Release to the Press
Statement by: Frank Smith, MP

Release date: August 22nd 2009

The Department Statistics Report on Unemployment

The latest report from the Department of Statistics provides more evidence that the Rt. Hon. Is better at winning elections than at Governing the Country. In fact the evidence continues to mount of the fundamental failure of The Right Hon. Hubert Ingraham as Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

This is apparent once we recall the following key promises of the Election Campaign of 1992:The Country was assured of Deliverance:
 

The reality the official unemployment rate on Grand Bahama is 17.4% - higher than it was when Mr. Ingraham assumed Office on August 19th 1992.  The unemployment rate on New Providence is 14%, essentially the same as it was when Mr. Ingraham assumed Office in 1992. The seriousness of the situation is re-enforced by the comments by the Director of Statistics which suggest that since May 2009 when the survey was done things have in fact gotten worse.  For example we know that jobs have been lost in the Financial Services Sector from places like Ansbacher, in tourism, with the closure at Grand Bahama, Exuma, and New Providence.

Worse still, the Ingraham Government cannot hide behind and claim about “global economic conditions”, because when he was making his promises in the summer of 1992, he knew full well that at that time global economic conditions reflected the adverse impact of the first Gulf War.

What is abundantly clear is what he said in 1992 – It is time for a Change!

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