“Truly, this is the week that was! What a time we’ve had these past three days! Yes, the stakes were high; the risks were great. But in the end we landed right side up – solidly on our feet, stalwart in our faith, together and strong.
“That’s the magic of the PLP! That’s the beauty of the PLP! That’s what keeps the PLP going strong after 56 years. We fight but then we shake hands; we kiss and make up. It may not have been the way we started this Convention 60 hours ago but let it be known, far and wide, to friend and foe, that that it is upon the high, exalted plane of party unity that we bring this Convention to a happy close tonight. One Party! One Leader! One people united in common purpose. That’s how you spell PLP tonight!
“And let me be clear about something else, if I may. There were no losers yesterday, only winners. Each of us who contested the elections for party office can take pride in having helped advance the democratic process for which the PLP has been the national pacesetter for more than half a century. The campaigns we fought and the elections we conducted stand as models of civility, mutual respect and fairness for others to follow.
“To all who stood for election yesterday, regardless of the personal outcome, I commend you for being champions of all that is good about our Party. Your preparedness to offer yourselves for higher service and the energy and zeal with which you pursued that ambition are deserving of high praise. So let me be the first to offer it to each of you. And be assured of this too: there is a place of honour and importance for each of you at the head-table. Your Party needs you and I need you too. Indeed much more will be required of you as we come together now to return the focus where it really belongs: getting rid of this government of Hubert Alexander Ingraham and returning the PLP to power.
“That’s our mission now. There is no more time for diversions. The hopes and aspirations of a suffering people are riding hard upon our shoulders. We cannot disappoint them. We cannot let them down. We dare not do so. We are their only hope.
I want to especially thank this Convention for returning me as Leader of our great Party. I am truly humbled by your overwhelming vote of confidence. To those who supported me, I want you to know how grateful I am. And to those who did not support me, I want you to know that I will re-double my efforts to prove myself worthy of your support in the future.
I am not a perfect man. I have my faults. I know that there are some out there who honestly feel that I have not done right by them; who feel that I could have done more for them; who feel that I should have moved more quickly than I did; who feel that I should have met certain challenges and dealt with certain issues differently than I did.
Let me be the first to admit that in many instances you have every right to feel as you do. I’m sorry if I let you down. I pledge to make it up to you. Next time around, you will be at the head of the line. I have learned my lesson. I will not make the same mistakes again.
But let me say this too: I have given all my adult life to helping people. To me that is what leadership is all about. It’s all about service. And service is all about helping people.
For me this is not an abstract thought. It never has been.
When I am pulled aside by a man who tells me with tears in his eyes how broken he feels because he can’t find work to feed his family, I feel his pain right here, deep in my heart. His pain becomes mine. It becomes a part of me. And it drives me, it inspires me, to help that man stand tall again from the dignity of labour and the rewards that it brings.
I feel the same way about the woman with seven children who has lost her job and, on top of that, has lost her home and, on top of that, has been robbed by thugs of the last few precious dollars she had left. When she squeezes my hand, and with all the desperation of someone who is drowning, looks me in the eye and cries out “Mr. Christie, I need your help!”, I feel her pain; I feel it right here – deep in my heart. And it inspires me to try as best I can to help her navigate her way out of the dark and stormy seas into a calmer and brighter tomorrow.
Whatever my faults may be, there’s one thing you know about me: I feel for people. I feel for people deep in my heart and in my soul. And it is that feeling, that compassion, that provides the fuel, the energy, the vigour and the drive for my life in politics.
And so, at a profoundly personal level, I see it as my mission and my purpose in life to strive always to help the people of this country to live lives of dignity in which their material needs are met, and in which they can achieve their fullest potential in a nation that places a premium on social justice, love and support for one another, and the safety and security of all under the sovereignty of God.
That’s what I want for me and my family. I know that’s what you want for you and your family too. And it’s what both you and I want for every other person, and every other family, throughout The Bahamas. I pledge to you that as long as I have breath in my body, I will exert every effort to make that dream come true for all our people.
I know you feel the same way too. After all, that’s what the PLP is all about, isn’t it? Isn’t that why we are PLP and not something else? We are the Party of Heart. We know instinctively that you have to feel for people first before you do anything because it’s what you feel in your heart that’s going to make you drive the extra mile to bring hope and healing to those who need it most. That was the PLP of Lynden Pindling, and it’s the PLP of Perry Christie too. That’s why it was the PLP that came up with National Insurance and why it’s the same Party that continues to champion such things as National Health Insurance and Urban Renewal. It all begins right here, in our hearts, the yearning to make life better for the poor, the suffering, the sick and the afflicted.
It applies not only to social issues but to economic issues too. We are the Party of Heart, not the Party of Market Forces. We don’t shrug our shoulders when market forces bring about the loss of thousand of jobs.
No! That’s not the PLP way. We believe that when times are bad, governments are challenged to take a great leap forward to lead the way out of darkness and despair. It’s in times of crisis that governments are challenged to be at their most creative, at their boldest and their best.
That’s how PLP governments have always responded to economic crisis. Remember the global recession back in the 70’s when hotels here and in Grand Bahama and the Family Islands were closing down left, right and centre? Remember what the PLP Government under Lynden Pindling did back then? We formed the Hotel Corporation of The Bahamas as the vehicle by which the Government would buy the very same hotels that were failing – hotels like the Balmoral; the Emerald Beach; the Sonesta; the Lighthouse Club in Fresh Creek, Andros; and the Lucayan Beach in Freeport.
The Government stepped in to buy these hotels not for any fancy philosophical reason but rather to save the jobs of thousands of workers and to safeguard the tourism industry of The Bahamas.
It was a masterstroke! The jobs were saved. The economic well being of thousands was secured. The tourism industry was stabilized. And the rest, as they say, is history. It took imagination. It took bold action. And it was the PLP that did it!
The same solutions that worked way back then may not work today but that is not the point I make. The point instead is that crisis must be met by bold and imaginative action of the kind that PLP governments have always offered. What you absolutely cannot have, however, is a government like we have right now; a government that meets crisis by sitting on its hands, putting its heart on hold, and throwing its brain into neutral.
While people lose their jobs and can’t afford to put food on the table, this government just shrugs its shoulders and leaves them on their own.
While people are forced to live by candlelight because they can’t afford to keep their lights, and while people have to sell phone cards on the street because there are no jobs to be had, this government is clueless what to do.
While people have no money to put gas in their car and no money to buy gas to cook with, while they have no money to keep their kids in college, we have a Government that goes to the House of Assembly to crack jokes and make sport of others. That’s FNM governance for you!
What is this we’ve ended up with in this country? How can any government be so blind, so deaf, so uncaring, so lacking in compassion, so clueless, as this FNM Government we have today?
Let’s call a spade a spade. This Government has turned out to be one big flop. After all the hullabaloo about what they were going to do to make things better, they have only made things worse – very much worse! They promised jobs but have delivered only joblessness – joblessness on a scale not seen since the days when Bahamians had to leave The Bahamas in droves to find work on “The Project” in the U.S.
Make no mistake about it, fellow delegates, we are at a dangerous juncture. Our people need help and they need it fast. People are sinking in a sea of despair. The social stability of our country is now at a tipping point. Unless massive relief is provided – and provided very soon - we will be in grave peril of plunging into the abyss. We simply cannot go on like this. Something has to give.
To make matters worse, we have a Prime Minister who simply doesn’t think it is any part of his job to give people hope; who doesn’t think it is any part of his duty to explain to people his vision for the future. Maybe he has none. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t speak.
But I ask you: have you ever seen Prime Minister Ingraham on television or radio laying out any kind of roadmap for getting us out of this hell this country is living in now? He simply doesn’t believe in that sort of thing. And that more than anything else represents Hubert Ingraham’s greatest failure of leadership.
In the darkest days of the Great Depression, the American President, Franklyn Delano Roosevelt, took to the airwaves over and over to lift the hearts and hopes of a suffering nation with his “fireside chats”. That’s what leaders are called to do when times are hard and the future looks bleak. You have to rouse the spirits and raise the hopes of the nation. You have to take them by the hand and tell them to hold on; that it won’t always be like this; that better days lie ahead.
During the Second World War when London was being bombed all night long by Hitler’s air force, it was the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill, who took to the radio over and repeatedly to inspire his people to keep their hopes alive amidst the raging fires; to not lose faith; to cling to the belief that tomorrow would bring a better day.
That’s what leaders do! They lift their people up. They calm them. They soothe them. They comfort them. They inspire them. They give them confidence. Above all, they give them hope. And in giving them hope, they give them strength to go on.
But not the Leader of this country! He gives you the bad news; shrugs his shoulders; says he doesn’t have anything else to say; and that’s it; end of story; over and out; you’re on your own.
How sad that is because what we need now more than ever is to give our people hope, and to give them faith and confidence, that they should hold on and not give up.
And so tonight, since the Prime Minister has failed to do so, let me be the one to let the Bahamian people know that it won’t always be like this; that though things are bad right now, compassionate government is on its way back in. Caring government lies just over the horizon. Visionary government is heading back; and competent government is just around the corner because come the next election, the PLP will be back to lead our people to better and brighter days.
The FNM can say what they like about me and the PLP but the facts are there for all to see. You can argue about theories; you can’t argue over facts. So consider the facts for just a moment.
The fact is that my administration left a solid record of economic success for the FNM to build on. All they had to do was keep it going and stay on the track we had laid down.
In 2007, the growth in GDP was around 4%, thanks to the sound policies and prudent management of my government. That’s a fact! Now, just two years later, under Hubert Ingraham and the FNM, the economy has gone in the completely opposite direction. Instead of growing at the rate of 4%, the economy will shrink this year by more than 4%. That’s a fact!
When we were last in power, we increased the employed labour force from 152, 690 in 2002 to 171, 490 in 2007. Thus, we created 19,000 new jobs. That’s a fact! Indeed in 2006, under my administration, we reduced the unemployment rate to 7.6%. That’s a fact too!
But look what’s happened under the FNM. Jobs have been lost and are continuing to be lost at an absolutely horrendous rate. Unemployment, in real terms, is now not far from 20%.
Consider another fact: when we were last in power, foreign direct investment into The Bahamas grew from $312 million dollars in 2002 to nearly $1.2 billion dollars in 2007. That massive increase is what translated into the thousands of new jobs that were created on our watch.
And consider another fact: under my administration, the average Bahamian household income increased from $39, 379 dollars in May 2002 when we took over, to $43,420 dollars in May, 2006.
Similarly, the per capita income – that is to say the average annual income of each individual - rose from $18,958 dollars in 2002 when we came to power to $21, 659 dollars in 2007 when we left office. That’s a fact! Go ask what the figure has dropped to under the FNM in just two short years.
In the Tourism sector, average hotel occupancy rates stood at nearly 78% during the 2002-2007 period of my administration and tourist arrivals climbed to their highest levels ever. Go ask Hubert Ingraham and Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace what the occupancy levels are today or, if you don’t want to wait, go ask Stalwart Councillor, Robert “Sandy” Sands. He’s in here somewhere. He can tell you.
And consider this fact too: on our last watch, we consistently achieved top “A” grades from the major international rating agencies for the outstanding manner in which we managed the economy and public finances.
That’s the economy the FNM inherited from the PLP under Perry Christie. But just look at where we are today under the FNM and Hubert Ingraham. Unemployment is sky-high and it’s only getting worse – a whole lot worse – especially here and in Grand Bahama. Hotels are running occupancy levels so low they are downright scary. Our offshore banks are pulling out or scaling down as never before. Our construction industry is on ice. Capital inflows have dried up. All the anchor projects we laid the foundation for have folded up. And our once enviable international ratings have slipped and fallen.
So, let me ask you, when you compare the record of what Perry Christie and the PLP did between 2002 and 2007, when you compare that with the record of what is happening today, right now, under Hubert Ingraham and the FNM, who can you best trust to manage the economy – the PLP or the FNM?
Based on actual performance, who can you trust to create new jobs and breathe new life into our economy – the PLP or the FNM?
Who represents the best hope for the 5,000 students who are coming out of school every year in search of jobs? Who can you trust? Who can you believe in? Who can you count on to get the job done? Who can turn this economy around and set it on the right course once again? Is it the PLP who did it before or is it the FNM who has driven it into the ground?
Fellow Delegates, Ladies & Gentlemen:
As if the economy were not enough of a crisis for all of us to contend with, look what’s happening with crime in our country today.
The single most important duty of any government at any time in any period in any part of the world is to keep its citizenry safe and secure. But the level of criminality - criminal violence, in particular - is greater now than it has ever been before. And the sad thing about it is that this FNM Government doesn’t have a clue as to how to deal with it!
We pleaded with the Government not to scrap the Urban Renewal Programme we left in place. We pointed out to them that in all the inner city neighbourhoods where the Urban Renewal Programme had been introduced during our administration, there had been a dramatic drop in crime, especially crimes against the persons.
We also explained to them that the Urban Renewal Programme represented our best hope for community uplift and for the rebuilding of the lives of disadvantaged youth, the elderly, the sick, the homeless and the poor.
We pleaded with the FNM not to get rid of Urban Renewal because without it we knew there would be no sustained, concentrated assault on the root causes of crime in our country. And without a sustained, concentrated assault on the root causes of crime, we knew that the task of policing would become less and less effective as more and more young people fell into lives of crime.
But what did the Ingraham Government do? They scrapped the Urban Renewal Programme just as they have sought to scrap any and every programme that bears the stamp of originality from my administration. It’s the same motivation that led them to remove policemen from the grounds of our public schools.
And what does the FNM have to show for the abandonment of these crime-reduction programmes and strategies we left in place? I’ll tell you what they have to show for it. Crime has skyrocketed to almost unimaginable levels. Exactly what we predicted would happen have come to pass. The murder rate has gone through the roof. A wave of lawlessness and violence is sweeping across the land as never before. The resources of law enforcement are stretched to the limit and, on top of that, we have a criminal justice system that is drowning in a flood of cases to great for it to handle.
Urgent action is needed!
I call upon the Government to bring back Urban Renewal in its full form and to do it at once!
I also call upon the Government to expand the ranks of law enforcement by expanding the police reserves; by extending the network of constituency police support organizations, and by expanding the civilianization of the Police Force. At the same time, we also need to re-engage some of the “old pros”, retired police officers, who possess much needed skills to train and mentor a whole new generation of police officers.
I also call upon the Government to ensure twenty-four hour mobile patrols throughout our cities. We need to find the budgetary resources to enable this saturation to take place until we break the back of crime. If need be, let us enlist the voluntary financial support of the business community to help make it happen.
I also call upon the Government to increase its investment in surveillance and crime detection technologies; technologies that must include the implementation of the electronic ankle bracelet law so that violent offenders can be monitored and tracked around the clock while they’re out on bail; and technologies that will include the use of helicopters, by day and night, to assist in the apprehension of fleeing criminals. Extreme measures are needed to deal with extreme problems.
The time has also come for us to recognize that private security firms are playing an ever-increasing part in the fight against crime. Once we recognize that, and once we appreciate that private security firms are true partners with the police, we will have to review the longstanding policy that prevents private security agents from being licensed to carry handguns. The time to liberalize that policy has now come. Strict licensing criteria and strict monitoring controls will need to be applied, of course, but I am convinced that putting licensed handguns in the hands of well-trained and responsible private security agents, many of whom are former police officers of impeccable character, would be an important step forward in broadening the frontline against crime.
I also call upon the Government to introduce the “night court” concept for the Supreme Court so that we can make better use of a 24 hour day to help reduce the massive caseloads that are clogging up our judicial system.
I also call upon the Government to move immediately to bring into the country the kind of specialized managerial expertise that both the Attorney-General’s Office and the Judicial Department are so urgently in need of so that caseloads can be managed and disposed of more quickly and efficiently.
I also call upon the Government to institutionalize and fund a proper Witness Protection Programme. It’s a different world out there and we have to adapt to it.
I also call upon the Government to initiate the necessary steps for a constitutional amendment to restrict the granting of bail in capital cases. Far too many serious crimes, especially murders, are being committed while accused persons are out on bail. We need to go back to the old law but a constitutional amendment is what it will take.
