In this 2008/9 budget that FNM has reached a new high
in presenting to Bahamians smoke and mirrors as truth.
This budget is just that…smoke and mirrors.
When the FNM suggests that the economy is growing it fails to point out that the economy’s growth projections have been revamped downwards because of the FNM’s incompetence and its stop review and cancel policy.
If the economy was projected to grow by 4% in 2007 and 2007 actual is now approximately 2%. This means that the economy performed 2% worse than was projected by the IMF. This poor performance can DIRECTLY be attributed to the stop review and cancel policy.
We must lament this stop review and cancel policy and condemn it.
It is time for government to present a long term vision with which all Bahamians can agree, by which policies will be measured, in reliance upon which Bahamians can plan futures and will preserve our heritage for future generations.
For example, the IMF understood the INSISTENCE of the Christie government that there would be NO NEW TAXES and NO INCREASES IN TAXES.
The IMF understood and agreed that the inflow from the Anchor Project policy was more than enough to pay for capital improvements and to fund the cost of governance…a very expensive proposition in an archipelagic nation. An airports, schools, clinics, roads, electricity, telephone, etc need to exist on each Island.
The IMF understood and agreed that the PLP’s focus on
growth of Bahamian entrepreneurship as a significant spin off of the Anchor
Project Policy was the right policy.
There is little in this Budget for the average Bahamian.
ADVERSE IMPACT ON AVERAGE BAHAMIAN
CRIME
Crime is THE major issue in the minds of Bahamians
During the 2007 Election Campaign the FNM promised that if Bahamians voted FNM crime would be solved.
Crime in dramatically on the increase.
The fear of crime is greater than ever before.
Bahamians simply do not feel safe at home, at the workplace and on the streets, even Bay St. our main tourist street.
The former head of Prosecutions Supt Keith Bell indicated recently that the criminal justice system is “on the brink of collapse”.
He said that there are 100,000 matters before the courts. This Senate will remember that in 2007 during the budget debate I said that there were 95,000 matters before the courts. The FNM refuted that figure.
This is just like the mid year budget debate. The FNM said one thing about the deficit and the Central Bank said something else.
The FNM says one thing about the matters before the courts and the former head of prosecutions says something else.
More FNM Smoke and mirrors…
And the very same FNM that had so much to say in the media about crime when it was in opposition is now asking the media not to report criminal activity.
More smoke and mirrors…
Mr. Bell said we could look forward to “kidnappings and terrorism unless it is fixed”.
I say that the FNM is unable AND unwilling to fix the criminal justice system.
This is a country of not even 400,000 people . This problem can be fixed. The PLP was well on the way to fixing it. And there was national and international consensus that the PLP was on the right path.
Crime is an urgent national issue. It is not a political issue. It must be dealt with NOW.
No amount of spin doctoring can help the FNM. Smoke and mirrors is not reality. Bahamians want reality.
The FNM has put forward not one initiative to fight crime.
What are the things that can be done RIGHT NOW?
The FNM must urgently restore the Urban Renewal Program.
This international award winning program was designed by our best brains with the support of the Commissioner of Police. The Commissioner of Police received on behalf of the RBPF many international awards for the program and many States and countries came to The Bahamas to view the program and implement it in their home countries.
The Program involved the entire community collaborating
with the police. Crime decreased in the communities where the program was
implemented.
Marching Bands, Computer Camps, after school homework
programs, involvement with older people, street festivals, neighbours reaching
out to each other, Churches bringing their resources to bear in community
building, all led to PREVENTION and a REDUCTION.
Stop review and cancel put and end to those developments…
The FNM says that it has increased the allocation to social services.
The reality is that this is urban renewal money shuffled to social services.
The FNM must immediately reintroduce the Swift Justice Initiative
It is shameful that the country has reverted to the situation where trials are set then cannot proceed because witness do not turn up or evidence is not ready.
Under the SJ initiative all of the relevant agencies involved in the administration of justice met regularly so that matters set for trial would come on for trial save for unavoidable matters such as illness of a witness.
The police may apprehend alleged offenders. So long as they know that they will soon be put out on bail, they snub their noses at the system and law abiding citizens suffer.
There are just too many open and unsolved cases in The Bahamas today.
Society has an interest in ensuring that trials are heard as soon as possible.
FNM cancelled this initiative. The initiative was working. It was not perfect. It was working.
Now under the FNM there is no emphasis on prevention as was with UR and there is no emphasis on deterrence as there was with SJ.
The FNM must IMMEDIATELY implement the Bail Bracelet Tracking System
68% of the prison population is on remand says Minister of National Security.
Persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Persons will get bail as FNM has no will to try them swiftly.
At least track them when they are given Bail.
No law needs to be passed for that system to be implemented.
Bail is granted on terms as agreed by the Judge.
Where is the money in the budget for this tool that will definitely help to address the problem?
