Remarks By Bradley B Roberts National Chairman National General Council November 17th 2016

Remarks By Bradley B Roberts National Chairman National General Council November 17th 2016

BRADLEY B ROBERTS·FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2016

Remarks

By

Bradley B Roberts

National Chairman

National General Council

November 17th 2016

Fellow Councillors, a pleasant good evening to all.

After exhaustive and vigorous debates during the past council meeting, it was overwhelmingly agreed to postpone our National General Convention in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who suffered great loss during the passage of the unwelcome visitor Hurricane Matthew.

I am pleased to announce that the party has approved a three-day convention to be held from January 24th to the 26th at the Melia Hotel Cable Beach. A prayer breakfast will be held on Sunday 22nd January 2017. Melia Hotel has another function on that Saturday and therefore consideration is being given to hold our installation banquet at another venue.

A report from the convention committee will be delivered to you tonight.

On other matters…

I noted with interest the FNM’s once hopeful candidate for the Pinewood Constituency, Mr. Lincoln Bain and his handful of supporters demonstrating against the ratification of Reuben Rahming at the launch of FNM Candidates on Tuesday past. Lincoln Bain held a post that evening which read: Dr. Minnis is “A Lying Wonder”.

Clearly Lincoln Bain forgot his secret recording of former Senator Lanisha Rolle which brought considerable pressure by the Gang of Six on Dr. Hubert Minnis to recall her appointment to the upper chamber. Despite the strong and bitter objections of the Guardian’s Managing Editor Candia Dames that Lanisha was unworthy of an FNM nomination, Dr. Minnis supported and approved Lanisha Rolle to carry the FNM’s banner in Sea Breeze where she will receive her baptism into frontline politics by Minister Hope Strachan.

As I foreshowed, Dr. Minnis removed or chased those who comprised the Gang of Six, save for one, and I predicted the sole remaining member of the Gang of Six Loretta Butler Turner will be removed by rear guard action with the nomination of an Independent Candidate, with the expectation of a repeat of the fate suffered by James S. Knowles former FNM MP for Long Island when Larry Cartwright ran as an independent and won. Word out of Long Island has disclosed that Loretta Butler Turner has lost considerable support and maybe spending her last days as an MP.

With the nomination of Attorney Jeffrey Lloyd it completes the trio of Sarkis’ surrogates who were parachuted into the leadership of the FNM. The first was Marvin Dames in Mt. Moriah; the second was Dioniso D’Aguilar in Montague and the third of course is talk show host Jeffrey Lloyd in South Beach.

Councillors, I have issued several Press Statements on anti-Chinese sentiments which stem from statements from Sarkis and Dionisio D’Aguilar and supported by Dr. Minnis accusing the Government of siding with the Chinese. They and others are responsible for the anti-Chinese propaganda that is being disseminated.

The Nassau Guardian Editorial dated June 20th 2016 entitled “The Chinese are not our enemies”.

The editorial writer concluded: “Those who seek to be policymakers should be more reasonable in their public utterance. Promoting the idea of China as the “boogeyman” is intellectually immature. We must grow our relationship with China learning errors we have made so far. We harm ourselves if we pull back or cut such a powerful and wealthy country off.

If I recall recalled correctly, the candidate for Bamboo Town Renward “MR. LOI” Wells called the PLP a corrupt organization. I wish to again point out for the record that it was the FNM who was guilty of the corrupt BTC deal that remains in a cloud of mystery to this day with many unanswered questions.

It was Michael Pintard who was forced to resign his senate seat and party chairmanship in disgrace after involving himself in a murder for hire plot. Pintard was heard on tape arranging for two gangster criminals to be paid huge sums of money in exchange for their signatures on some affidavit of sorts. It was later discovered that Minnis was friendly with the criminals and invited them into his home where he accepted gifts of fish from them. The entire sordid affair was fishy and stunk to high heaven.

