VOTE BUYING! CROWD RENTING! And HYPOCRISY

During a time when our country’s borders and resources continue to be drained by the burden of illegal immigration, I find it absolutely amazing that Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell found the time to “review” footage of the demonstration that was held in Rawson Square last Wednesday.

For a Minister of the government to take the time to review and study the footage of a political organization which members of his own party have called insignificant tells me that his priorities in overseeing his portfolio in the governance of this nation leaves much to be desired and suggests to me that the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) has become more of a threat to the political establishment in this country than any third party before it.

Perhaps the Minister’s time would have been better spent reviewing footage of PLP rallies over the course of the last election campaign. Doing so would have reminded him of the many promises he and his colleagues in government have failed to address, chief among them the promise to BELIEVE IN BAHAMIANS. The good Minister could have also used his time to review crime statistics under this PLP administration and perhaps suggest a suitable solution to Prime Minister Perry Christie who, after promising to have the answers, has gone “back to the drawing board” on the issue. Or perhaps a review of the Freedom of Information Act, which according to the government is in NEED of review and amendment, would have been a more appropriate use of Mr. Mitchell’s time.

And what about an in depth review of the Minister’s travel itinerary since taking office in 2012? Has Mr. Mitchell reviewed the results of the many first class trips abroad which were funded by the public purse? A review of that information is CERTAINLY necessary and we call on Minister Mitchell to release those findings to the public via a similar statement to the media.

Minister Mitchell’s claim of “crowd renting” by the DNA is also extremely HYPOCRITICAL as the Progressive Liberal Party has a long and detailed history of similar practices. In the lead-up to the last general election, scores of party supporters and would be voters allegedly received funds, grocery assistance, free travel to off island rallies and countless other inducements to guarantee their votes. While Minister Mitchell may have not been personally aware or responsible for such alleged instances of “vote buying” it would behoove him to REVIEW and EXAMINE his own party’s record on such behavior before attempting cast aspersions of any efforts of the DNA.

Earlier this year, a well-known PLP campaign supporter held a similar demonstration in Rawson Square in which its participants were allegedly paid up to $100 to participate. When asked to respond to the demonstration PM Perry Christie called it a show of the country’s democratic spirit.

For the record, as leader of the DNA, I am unaware of any money paid to persons attending last week’s demonstration. The DNA is NOT like the Free National Movement as the Minister has asserted and we are certainly NOTHING like the Progressive Liberal Party. We DO NOT, HAVE NOT and WILL NOT pay people to vote for us as the PLP allegedly did in the last election. We do not try to steal elections as was evident in 2007 when a member of the PLP party was found with 40,000 ballots. We do not CONDONE or PARTICIPATE in cronyism. These are all practices of the PLP.

DNA Supporters from Nassau Village, Tall Pines, Carmichael Road, Farm Road and Bamboo Town were invited to participate in the demonstration and a general invitation was sent out via the party’s social media pages. It was perhaps this GENERAL INVITE which drew supporters from Minister Mitchell’s constituency. Perhaps what led the Minister to investigate the party’s operations was fear that his long time hold over residents of the Fox Hill area is finally being broken. Perhaps the Minister is worried that in the face of repeated failures and disappointment at the hands of this PLP government, residents in Fox Hill are now reviewing HIS record and have found him less than satisfactory.

As I have said before the DNA is an accepting organization. We encourage any and ALL Bahamians from all constituencies around the country to join us and GO GREEN as we chart a course to a NEW BAHAMAS.

Branville McCartney
DNA Leader