More FNM smoke and mirrors…
The FNM must employ some of the construction workers that the FNM has put out of work to complete the remand centre at Fox Hill.
This will give those workers some much needed jobs.
This will take away the daily and dangerous trek of prisoners from Fox Hill to Bank Lane.
Only prisoners necessary for trials that day will need to come downtown.
To add insult to injury.
FNM in its budgetary allocation shows that it is not serious about combating crime.
FNM in its budgetary allocations shows that it is not serious about the administration of justice.
Under recurrent expenditure allocation to:
And to add insult to injury the FNM suggests (SPINS...smoke and mirrors) that they are not decreasing allocations to fighting crime because that might use a discretionary fund (the confiscated assets fund) to fight crime.
The FNM should note the advice on the files given to previous AGs that this fund could be used only in certain circumstances and with the agreement of the US government!!
After the offenders are charged, there must be a trial.
The FNM must follow the example of developed countries in abolishing a preliminary enquiry for serious offences and have these matters tried in the Supreme Court by way of a VBI.
To pursue this in a meaningful way, the proper allocations must be made in the budget. This has not been done. It could have been done and it ought to have been done.
The FNM needs to establish a special process for the trial of persons who violate women and children. No ifs ands or buts… We cannot condone the increase in child molestation and the growing rate of children with STDs... We must stem the tide of increase in rapes... Civilized societies always protect the most vulnerable... We must ensure that never again will it take 6 - 10 years for a rape to come to trial.
JUDICIAL COMPLEX
The FNM’s statements about the Judicial Complex are really
the icing on the cake when it comes to smoke and mirrors!!! They
give distortion of the facts a new meaning.
The facts are:
The FNM left in place in 2002 a design for a Judicial
Complex
The complex was to house the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the Industrial Tribunal (it to become a division of the Supreme Court)
The drawings included jury rooms, prisoners entering underground for security reasons
EDAW plan for City of Nassau interevened…
The relevant people in the judiciary were satisfied that the East Hill St. site is an appropriate site
THIS former AG left everything in place for the judicial
complex to start. ..
The complex would have started in 2007…could have advanced in several stages…
The experts at the Ministry of Works, the government’s advisor on these matters advised that the East Hill Street site is suitable for the location of the building
The architects gave similar advice and were in the process of amending their drawings for the site.
The Judicial Complex could have been started by now.
I ask the AG to state PLAINLY for the benefit of Bahamians what is not suitable about the architectural drawings.
I ask the AG whether the government is prepared to commit submit to this Senate the report that says that the site is not suitable as was stated in the other place.
I suggest that the failure to start the Judicial complex is one more example of the FNM stop review and cancel policy. … this time with an FNM label since it was designed by the PLP.
Perhaps it’s time to allocate to the Judiciary a percentage of the budget to manage by itself. An independent judiciary ought not to be subject to a capricious government.
Time to make it crystal clear that there is only ONE head of the judiciary…the Chief Justice. The public looks to the holder of that office for direction and to curb the political and other statements that undermine the public’s confidence in the judicial system. Certainly the public does not expect a judge to be interfering with the independence of another judge to hear and determine applications. As was said in the Supreme Court recently, which statement I fully endorse, “the foundation of judicial independence is the freedom of a judge to hear and decide matters without undue influence, pressure, threat or interference, direct or indirect from any source or for any reason”.
Watch this situation closely…whiff of political interference…not yet a stench…
We must jealously guard our future and that of our children..
THE UPSHOT IS:
Law abiding citizens, don’t expect offenders to be swiftly
apprehended and prosecuted AND expect serious crime to continue its upward
trend
Alleged Offenders who wish to prove their innocence, expect to be add to the 68% of the prison population on remand
Insufficient money has been allocated
Money has been inappropriately cut
Important programs have been stopped reviewed and cancelled…UR, SJ and Bail Bracelet
FNM stop review and cancel policy delayed the commencement of the judicial complex…not matter how it is spun, that is a fact..no amount of smoke and mirrors can hide it…
There is no provision or no adequate provision in the budget to hear outstanding matters
THERE IS JUST TOO MUCH FEAR IN THE COUNTRY!!!!!
THE CITY OF NASSAU REVITALIZATION ACT
Another speaker will address this Bill is great detail...
The genesis of the Bill is the EDAW report that put forward a VISION for
revitalization of downtown and development of a South West Port.