Former FNM Senator John Bostwick was convicted for illegal possession of live rounds of ammunition and forced to resign his senate seat.

We are all familiar with the conviction of a former FNM candidate involved in the BEC bribe scandal where monies were taken by a BEC board member in exchange for contracts to purchase those terrible generators from Alstrom. Bahamians are suffering to this very day because of that poor and corrupt decision by the FNM.

So fellow Councilors, the only stench of corruption, scandal and criminality is coming out of the FNM’s camp. Mr. Wells will do well to take the log and beam out of his eyes before pointing fingers at others.

Jeffrey Lloyd accused the PLP of cronyism. This comment came from a candidate of an organization whose former deputy, Brent Symonette, violated the constitution when a company with which he had significant financial interests signed a huge $113 million road works contract with the then FNM government. Further, Minnis of all people is guilty of self-dealing. To date Minnis has collected over $900,000 from a deal he gave to himself while he served as Health Minister. Jeff Lloyd must know that God hates hypocrites.

I also remind Mr. Lloyd that it was that same FNM government that cancelled his program with Y.E.A.S.T. and the Catholic Church because the FNM felt that reforming the lives of young at-risk men was not worth their time or tax payers’ money yet the FNM complains about crime and social decay. This was an act of INACTION Mr. Lloyd.

Minnis’ theme at the ratification ceremony was our time for change has come….But what change can Dr. Minnis possibly be speaking of? Change to go back to putting the economy of The Bahamas in a wheel chair? Stalling the economy through spiteful stop and cancel policies? Is he proposing to go back to the corrupt BEC deals that landed a former FNM candidate a criminal conviction? What about the crooked BTC fire sale? Are we going back to a doubling of unemployment in 5 years? Are we going back to the real secret Abaco deals that did not empower Bahamians? Maybe Dr. Minnis wishes us to return to the days of self-dealing where a sitting Minister of the government awards himself a lease contract while he hides behinds a corporation.

Councilors, I have issued several Press Statements on the anti-Chinese rhetoric which stem from statements from Sarkis and statements by Dionisio D’Aguilar. Rosewood was the lead hotel brand while Sarkis and D’Aguilar sat around the table spending the $2.5 billion borrowed to construct Baha Mar. As soon as they lost Baha Mar due to incompetence, they are telling Bahamians that the principals of the Rosewood Hotel Group of Companies are unfit to own and operate Baha Mar. Bahamians are warned against the likes of D’Aguilar who clearly does not have the interest of The Bahamas at heart. He is not driven by a desire for public service or love of country but is filled with spite, vile and is looking for retribution as Sarkis’ mouthpiece and Igor. We must not allow the likes of D’Aguilar destroy this country; he must be rejected as unfit to sit in the Honourable House.

I turn my attention to an important ceremony tonight. Fellow Councilors, tonight we present two new Candidates: One from Exuma and Ragged Island and the other will carry the banner in Central and South Abaco. They are both distinguished Bahamians whose personal stories are linked to the Bahamian story of upward social mobility through hard work, dedication, self-confidence and embracing opportunities provided by the state.

I Chester Cooper came from humble beginnings in Forbes Hill Exuma. He is self-made; he is a self-starter; he is driven and he is focused. He understood and believed in the value of education and having educated himself, he rose to the pinnacle of the business world, specifically in the insurance and financial services industry locally and internationally. His training and knowledge positioned him to become an entrepreneur in that industry. He is currently one of the owners and president of British American Financial, one of the premier insurance and financial services companies in The Bahamas.

Eva Bain, who will be ratified for Central & South Abaco, is an accomplished professional in her own right, having served as a senior executive at a public corporation. She is a community leader; she is well loved in the community because she loves people and is unselfish with her time and possessions. She is a woman of God and spends much of her time ministering to others.

I now invite the leader of this great party to preside over this ceremony for these are his candidates and the front line soldiers in whom he has reposed great confidence. Please stand and give a round of applause to party leader and Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie.