Compiled, edited and constructed by Russell Dames... Updated every Sunday at 2 p.m.
Volume 9 © BahamasUncensored.com 2012
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Photo of the week: THE NEW PRIME MINISTER Perry G. Christie, the son of the taxi driver has been given his second chance, yet again. This is quite a fortuitous event. We congratulate him for having crafted yet again a great team and for the discipline and patience to triumph again. It shows what a fortuitous business politics is. The warning signs are up, the second time around has to be better than the first time. The country will not take to any appearance of dithering and it expects a regime change. The signs must go out first thing Monday morning that change has come the country. Otherwise what is the point? The Cabinet is now thankfully in place so work can begin. It's a great group. Enough of the parties and ceremonies, the hard work of getting the people of this country back to work is the first priority. The next is getting on top of the crime situation. Last week there were five murders in two days and the new Prime Minister said that the country was in crisis. Right now it is the PLP’s problem. It is not the FNM’s problem anymore so describing the problem is not going to help the PLP. In the meantime for five seconds let’s savor the fact that the ogre of the nation Hubert Ingraham has been beaten. Praise God for small mercies. A new Prime Minister is in place and that is our photo of the week, the swearing in at Government House on 8th May of Prime Minister Perry Christie by the Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes. The photo is by Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services. |
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
INGRAHAM SLINKS AWAY LIKE A SNAKE
There isn’t a gracious bone in the body of Hubert Ingraham. He could not even manage in his speech which we show here on the night of the PLP’s election victory to simply say, thank you and good night or even congratulations. He had to piss in the well as he was going out. Viz. the comment that he tried to reach the Leader Of The Opposition but could not. Disgusting to the end. This was a man who was still Prime Minister and with the police at his command could have found the Leader Of The Opposition if he wanted to find him.
Mr. Ingraham took no questions from the press at the end of the press conference on 7th May. He and his wife simply left the room from what we could see on the television. While he had nothing to say to the Bahamian press, he managed to speak to the Miami Herald ( click here for the link to the story). He told The Herald that he was rejected by the Bahamian people. He said that he was surprised by the result and that he did not expect it.
It shows how delusional Mr. Ingraham was right up to the end. You ask yourself how could a man as experienced and adept at politics as he publicly say that he did not anticipate such a drubbing and repudiation by the electorate. It means that he and his colleagues were simply out of touch, totally lost about where the population was.
What is also interesting is the bevy of excuses that the FNM folk made, led by the former Prime Minister. Desmond Bannister, the former Minister of Education, said it was not Ingraham it was the infrastructure and the recession. Mr. Ingraham himself later found a voice for the Bahamian press to say that the PLP had bribed the voters of the country. Now that is interesting. How you “bribe” 75,000 voters is quite interesting.
Here’s what we know about bribes. Down in the MICAL seat of Alfred Gray won by 22 votes, with a voting population of less than 1500, the FNM had the officials in that seat hire one hundred people on their temporary work programme. Then the Jump Start programme that they had to help entrepreneurs get started which is a grant programme, instead of delivering cheques to the recipients, they actually delivered the cold hard cash down to the people of that constituency and put it in their hands. That’s what we know about bribery.
In Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador where PLP’s Deputy Leader Philip Davis won his seat in a squeaker with 84 votes, the week before the general election some 200 hundred people were put on the public payroll by the FNM administration. That’s what we know about bribery. Those are documented and those have to be revealed to the Bahamian people.
Then to top it off, the coup de grace of his final statement was that he was resigning as Leader of the Free National Movement. He added he would not take his seat in Parliament and would resign the seat in North Abaco. Add to the words about him, the word “coward”. Having created the mayhem and the mess in his party, he up and leaves and simply says: “I will see you later. Do well!”