Under the EDAW report, the revitalized area included the entire area from
Montagu foreshore on the Eastern Boundary to Arawak Cay on the Western
Boundary and from the Harbour on the Northern Boundary to Wulff Road on
the Southern Boundary. Under the Bill, the City of Nassau is
to be narrowly defined:
BOUNDARIES OF THE CITY OF NASSAU
All that part of New Providence bounded on the north
by the Harbour of Nassau, on the east by Mackey Street, on the south by
an imaginary line starting at a point approximately three hundred and eighty
yards to the south of the junction of Mackey Street and Shirley Street
and continuing in a straight line to the south-east corner of the grounds
of the Princess Margaret Hospital, thence south-westerly to Prison Lane,
thence to the division wall between the Barracks and the Prison, thence
in a straight line westwardly to the junction of Dillet Street and Blue
Hill Road and following the centre of Dillet Street and Meeting Street
to Nassau Street, and on the west by Nassau Street. The City of Nassau
shall also include the whole of Paradise Island, also Potters Cay and all
other islets and cays in the Harbour of Nassau. (this latter part is excluded
from the bill)
This definition effectively excludes young entrepreneurs Over the Hill, BELOW Dillett Street, those who most need these incentives.
EDAW had a vision of creating distinct districts within the described area. It had a vision of museums, galleries, restaurants, night clubs, live entertainment, walking tours, building restorations and other capital and human improvements as have been seen in all major City revitalization projects all over the world…e.g. Cleveland, Baltimore, Docklands, Rio etc. I would ask the FNM to seriously reconsider this glaring omission of young entrepreneurs Over the Hill. – the Pond was never Over the Hill
HOUSING
More FNM smoke and mirrors.
It is a very sad day in the life of a country when a
government will brag that it has not built one new house in 2 years!
Cold hard admitted facts…not one new house built in 2 years! This
exceeds the previous FNM abysmal record when I comes to affordable housing.
Contrast this with the record of the PLP… more than 800 houses. In
today’s economy especially, it is simply false to suggest that it is better
to sell affordable developed lots.
More FNM Smoke and mirrors. The reason that GOVERNMENT’s
all over the world are involved in providing affordable HOUSING not lots,
is that it is not possible for INDIVIDUALS to compete with government’s
buying power. The buying power of government immediately brings down
the acquisition and construction costs on houses.
The Real Property Tax Amendment Act is a welcome recognition
by the FNM that the PLP was right all along. – significant incentives were
needed to spur construction (economy) and build family life –all over the
world, owning your own home is an important family event… The FNM’s
failure to renew these concessions in early 2008 was a terrible mistake.
The FNM had already cancelled the straw market, jeopardized Baha Mar and
destroyed the PLP’s plan to stagger the implementation of the large approved
projects so that those unemployed could get a job.
The failure to renew was that these incentives death knell to many small contractors who invested in their businesses to benefit from the growing housing market. Everyone knows that the PLP policy of relief from Real Property Tax was a shot in the arm to the construction sector. – the FNM in this budget is admitting it… The reinstatement of the policy will stimulate the economy but it will take time for it to be felt.
Also the FNM should to January 2008 or refund to those
caught in the 6 months lapse of the policy …those paid between January
to June 2008. There is no good reason why those persons who are caught
in the 6 months lapse should be made to suffer due to the FNM’s stop review
and cancel policy. I call upon the government to immediately pay
that money to those people. I call upon the government to stop inflicting
pain on the average Bahamian and to stop destroying the middle class Bahamian.
FAMILY ISLAND DEVELOPMENT ENCOURAGEMENT ACT
Welcome... There will be an administrative process... What is it... How does the government intend to prevent abuse?
EXCISE ACT
Hybrid of $28,000 duty at 25% is $7,000
New or used car of $20,000 duty at 60% $12,000
New or used car of $25,000 duty at 75% is $18,750
New or used cars of more than $25,000
Say used taxi Lincoln $30,000 duty at 85% is $25,500
Lexus hybrid at $104,000 at 25% duty is $26,000 only
$500 difference for someone who could afford to pay the 85%
Other food decreases must be carefully examined. 2% on
back of more than 2% inflation and gas costs (direct and indirect increasing)
is too little too late.
This budget is not for average Bahamians.
NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE
Not provided for!!!! NOT ONE PENNY!!!!!!
Nothing for the average Bahamian... When did anyone last go to the
PMH.
DRG
See notes
No easing the burden on the average Bahamian
POVERTY
Minister has admitted review of poverty levels...
They are unacceptably high... They are increasing... Government
need to provide relief with direct impact NOW
Stimulus packages are important... Those poor and
vulnerable will not feel effect of those... They need to be fed,
clothed and housed NOW!
YOUTH
No significant initiatives... Bahamas games decreased
by $14K... Subvention elite athletes up $100K not even enough for
air fare to Beijing... Youth enterprise JA up only $30K…cost at least
$10K to set up a JA…know because did one in Pinewood …the first Constituency
based JA... Second chance…Fresh Start…$32K …not enough to pay utilities
BTVI…The $92K increase can’t even pay the light Bill
FAMILY
See previous remarks
May 2007 the NFM met a thriving economy.
The stop review and cancel policy is responsible for
the destruction of the economy
In this Budget the FNM tries to implement initiative
and policies that PLP left in place…
TOO LITTLE TOO LATE