PETER TURNQUEST SPINS A YARN… FNM LYING THRU THEIR TEETH
In this column, we have stopped putting up these statements issued by Ministers of the Government because too often they have borne no semblance to the reality on the ground. This FNM Government has got to be the most lying Government in the history of Bahamian politics.
We quote that line from the Lion in Winter. They cannot even ask for water when their thirsty. We can tangle spiders in the web of lies they weave.
That is a fit and proper response to the latest statement by the Government and its Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest that they have slashed the deficit in the first quarter of the fiscal year by 50 per cent. That is a lie. They are talking rubbish. It is not just the bare assertion that they made, but they made it to fool people that they have slashed the annual deficit by 50 per cent. We all know that this is not possible, not in the short term, not in the long term. They are lying.
Then they boasted that they slashed the public wage bill by 20 million dollars. This was one of the highlights of their boast that they slashed the deficit by 50 per cent. Let’s accept their argument for the moment and only for the purposes of an argument: they have slashed the deficit by fifty per cent on the backs of minimum wage workers. It is simply disgraceful that they would boast about that.
Peter Turnquest acts the part of a wise ass. He is too smart for his own good. What we have since he has been the Minister of Finance is one debacle after the next. He cannot even add two and two together. Just think back to the wicked scheme to pay off the bills for the country by borrowing 722 million in the first week of their term of office. Not only has he not paid off all the bills but more than ever people are unpaid.
That is why the nurses are on strike. That is why the students can’t get their scholarship money at the University of The West Indies. That is why they are in trouble with their backbench. That is why the roads are in a state of disrepair. That is why the Government seems to wander from one crisis to the next. The mismanagement of this economy by the FNM and Peter Turnquest is there for all to see, in full view.
What is startling though is that you have these apologists who are going around saying stuff like give them time, or the PLP got us into this mess. The PLP paid its bills. The PLP got things done. This crew has not had one successful project to show from its 18 months of misrule.
What is even more galling is that during the recent visit from Moody’s to produce another one of these glowing reports for the Government, it appears that they have swallowed lock, stock and barrel the lies of this administration. We think that these ratings agencies do more harm than good and should not be invited back.
Totally sad is where we are. The nurses are out in the streets in a sign of things to come. This is what happens when a Government gets elected by lying through its teeth.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday, 3rd November, 2018 up to midnight: 208,838
Number of hits for the month of October up to Wednesday , 31st October, 2018 at midnight: 820,385
Number of hits for the month of November up to Saturday, 3rd November, 2018 at midnight: 59,423
Number of hits for the year 2018 up to Saturday, 3rd November, 2018 up to midnight: 10,957,634