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill told The Miami Herald in the same article in which Mr. Ingraham was quoted that he did not believe Mr. Ingraham and he would believe it when he sees it. We say the same thing. Mr. Ingraham is a pathological liar. He is so deceitful he can’t ask for water when he’s thirsty. Don’t be surprised if that resignation never happens and we are lumbered with this man for years to come. That is why the Commission Of Inquiry is so necessary to look into the conduct of the FNM government with regard to the general election and with regard to the sale of BTC and with regard to the road works in New Providence.
Someone made the point that since Barrack Obama has been president of the United States, we have heard nary a peep from George Bush about public policy. That should be the same with Hubert Ingraham. He has lost. He has lost in disgrace. But even in losing, he has no grace. He is simply a bitter, nasty little man who does not know when to slink away into the tall grass like a snake.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 13th May 2012 up to midnight: 190,679
Number of hits for the month of May up to Saturday 13th May up to midnight:286,386
Number of hits for the year 2012 up to Saturday 13th May 2012 up to midnight:3,282,173
THE SWEARING IN OF A NEW GOVERNMENT
The new government of the country, a Cabinet of 22 Ministers and Ministers of State were sworn in all by Friday 11th May. The Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes did the honours. The Prime Minister was sworn in on 8th May; the Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis on 9th May; the Ministers dealing with crime and the economy on 10th May and on 11th May the balance of the Cabinet. This photo was taken on the steps of Government House by Peter Ramsay and shows the following:
INGRAHAM'S FAREWELL ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS
Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham went to Abaco to announce that he is quitting them on 19th July. Boo! Hoo! Hoo! We thought he was not going to take his seat. No doubt there is some historic fact behind this and we wait to to see. That was the same say Sir Lynden resigned from the House. Boy! He cannot even stop copying the man after all these years.
Remarks by
Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham
Coopers Town, Abaco
12 May, 2012
I’ve come to express sincerest thanks and appreciation to Abaco and particularly to the people of the North Abaco Constituency: Grand Cay, Crown Haven, Fox Town, Mount Hope, Wood Cay, Cedar Harbour, Coopers Town, Fire Road, Blackwood, Green Turtle Cay, Treasure Cay, Leisure Lee, Murphy Town and Dundas Town for electing me as your MP on 8 consecutive occasions. I also express my thanks to Central Pines for electing me on two separate occasions.
Many of you have voted for me on each occasion, twice as a PLP, one time as an Independent and 5 times as an FNM. This is a singular distinction for me, to have you support me wearing three distinct hats – I thank you for your confidence, your loyalty and your support.
One thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven or 38% of the 4,130 people registered to vote in this constituency in this election were not born yet when I was first elected on the 19 July, 1977 at the age of 29. I am now 64.
I have spent more than one half of my life in your service. I ran again this time to Head the Government for a 4th time; the Bahamian public rejected my message and denied my request. I accept their determination and in the Westminster tradition of electoral democracy which we adhere to, I have determined to end my public life which has spanned more than half my own lifetime.
When I was first elected to the House of Assembly in 1977 we had 5 polling divisions; 1,292 people voted and I received 892 or 69% of the votes cast.
Fast forward to today, there are 12 polling divisions in North Abaco and 4,130 persons voted. I received 2,235 or 54% of the votes cast.
I will resign as Leader of the Free National Movement on the 26th May when we hold a Special Convention to formally elect a new Leader of the Party. I have lead the FNM for 19 years, and for 15 of those years I also served as Prime Minister. I will resign from the House of Assembly on the anniversary of my first election – the 19th July – two weeks before my 65th birthday, the mandatory retirement age for civil servants.
And so, tonight I ask you to accept my determination to retire from public life and to return your seat to you.
Over the coming weeks I ask you to discuss amongst yourselves whom you would choose to replace me as your FNM Member of Parliament. Be assured of my support for your decision.
I acknowledge my debt to you and express my gratitude. I leave with my reputation in tack; I gave you decent, honourable and incorruptible service. I did my best for you and I leave you now much, much better off than when we began.
I especially wish to recognize and thank some of the people who have been my eyes, ears and hands in most, if not all of my election campaigns. Indeed, they organized and determined how we would approach each campaign and told me where to be and when to speak.
I express special gratitude for support over the years from all of you for which I am forever grateful. I mention in particular Everette Bootle and all the people of Coopers Town, Roosevelt Curry, George Russell, Flaywood Saunders and the Heilds of Grand Cay; Agatha Russell in Crown Haven; Millie McIntosh in Fox Town; my Mount Hope family -Unca Allan and Aunt Movina and Samuel Mills, indeed, all the Mills Family of Cedar Harbour; Mount Hope, Coopers Town, Fire Road, Blackwood, Green Turtle Cay – particularly Floyd Lowe, Michael Levarity, George Reckley and Lincoln Jones; Treasure Cay; Rev. Roland Swain (deceased) and the Gomez, Simms and all the others in Murphy Town, and my Dundas Town family - – the Mills, Hepburns, Humes, Nesbitts, Strachans, Morleys, and Sawyers; and the Archers and the Mills in Dundas Town.
In this election especially I thanks and express my gratitude to Winsome Ferguson, Dolly Mills, O.C. and Malvern Cornish, Kevin McIntosh, Roosevelt Curry and all the others for the part they played over the years and most especially in this my most recent re-election campaign.
I thank all the people of Abaco for their faithfulness and loyalty and support. It does my heart good to know that I love you and that you love me in return.
It does my heart well that Abaco has joined Long Island in being amongst the most faithful of Family Island constituencies to our Party since I joined the FNM in 1990. We are Abaco; we are never fearful and we will not abandon the FNM ship! So I will be replaced as your MP by another FNM!
To know that I have been your MP one has only to look around from Grand Cay to Dundas Town and Central Pines which did not exist in 1977.
We have come from communities that got water from open wells or rainwater tanks in Green Turtle Cay and Grand Cay, to communities with piped water; from kerosene lamps in Little Abaco and Grand Cay to electricity, from no telephone service to hardline phones, cell phones and internet access; from no paved roads outside of our communities to paved roads from Crown Haven in the north to Sandy Port in the South and to paved roads in every community; from an All Age School in Cooper’s Town to the primary and high schools we have today; from no recreational spaces to public parks and public recreational spaces in Grand Cay, Fox Town, Cedar Harbour, Cooper’s Town, Blackwood, Green Turtle Cay, Murphy Town and the Treasure Cay Beach Park – the list goes on and on and on.
I leave a number of projects in train for you: new subdivisions for community expansion in Crown Haven, Fox Town, Cooper’s Town, Green Turtle Cay, Dundas and Murphy Town; the new port at Conch Rock and the Angle Creek Fish Bridge and asphalt paving of the Treasure Cay Airport.
The new terminal at Marsh Harbour Airport is nearing completion. The new Administrative Complex is complete and the Central Abaco Hospital is under construction.
I will be returning to my law office in Nassau and re-opening my law office in Marsh Harbour and spending more time here in Abaco at my house in Cooper’s Town and in the seas of Abaco – “fishnin”.
I am honoured for the privilege to have been of service to you. On my own behalf and that of my wife Delores, our children, relatives and friends I say a BIG thank you to all.
I love all of you.
MITCHELL IS FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND IMMIGRATION
Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill was sworn in on Friday 11th May as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration at Government House. The photo is by Peter Ramsay.
PLP ANSWERS THE FNM ON VICTIMIZATION
The new Leader Of The Opposition Dr. Hubert Minnis claimed quite incredulously that the PLP was victimizing people who are FNMs since the victory on 7th May. The PLP issued the following statement in response to the allegation:
Statement
Progressive Liberal Party
Opposition Leader claims of victimization baseless
10th May 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Progressive Liberal Party roundly condemns as false and baseless, the claims of victimization made by opposition leader Dr. Hubert Minnis in today’s edition of the Nassau Guardian.
Dr. Minnis said that “they’ve (the PLP) not been in office more than two days and they have already started victimizing Bahamians, yet they say Bahamians first”. Well the PLP is not surprised that Dr. Minnis, who has not been the leader of the opposition for one full day, is already leading his party in a campaign of lies and deceit against the government. This behavior is reckless, irresponsible and unbecoming of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.
The PLP is unlike the FNM government that started its administration in 2007 with the pernicious stop, review and cancel policy that accelerated the country’s descent into an economic recession. Further, the temporary workers hired by the FNM government during their final days in office in 2002 were kept on by the incoming PLP government and many of those workers were made permanent and pensionable.
Between 2002 and 2007 the PLP government went on to add some 22,000 jobs to the economy and significantly improved household incomes. We are not in the business of putting Bahamians on the unemployment line – we have a track record of creating good paying jobs for our people.
The PLP has a solid and proud record of putting Bahamians first.
If Dr. Minnis has substantiated evidence of victimization that he claimed, the PLP challenges him to produce this evidence.
We invite the FNM to set aside petty political mischief and become constructively engaged with the government in an aggressive and sustained effort to fight crime, reduce violence, to keep Bahamians safe and to restore the battered and severely weakened economy of The Bahamas.
THE PLP REPLIES ON INGRAHAM ON BRIBERY
Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham speaking after the election of the new Leader of the Opposition Dr Hubert Minnis said that the PLP won the election because they bribed the voter. He becomes more absurd. The PLP issued the following statement in response to the allegation:
Statement
Progressive Liberal Party
Ingraham continues to disrespect Bahamians
11th May 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hubert Ingraham suffered a massive defeat in the general elections. What is really pathetic is that Bahamians spoke so loudly and he still has not heard them -- just as he was deaf to the needs of people during his years in government.
Only someone who lives behind high gates could afford to ignore the nation's skyrocketing crime crisis, but Hubert Ingraham ignored it during his last term and continues to ignore it to this day, instead fabricating bizarre explanations about his loss rather than face the truth about his failed leadership.
Ingraham and Minnis should be aware that the way forward for their party is not more lies. They would do better to reflect on the their party's failure to keep people safe, and their failure to invest in and believe in Bahamians even as they ran up the national debt to give hundreds of millions in contracts to foreigners.
The people spoke on May 7th -- for once, they must stop the lies long enough to listen.
PHOTO OF THE VICTORY CELEBRATION
When it became clear that the PLP had on the general election with 29 seats to 9 for the FNM, the crowds headed to Clifford Park for a victory celebration. The photo is by Peter Ramsay
HOW THEY MARKED IN FOX HILL
The PLP’s Fred Mitchell won the Fox Hill seat handily and convincingly. His majority was 877 votes over his nearest opponent Shonel Ferguson of the Free National Movement. The DNA’s candidate Kendal Smith got 351 votes. The totals are as follows: PLP 2448 FNM 1571 and DNA 351. Mr. Mitchell won an outright majority. When the two opponent’s numbers are combined, he got 525 votes more than the they did. The photo of the celebration in Fox Hill on the night of 8th May is by PLP Media.
FRED MITCHELL’S LAST ADDRESS OF THE CAMPAIGN
Last week, we reported on the final address of Fred Mitchell MP for Fox Hill to the PLP’s crowd assembled at the R.M. Bailey Park on Saturday 5th May. We present the video which was captured by C. Allen Johnson.
The Cabinet Office released the following press release on Friday 11th May giving the names of those who now form the Government:
PRESS RELEASE FROM THE CABINET OFFICE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRIME MINISTER CHRISTIE COMPLETES FORMATION OF HIS CABINET
The Cabinet Office announced today that Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie, has advised His Excellency the Governor-General to complete the formation of the new cabinet with the following additional ministerial appointments:
HON. FREDERICK A. MITCHELL – MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS and IMMIGRATION
HON. V. ALFRED GRAY – MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, MARINE RESOURCES AND
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
HON. SHANE GIBSON – MINISTER OF LABOUR AND NATIONAL INSURANCE
HON. GLENYS HANNA MARTIN – MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND AVIATION
HON. MELANIE GRIFFIN – MINISTER OF SOCIAL SERVICES
HON. DR. MICHAEL DARVILLE – MINISTER FOR GRAND BAHAMA
HON. DR. PERRY GOMEZ – MINISTER OF HEALTH
HON. KENDRED DORSETT-MINISTER OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND HOUSING
HON. DANIEL JOHNSON - MINISTER OF YOUTH SPORTS AND CULTURE
HON. HOPE STRACHAN – MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT
AND AVIATION
HON. KHAALIS ROLLE - MINISTER OF STATE FOR INVESTMENTS IN THE OFFICE
OF THE PRIME MINISTER
This second and final group of ministers will be sworn in at Government House at 4pm this afternoon. In announcing the final group of ministers, Prime Minister Christie said that under ordinary circumstances he would have gone with a smaller cabinet but that the extraordinary challenges facing the country today demanded that he assemble a cabinet that would be able to simultaneously tackle these challenges on a broadest possible front. Accordingly, the cabinet in its totality is approximately the same size as the cabinet that was announced by the former Prime Minister following the 2007 General Election. The Prime Minister also indicated that he would be making mid-term ministerial adjustments with a view to bringing into the cabinet some of the government backbenchers not included in the first round of selections. The Prime Minister advised that this was particularly important having regard to his commitment to ensure the promotion of ‘new generation’ candidates to a dominant position in his government during the course of the present term.
The Prime Minister also announced that:
Mr. Anthony Moss, the Member–Elect for Exuma has been appointed Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources;
Mrs. Cleola Hamilton, the Member of Parliament-elect for South Beach has been appointed Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Aviation and;
Renward Wells, the MP-elect for Bamboo Town, has been appointed Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Works and Urban Development.
Mrs. Hamilton, Mr. Moss and Mr. Wells will be sworn in at a separate ceremony at Government House on Monday. The Prime Minister also announced that at the opening of the new Parliament on the 23rd May the Government would move for the election of Dr. Kendal Major, the member-elect for the Garden Hills constituency as the next Speaker of the Hon. House of Assembly; and for the election of Deon Smith, the member-elect for the Nassau Village constituency, as Deputy Speaker.
The Cabinet Ministers previously named were: Perry Christie, Prime Minister and Minister Of Finance; Philip Davis, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Of Works and Urban Development; Bernard Nottage, Minister of National Security and Government Leader in the House of Assembly; Obediah Wilchcombe, Minister Of Tourism; Jerome Fitzgerald, Minister Of Education, Science and Technology; Ryan Pinder, Minister Of Financial Services; Allyson Maynard Gibson, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs; Damien Gomez, Minister of State in the Ministry of Legal Affairs; Michael Halkitas, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance; Keith Bell, Minister Of State in the Ministry Of National Security.
A RELEASE FROM THE PLP’S PR PEOPLE
The Greenberg Report on the 2007 general election loss formed the blueprint for the way forward for the PLP. It worked like a charm in a sense because based on that report the party started to plot its way forward. The company that produced the report and were advisors to the campaign of 2012 released the statement below with regard to the success of the campaign 2012.
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Congratulates Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie and the Progressive Liberal Party on Historic Election in The Bahamas
In a landslide victory, the PLP took 29 of 38 contested constituencies based on preliminary results - one of the biggest victories in Bahamian history. This is an increase of 11 seats for the PLP from the last election in 2007. They will have a strong majority in the next government, and Christie will lead the country as the new Prime Minister of The Bahamas.
In addition to winning a decisive majority, the PLP defeated Branville McCartney, the leader of the new Democratic National Alliance, in his race to represent the constituency of Bamboo Town.
Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham conceded defeat to the PLP, announcing that he would give up his seat in the House of Assembly and retire from public life after more than 30 years in politics. It is likely that the PLP will fill his seat in the North Abaco constituency.
The PLP ran a strong campaign that centered on believing in the potential of the Bahamian people. “Believe in The Bahamas” resonated with voters as the current government’s policies failed to put the Bahamian people ahead of special interests and neglected a staggering problem with crime. The PLP’s detailed plan to fight crime, create jobs for Bahamians, and double the investment in education and training was strongly endorsed by the electorate.
“Christie and the PLP achieved a great victory last night," said Kristi Lowe, Senior Associate, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. "We extend them our best wishes as they approach the challenges of reducing crime, reviving the economy, and enacting policies that put faith in what the Bahamian people can achieve if given the opportunity.”
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, working with lead strategist Dalit Toledano, was proud to provide Christie and the PLP with public opinion research, strategic advice, and digital consulting during the election campaign.
The team working on the Bahamian campaign included the followingGreenberg Quinlan Rosner political consultants and research professionals:
• Kristi Lowe - Senior Associate
• Margaret Havemann - Analyst
• Kelly Rincon - Project Associate
• Lester Polchlopek - Programmer
• Patrick Faust - Director of Digital Strategies
• Alex Kennedy - Digital Project Coordinator
• Matt Rothenberg - Digital Project Coordinator
STALWART COUNCILOR B WRITES TO PUBLIC SERVANTS: TURN YOURSELF IN
Ten years ago when Prime Minister Christie formed his new PLP government, no one in the public service was let go. Even political operatives were allowed to work out their contracts. Permanent government employees who went above and beyond the call of duty to the point of breaching General Orders in pursuit of the FNM agenda were not disciplined. That decision proved to be a colossal mistake for the PLP. It was misinterpreted as weakness.
In this 2012 election cycle, Senior Civil Servants were so sure of the FNM victory at the polls that they threw caution to the wind and exposed their political bias to the point of wearing the color red at official government functions. They further signed government contracts without the appropriate checks and balances and approval. In Grand Bahama they hired workers on the government program and paid the workers without even having places at various businesses to place them, all at the tax payers expense.
To those members of the service who in the process lost their way in executing their duties in a fair and equitable manner, I say turn yourselves in. To others who have committed minor infractions, I say confess. To the most Senior Civil Servants who over the past few days, I say there is an honorable course of action. It makes no sense using back channels trying to reach ministers in an attempt to start burning the candle at the other end.
In order for the Public Service to work efficiently and seamlessly from one administration to the other, senior members of the service must hold themselves to the highest standard. But in this cycle, we see where the system has all but collapse in this regard. To those senior members, fall on your swords.
Finally, the PLP has a group of party elders call Stalwart Councilors who have learnt from their mistakes and where they see government policies faltering they will move with haste to bring pressure to bear on this administration to ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated.
Stalwart B
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Forrester Carroll writes from Freeport in response to the allegation by the new Leader Of The Opposition Dr. Hubert Minnis that the PLP was victimizing people. Mr. Carroll writes that this was laughable against the background of the conduct of the FNM in office over the past five years:
Do you want to know why am laughing my head off at this very moment? Dr Hubert Minnis, the new leader of the rag tag opposition, complaining and accusing the new PLP government of victimization.
Here is a man who sat around the cabinet table, along with Hubert Ingraham his leader and prime minister for five solid years, planning how to victimize every suspected PLP they could flush out in their quest to punish them for their political preferences.
Has Minnis forgotten that on the night of May 2nd 2007 his Leader couldn’t even wait to name his cabinet before firing Steve McKinney and Lady Philippa Russell from their jobs at ZNS? Has he forgotten that shortly after forming his cabinet, back then, his leader and prime minister went on an accelerated and aggressive mission to identify and punish every suspected PLP supporter working in the government service? Is Minnis’ memory so bad, all of a sudden that he now cannot remember how his leader came to Grand Bahama and ordered the cancellation of Urban Renewal contracts, indiscriminately, and firing every one of the employees and replaced them all with FNM supporters?
Has Minnis’ memory failed him so badly that he cannot now remember the many contracts that his leader cancelled, for ordinary Bahamians, and which were reworked and awarded to known FNM supporters? Has Minnis forgotten the many civil servants who his leader sent into retirement, involuntarily, with only fifteen minutes notices?
Have you forgotten, Dr. Hubert Minnis, that through these actions many Bahamians lives have been ruined to the extent that they would never recover again, ever, in this lifetime and now you propose to lecture us? You should be asking all those Bahamians, whose lives you and your leader have ruined, for forgiveness; we don’t expect to see statements such as, “They’ve not been in office not more than two days yet and they have already started victimizing Bahamians.” The precedent that your government has set, for these kinds of actions Hubert Minnis, the PLP could never match.
We, the new PLP government, will ignore your nonsense, Hubert Minnis, for we have much more important things to do like correcting all the wrongs your government committed against our people. Civil servants who were forcibly retired and their pensions withheld; legitimate contracts which were broken by your government; the many outstanding labour issues which in most cases your government created as in the case of the customs and immigration union matters; civil servants who were superseded in favor of junior FNM supporting civil servants and or Family members as in the case of the position given to and now held by Zhivargo Laing’s brother-in-law at customs in Freeport. Dr. Minnis, please take it from me, no one believes you when you pretend to care about Victimization; we believe that you care about few of your FNM generals losing their meal tickets but other Bahamians? Absolutely not; you don’t care for if you did you would not have been a part of Ingraham’s strike force, victimizing poor average citizens all these years.
Yes Dr. Minnis, if I were you I wouldn’t dare broach that particular subject; I would try and find some other issue on which to get traction for you and FNM rag-tag opposition has no credibility with this victimization thing.
Laughable! Unbelievable! Unthinkable! Is how I would describe the start-up role of this FNM party now in opposition; truly unbelievable?
Thank you
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport
James Catalyn, the playwright, wrote this note of congratulations to the new government on the web:
My congratulations to the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and all the Ministers of the Cabinet; the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and soon to be sworn in Parliamentary Secretaries. A more brilliant and educated team could not be assembled anywhere. All I have heard all week was how pleased everyone is about the selection.
We have to work together as a team, as we were together during the campaigning. We have to stay the course. We know that you will find many wrongs in your various ministries and we know that you will find many in opposition who would wish this administration to fail. Look at Obama, the Republicans are hell bent on making him a one term President and the supporters of the opposition have the same plan. REMEMBER 2002, when they bragged that we won the election, but were not in charge? We must have learnt a lesson from that!!! You cannot and will not achieve your goals if both your right hand and left hand are working against you. You cannot leave these people in place. Find other areas in which to place them
Be vigilant, be diligent, be on top of everything.
I learned from my days in the Ministry of Tourism with Sir Clement, how he was in office very early (by 7:00a.m.), read everything that came into the Ministry, knew his staff, knew what was going on, and kept both his feet and ears to the ground.
Since we like to quote the bible so much, remember, if your right hand offends you, cut it off.
My cabinet ministers, we have been given another chance to govern this great country of ours. We are confident that you will do that and with God's help you will lift us out the pits of hell.
Keep your feet firmly planted on the ground! Remember the people who put you in these lofty heights and remember "Putting People First"'. We witnessed enough in 2002. We CANNOT, we MUST not repeat the same mistakes again.
We must truly be an open government, of the people, by the people and for and let the people know the things they need to know. As a government, we must also tout our achievements and "brag" about them, so that the public may be aware. We need a good PR Department and certainly NOT BIS.
