part of civil society and he became part of The Bahamas’ delegation. Foreign Officer Frank Davis also joined the delegation from the London office of The Bahamas. While in Johannesburg, the delegation hosted the Bahamians who study and work in Johannesburg to a dinner. The photo shows the group after dinner on Friday 25th May from left: Olu Tinubu, Valron Grimes holding Hiram Tinubu (both doctors doing their specialty training), Minister Fred Mitchell, Delica Wood-Thompson (holding Eli Thompson) standing in front of Eddison Thompson (both doctors doing their specialty training), Rana Greene (doctor doing her specialty training), Rafique Symonette (Bahamian in financial services in South Africa), Alfred Sears former Minister
The Tribune Retracts
The Tribune may be paying some big bucks soon to Philip Davis, the Deputy Prime Minister and his former client Rami Weisfisch for printing a letter to the editor from Ami Weisfisch, the brother of Rami. The letter made allegations which were untrue and defamatory. The Tribune published a complete and abject retraction two days later. This only goes to show how anxious The Tribune was to publish anything that would smear someone who is PLP.
Jobs For Our People
While the former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham sits in the lap of his lavish pension and spews his bile at the people of the country for voting for the PLP, he has left an economy in shambles with unemployment the highest ever in the history of the country. It’s our problem who support the PLP and we must get people back to work in the shortest order. This should be done even if it means the state must intervene to do so as a matter of emergency and urgency.
The Murders Continue
The slaughter of Bahamians continues with murder after murder being reported in the country’ newspapers. The Minister of National Security Bernard Nottage with his Minister of State Keith Bell are working actively to bring this sorry chapter left by Hubert Ingraham in this country to an end.
Ingraham Must Be Dealt With
If the PLP were getting soft and teary eyed over the past week about Hubert Ingraham, his arrogant bitter statements in the press over the past week should be enough to wake the PLP out of its stupor. It must act now to deal with Hubert Ingraham and finish him off. This is no time to get soft. This is a man who wrecked this economy, who used the apparatus of the state to harass his opponents, he fired civil servants because they were PLP. This is clearly not a time to have pity on him. It must be clear to this country what he did to us by leaving our country in shambles.
The Governor General Though FNM Still Reads It
The PLP turned out not to be like Hubert Ingraham who sent Sir Clifford Darling to Canada on vacation because he did not want the former PLP MP to read the speech from the throne which was the FNM’s first speech. Sir Arthur Foulkes, who is a former FNM MP and Senator, read the speech from the throne prepared by the PLP Cabinet on Wednesday 23rd May.
Calderon’s Impassioned Plea
President Felipe Calderon of Mexico made an impassioned plea on Monday 21st May to the heads of government of Caricom gathered for a meeting with him in Barbados to take measures to stop transnational organized crime from getting a hold of their societies. He told the Heads of Government his experience in Mexico saying that Mexico waited too late to get on top of the problem. Mr. Calderon was not optimistic about the continuation of the fight after he leaves office in December of this year. Fred Mitchell MP and Minister of Foreign Affairs attended the summit on behalf of The Bahamas.
Reports On John Travolta
The American press is reporting that John Travolta, the American actor, who has a home in The Bahamas, is to lose his wife in a divorce. The wife Kelly is divorcing him because of the reports of his cross dressing that have appeared in the press and four reports from male masseurs of inappropriate conduct by Mr. Travolta of a sexual nature with them when he came for massages. The couple have two children. Another child died in The Bahamas and the case became an international sensation when former Senator Pleasant Bridgewater was charged with extortion over the transport of the body of the dead son to the hospital.
Bahamen Signs Prime Minister Perry Christie was host at a press conference of the Bahamian group Bahamen headed Isaiah Taylor and renowned for its hit song: Who Let The Dogs Out on 24th May. The conference was to announce a new recording contract for the group with Sony Entertainment. The Prime Minister and the group were joined by Dr Daniel Johnson, the Minister of Culture.
Cassius Is Out
Latest report is that Cassius “ Sexy” Stuart is withdrawing from the race for Deputy Leader of the FNM in the face of Hubert Ingraham’s support of Loretta Butler Turner for the post. She will be opposed by Desmond Bannister, the former Education Minister and now Senator.
Phenton Neymour To Contest For Deputy Chairman
The former Minister of State for the Environment and defeated candidate for Exuma for the FNM put his hat in the ring for the FNM Deputy Chairmanship.
Bishop Neil Ellis Against Gambling
Well one supposes the good Bishop may not remember the expression Vox Populi, Vox Dei which in plain English means the voice of the people, the voice of God. The PLP announced a referendum on gambling. Bishop Neil Ellis says that the church must stand resolutely against it. The vote will take place within a year. Interesting!
In the old days, you would have had to stop the presses. The PLP had the facts in their hands on Wednesday 2nd May. So on Thursday 3rd May, they could wait no longer and they put the entire matter into the public domain. The fact is that Vincent Vanderpool Wallace, who has been a singular failure, as the Minister of Tourism, had contracted with a dummy company in the United States which ended up with the Ministry of Tourism wasting two million dollars to a scam. The public servants in the Ministry discovered the problem and tried to get the contract cancelled and he refused to agree. It turns out that there was also a contract for personal services negotiated with the same man who turned out to set up the dummy corporation. They tried to get that stopped and he again refused. It was only when the matter was brought to the attention of the Prime Minister in March of this year that the latter was ordered ended. The Prime Minister took no action against the Minister.
In another of his periodic ventures into public commentary since his retirement from public office, Pierre Dupuch, the former MP and former Minister writes this week about the personality cult which has developed around Hubert Ingraham, the Prime Minister and Leader of the FNM:
Dear Editor,
On 24th and 25th May, the Nassau Guardian published three articles giving excerpts from an interview with the former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. He ought to have been in the House of Assembly while he was doing the interview but chose instead to sneak out the back door like a thief in the night and then start pontificating in the afternoon light. He is insidious. Nevertheless, we publish this in his own words because these are the marching orders to his troops. He is still the spirit behind the Free National Movement. Without him, they are nothing and we think its important for you to know just what the devil is thinking:
