Just weeks away from the three year anniversary of the PLP’s win at the polls, Bahamians around the country are still awaiting the fulfillment of countless campaign promises which this administration made ahead of the 2012 general election.

Chief among those promises was the promise of 10 thousand new jobs in its first year in office. On the job creation front this PLP government has failed miserably. Not only have they failed to meet their self-imposed quota, the jobs which have been created have done little to encourage high level employment opportunities or to make Bahamians owners in their own country, instead locking qualified, and hardworking citizens into a life of underemployment.

This is particularly true for young Bahamians ages 18-35 where unemployment is at its highest rate in the country. At a time when our country needs them most, college educated Bahamians are choosing to take their skills elsewhere because of the lack of opportunity available to them here at home. Reports of this administration practice of rank nepotism cronyism and foreigners first agenda, have spread far and wide and has failed to inspire in our people the confidence that their skills will not only be respected in their home country but adequately compensated in the current environment.

Now, in the face of this already dim reality, scores of workers at BTC and Scotia Bank are also preparing to join the unemployment line.

While national statistics on employment have been dismal, the figures recorded for Grand Bahama Island have been particularly distressing. According to the latest statistics from the Department of Statistics unemployment in the nation’s second city is currently 19.5%. Those staggering figures are just the tip of iceberg for residents in Freeport. The rate of joblessness has contributed to the island’s rising misery index and has separated families as many parents are often forced to leave their children with other family and friends as they leave the island in search of gainful employment.

While on the campaign trail, the government promised a multi-faceted approach to job creation which included the encouragement of entrepreneurial endeavors. Rather than the multi-pronged approach however this administration rests all of its job creation hopes on the shoulders of a singular resort development: Memories.

The government in its haste to prove its worth to the public entered into the arrangement with SunWing an all-inclusive vacation provider based in Canada. In the run-up to the hotel’s opening the government touted the 1000 immediate jobs that would be created. However like many of its campaign promises the introduction of the hotel to the local market fell short of the initial impact which had been expected. After being plagued by delays the resort finally opened offering employment opportunities for Bahamians which by all accounts have been limited to jobs as bellman, house-keeping attendants and front desk agents. Unfortunately, Bahamians aspiring to work in other upper level positions have found those positions filled by individuals imported by the company from Canada.

Even as thousands of Bahamians remain out of work, this government granted numerous work permits for individuals within the hotel and entertainment sectors and have failed to devise an efficient means of tracking those permits or overseeing the training of actual Bahamians to eventually fill those positions.

The Democratic National Alliance has long believed that a key function of the government is to create the kind economic environment in which small businesses, which are the backbone of every economy can thrive. On that front, this PLP administration has failed. In its efforts to live up to its campaign slogan of Believing in Bahamians, this PLP administration has failed. On the matter of job creation, this administration has FAILED.

Bahamians are demanding MORE. Bahamians DESERVE MORE.

Branville McCartney
DNA Leader