I may have written much and you may discard much of what I have written, but I wish only the best for my country and my government.
Remember, keep your feet and your ears to the ground; learn the difference between hearing and listening; ponder and heed. No one person knows it all, that's why we have a team...and a team works together.
May God bless and direct all of you.
James Catalyn
IN PASSING
Commission Of Inquiry
The PLP must announce within days the holding of a Commission of Inquiry into the sale of BTC to Cable and Wireless and the conduct of the FNM government and Hubert Ingraham on the road works in New Providence and the conduct of the government in the awarding of public contracts and jobs during the general election campaign.
BTC Crashes
On Friday 11th May, the cell phone system and data system in New Providence collapsed with text messaging not possible and during the day people could not hear what was being said when calls were answered on cell phones. It continued on 12th May with no explanation from BTC. Many cell phone calls would not go through. The phone system in The Bahamas has become worse under Cable and Wireless. These are good reasons for the Bahamian people to reacquire their asset.
The New Leader Of The Opposition’s Malapropism
Dr. Hubert Minnis is the new Leader Of The Opposition. Here was what he said in his first statement on Thursday 10th May as quoted by The Tribune on 10th May: "I am grateful for the confidence you impose in me and for the support you give me every day." What’s wrong with that picture? We got rid of one FNM leader who could not tell the difference between V and W and their pronunciations to save his life now this.
Taking Back BTC
The PLP on 23rd May should have the legislation ready to re-acquire the assets of BTC from Cable and Wireless. There is no time like the present.
Change The Oath Of Office
When each Minister of the government was sworn in they had to take two oaths. One was to be faithful to Elizabeth, the Queen her heirs and successors in law. The other is to keep Cabinet secrets. It is a rather long and rambling oath. The PLP ought to create new oaths which are more relevant to today’s Bahamas. This business of the Queen ought to go and the second oath should simply say that the Minister promises to adhere to the constitution of The Bahamas and be done. The second oath is a tongue twister.
Mother’s Day
Today is Mother’s Day in the new world. Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers everywhere.
The Line Up Of Wants And Needs
The election was not yet one hour old before the line up of needs and wants started. The PLP has a hell of job on its hands with everyone in the country wanting a job with the government.
Remembering The Flamingo And Its Men
10th May 1980 is a date that is forever etched in the collective memory of the nation and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force. It was on that day that the Cuban government’s air force sunk the new Bahamian Defence force ship HMBS Flamingo. Four lives were lost. Their colleague who remained remembered them in an official ceremony at the RBDF base last week.
What’s In Cassius Stuart’s Head?
The Tribune’s headline of Thursday 10th May said that Cassius Stuart who abandoned his Bahamas Democratic Movement (BDM) for the FNM so he could get a nomination for the Bamboo Town seat and who went down in flames on 7th May in the general election was contemplating running for Leader of the FNM. Boy this fellow has a hell of an ego. The whole next generation of leaders of the FNM Dion Foulkes, Carl Bethel, Tommy Turnquest and Zhivargo Laing were all defeated. All former Torchbearers, the youth arm of the FNM. They are not so muddled headed by defeat as to think stupid and impossible things yet here you have a newcomer to the party Cassius Stuart who obviously brought nothing to the party having lost his seat saying he wants to be leader. Must be mud in that head! Late word is that he will support the new Leader Dr. Minnis. Whew!
Gridlock At Government House
The swearing in of the first set of Ministers of the PLP government came on Thursday 10th May at Government House. These were the ministers responsible for dealing with crime and the economy. The ceremony did not finish in time for Government House to clear so that the Leader of The Opposition could get his instruments of appointment from the Governor General. The result gridlock at Government House with FNM leaders and supporters having to run the gauntlet of PLPs finishing their cocktail reception at Government House. Government House had to hold a reception at the Sheraton Hotel in order to accommodate the Leader of The Opposition.
