The F.N.M 2012 campaign chant seems to be ‘We Deliver’. How fitting! As if by prophesy, Sir Lynden Pindling had dubbed Hubert Ingraham, “the
Delivery Boy” during the 1992 election campaign. True to form, Hubert
Ingraham is now living up to the nickname given to him by his political
father. In five short years, Prime Minister Ingraham has just about
wiped out the middle class, once upcoming Bahamians are now the new
poor. Degreed Bahamians are now finding it difficult to earn a decent
living in the land of their birth thanks to Hubert Ingraham’s ‘ policy ‘
of putting ‘first ‘ everything and everyone foreign first. Those that
we once referred to as being poor, now live below the poverty line.
Hubert
Ingraham is now the ‘darling ‘of Bay Street. Bay Street that once only
controlled financial power, now has full control of political power as
well, albeit via Hubert Ingraham who is nothing more than a ‘front’ for
the Bay Street oligarchy.
The hallmark of Mr.Ingraham’s
last five years in office is marked by scandals of nepotism, corruption,
cronyism and treating Bahamians with disdain. In less than five years,
Hubert Ingraham and his Minister of State Finance, Zhivargo Laing grew
the national debt to nearly five billion dollars, just about two billion
dollars of this amount was borrowed within the past two years under the
guise of stimulating the economy during the recession, a recession I
might add Zhivargo Laing said during the latter part of 2007 was only in
the head of former Prime Minister, Perry Christie. One problem, the
government of the Bahamas ( F.N.M. ) directed that the Minister of
Works, Neko Grant give the contracts for road building etc to foreign
companies. There by ensuring that the so-called stimulus plan had very
little to no impact on the Bahamian economy. To prove this, one need
only review the unemployment statistics.
Seeking to
disguise their gross incompetence, the F.N.M. now accuse the P.L.P. of
doing nothing during their five years in office. While no one expects
F.N.M. pundits and Hubert Ingraham to be civil or truthful, but in the
face of easily verifiable facts one would natural assume that his
comments in this regard would be more guarded. To put the lie to this
question of the P.L.P. doing nothing….let’s take a closer look at the
facts
P.L.P. Accomplishment 2002-2007
1, 22,000 jobs created.
2. Unemployment declined to an irreducible minimum of 7.6 %
3 The Bahamian economy grew by 3.4% in 2005 and was projected to grow by 4% beyond 2007
4. The P.L.P. Government entertained the attraction of approx. 17 billion dollars in foreign direct investment.
5. Over 3 billion dollars of that investment became tangible.
6. Over 400 million dollars in contracts was awarded to Bahamians as a direct result of foreign direct investments.
7, Government Revenue grew from 875 million dollars to 1.3 billion dollars.
Some Major investments launched during the years 2002-2007 under the P.L.P. administration:
A, The 1.2 billion dollars Heads of Agreement between BahaMar and the Bahamas Government.
B. The billion dollar phase 3 Atlantis Expansion
C. The 500 million Passerine development at Great Guana Cay
D. The 76 million dollar Gold Rock Creek Film Studio East Grand Bahama
E. The 35 million dollar development in Pitts Town Crooked Island
F. The 243 million dollar resort development n Crab Cay and Little Crab Cay Exuma.
G. The 90million dollar Heads of Agreement to create a Resort in Rum Cay.
H. The 140 million dollar Winding Bay Club at Cheroke Sound Abaco
I. The 300 million dollar redevelopment Cotton Bay Club South Eleuthera.
J. The 75 million dollar investment in Central Eleuthera on Windermere island.
K. Created the Venture Capital Fund for Bahamian entrepreneurs needing a start up seed for their business.
L.
Additionally added 25 million dollars to the Bahamas Development Bank
so as to offer loans at a far less rate than commercial banks for
Bahamian entrepreneurs.
Need More? Here is more…
Prince
George Dock rehabilitated by the purchase and installation of fenders
( replacing giant tractor tiers left in place by the F.N.M. )
The
commissioning of engineering works for the installion of bollards at
Prince George Dock and the resurfacing of the dock along with other
enhancement and security measures including ensuring the Bahamas was
ISPS Code compliant ( IMO mandate )
Phase 1-refurbishment of runway 1432 Nassau International Airport
Phase2
–identified management company and negotiated final agreements to ( a )
manage LPIA and undertake Management of the redevelopment of LPIA in
construction of new terminals .note* this is the largest single project
ever undertaken by the Government of the Bahamas.
To list
everything the P.L.P. had done in five short years would take another
forty eight hours of writing…So for now I will stop here and compare
what the F.N.M. has done in it’s five years to the P.L.P.’s short list
F.N.M. accomplishment 2007-2012
Direct Foreign Investment ( New Projects ) Nil. Nothing! Not one project.
With no new Direct Foreign Investment projects in sight…what did the F.N.M. do in their five years
A, Sold B.T.C. at a give-a-way price.
B, Set the record on murder
C, Out sourced Bahamian jobs
Freeport Businesses closed under the F.N.M.
1. Redwood Motel Port Lucaya
2, Port Lucaya Hotel
3, Lighthouse Point Hotel, Our Lucaya
4,Reef Village Hotel, Our Lucaya
5, Island Palm
6, Ferry House Restaurant
7,East Asian Restaurant
8, Le Dolche Vita Italian Restaurant
9, Discovery Cruise Ship
10, Goombay Park
11, Spirit Airline
12, MSC shipping company
13, Global United
14, Freeport Concrete
15, Grand Bahama Glass Company
16, Consolidated Electric
17, Yahama Dealership
18, The Home Center
19, McDonald Restaurant
20, Grand Bahama Water World Miniature Golf
21, Grand Bahama Bowling Alley
22, Papa John’s Pizza
23, Stone Crab Restaurant
24, Food World Food store.
25, International Distribution
26 Grand Bahama Snack and Bakery
Based on this list, this is really a case for Your F.N.M. government working against you.
