WHAT’S HAPPENING IN GRAND BAHAMA

Holy Saturday 16 April 2022  marked 7 months exactly since the PLP came back to power under the leadership of Prime Minister Philip Davis.

There was an unusual confluence of events and alliances that led to the landslide victory in the seats but overall only 35 per cent of the electorate voted for the PLP.  Many of those opposed to the PLP but not for Hubert Minnis decided to stay home.  The result was in seats a massive PLP victory.

One of the seats that was won by a plurality as a result was that of the Pineridge seat.  The former FNM MP Frederick McAlpine was in trouble with the FNM and did not get the nomination. He chose not to join the PLP but instead took an independent run.  That split the FNM vote and the result was that the PLP won the seat.

Ginger Moxey is now the MP and the Minister for Grand Bahama.  She has been doing a credible job at forging a political identity and crusade in Grand Bahama.

There is now a push by a group of business people to   target the Grand Bahama Port Authority for its lapses in their duties, obligations and responsibilities to the people of Freeport and in particular its business community.  Front and centre at this effort has been Frederick McAlpine with the businessman Darren Cooper.

There was a meeting with the Grand Bahama Port Authority by these businessmen and the Port as a result of  questions asked by them, printed a full paid supplement in the press basically blaming the Government for all of the Port’s defaults.

The question that Ginger Moxey must ask herself though is: does there need to be an interlocutor between the Government and the Grand Bahama Port Authority?  The answer is no.  The Government speaks to the Port on a regular basis.

The Grand Bahama Port Authority knows what the government’s position is on the Port.  There is a need for example for a true valuation of the Grand Bahama Port Authority.  There is also a need for a public discussion about whether as the  term for the Port ends under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, is there still a need for a Grand Bahama Port Authority?  There is also the question: has the Grand Bahama Port Authority paid the Government for the services provided to the Port under the terms of the agreement between the parties?

Ginger Moxey has a lot of work to do and it’s possible in that’s small city to speak directly to all and she does.