And while I’m on the subject of capital crimes, speaking for myself personally on what I freely acknowledge to be a matter of conscience for which the party-whip can never be applied, but speaking as Perry Gladstone Christie, let it be known to all and sundry that I am a firm believer in the death penalty. It may not be a deterrent to others but one thing I know: it will be a permanent deterrent to cruel and callous murderers in our land who should be made to hang for their crimes so they can’t do it again. That’s my position and I make no apologies for it.
We have to do all the things I have mentioned because our people are fed up with what is happening to our country and what is happening to the quality of their lives and the lives of their children. People are sick and tired of all the violence and lawlessness. It has to stop! Our streets, our schools, our neighborhoods and our communities have to made safe and secure once again.
But let me also say this because I must: as parents, as guardians, as brothers and sisters, let me say, as I have said before, that we must each of us be mindful of our personal responsibility to “reach one, teach one”; to guide and mentor those under our influence. This means not only talking the talk but walking the walk too. And walking the walk means that we cannot be cloaking criminality. It also means that we cannot be receiving stolen goods or living off money we know our sons and daughters have gotten from robbing someone. We have to set the right example both in word and deed. That, more than anything else, would be the single most effective solution to the problem of crime in our country today.
Fellow Delegates, my brothers and sisters:
As we come to the end of this drama-filled Convention, a convention that has stirred our hearts and souls as never before, let us return now to our cities, to the settlements and towns from which we have traveled; let us return to our homes with a new confidence that we are once again on a sure and certain course to rescue our beloved Commonwealth from the misery in which it finds itself so deeply mired today.
All across our country, tearful eyes and anxious hearts are turned towards us. They are turned towards us because they know that we are the last best hope for the Bahamian people in this time of crisis. That is the challenge we face, fellow delegates, and we must rise mightily, and in unity, to meet it before it is too late.
There is no time to lose. We must therefore begin at once to galvanize our members and supporters all across our country: from Inagua in the south to Bimini in the north. Each of you is here at this Convention because you are, in one form or another, a leader of your Party in your community. As the Leader of you all, I therefore charge each of you now to return to your community and help re-build your branch; help spread the word that the PLP is now in full resurgence and on the move, bringing with it the promise of a nation that will be put back on its feet again.
We’re going to make this country great again! We’re going to make this country prosperous once again! We’re going to make this country a safe and peaceful place to live in once again! The PLP is going to do it because no one else can.
We will transform our educational system and revamp our national curriculum to make it relevant to the twenty first century. The PLP will move to immediately transform The Bahamas upon our return to office. We will make it our mission to ensure that Bahamians will become players in this nine billion dollar economy. We will move to open up this economy for Bahamians. A Christie government, as a matter of cause, will ensure that Bahamians have access to capital to further their economic dreams and ambitions. We will further ensure that as we open up this economy, we will also seek to immediately move with haste to implement once and for all, National Health Insurance. These are serious times, and the PLP will not falter or sleep. This is a call now to action. We will move to transform our party and our nation. We will bring a mix of experience and youth to the forefront in our party and our country. WE WILL CHANGE THE BAHAMAS.
So, as I sound that charge to you tonight, I ask you now whether you are equal to the challenge? Can I count on you to play your part ? Not the person standing or sitting next to you. I mean YOU! Can I count on YOU to help us?
I need each and every one of you to join with me and all my fellow Party officers. I ask all my fellow Party Officers-elect, I ask you all to rise up from your seats and come up here, come join me now on stage.
We are brothers and sisters all! One Party…….One Leader…..One People.
Let us move forward now in faith. I declare my readiness and I ask each of you to do the same. And my declaration of readiness is this: with God’s grace and guidance, and with your continued support, I, Perry Gladstone Christie, intend to lead the Progressive Liberal Party into the next General Election and to become the next Prime Minister of The Bahamas.
There is so much unfinished work that awaits us. Let us therefore bind ourselves in unity so that when the day of our return to power dawns before us, we will find ourselves ready; ready to resume the march of the Bahamian nation to a better and brighter tomorrow for all its people.
Go now in peace! Go now in love! Go now in unity and common purpose!
May God be with us all until we meet again!
PLP! All the Way!