“I think it was most unfortunate that the PLP found it appropriate to walk out of the House of Assembly because they say they were denied a right to address the Mona Vie issue when in fact it had been in the public domain for weeks, and when there are more critical issues facing the country and the Bahamian people.

“These issues include crime and the fear of crime, the dysfunctional education system, the inability of the healthcare system to address the growing health and preventive care needs of the Bahamian people, and the realities of the sub prime mortgage crisis in the United States and its likely impact on the Bahamian economy which is being felt now in the escalation in the cost of food and the almost daily increase in the cost of gasoline.

“These are the issues the Bahamian people expect a responsible opposition to address..

“I think the Opposition has demonstrated a degree of strength, however, there appears to be a lack of coordination between what is being done in Parliament and what is required to be done outside of Parliament by the party and its broad-based membership…

“I think the Bahamian people are still looking for us in Opposition to provide the alternative.  As we led the debate on crime, we ought to be leading the debate on the economy and making sound suggestions to the government as to what steps ought to be taken to safeguard the economy against any long-term effects of a recession, and it is our job that where the government is lacking in vision and policies to put forth those policies and I believe that we have not done the kind of job which would cause the majority of the Bahamian people to see us as an effective Opposition.

“The PLP ought to do more to force the government to better address the issue of crime.

“We know for instance that there are significant numbers of persons who are out on bail who have been charged with very serious offences, including murder and manslaughter and yet the government has failed to bring to Parliament any legislative agenda to address this critical issue, whether it is through an amendment to the Bail Act or it is a new piece of legislation which deals with a timeframe in which persons ought to have their trials heard in the Supreme Court.

“One would expect that a responsive government would put the necessary resources in place to strengthen the judiciary.

“There’s a recent article, which speaks to the impact of the sub prime mortgage crisis in the US and it’s impact on the economy in Iceland because like the Bahamas the economy in Iceland is driven by foreign investment and they are already feeling the impact of the sub prime crisis in the United States.

“So clearly it is only a question of time before we in the Bahamas face a similar crisis and yet this government has not found it appropriate to address the Bahamian people on their proposal, nor have they brought to Parliament any mechanism to provide a degree of comfort to the Bahamian people that as a government they are aware of the issue and they would put in place the necessary mechanisms to buffer the Bahamian economy from a full blown recession."

“In assessing the performance of this government in its first 12 months I think it is fair to say they are slow starters; they have been very disappointing in terms of any programmes or initiatives and frankly the country has been on auto cruise.

“I think the message of the Opposition needs to be fine tuned so that the Bahamian people can zero in on these issues and others. We must not only be criticizing the government, but we must be putting forth our agenda so that the Bahamian people can recognize and appreciate that we have programmes in place to help fix some of the problems that face our country”