Dear Editor,
The Free National Movement (FNM) held a rally in Freeport Saturday
night to officially open the Marco City campaign headquarters of their
candidate, Norris Bain, and one of the speakers was current Marco City
MP Zhivargo Laing, who has abandoned that constituency to run for Fort
Charlotte in New Providence.
The occasion provided Laing with an ideal opportunity to publicly let
the voters in Marco City know why he no longer wants to represent them,
but Laing amazingly squandered that opportunity and spent most of his
speech praising Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.
There's no question that Laing owes the voters in Marco City an
explanation as to why he decided to desert them. Knowledgeable sources
in Grand Bahama say Laing made his decision after canvassing the area in
the aftermath of the boundary changes and determined that the support
for PLP candidate Gregory Moss was too substantial for him to overcome.
Laing has also been dogged by a "revival" of the Mona Vie scandal,
which was a hot topic in 2008. The scandal centered around a decision
made by the then Comptroller of Customs John Rolle to properly change
the duty on the importation of Mona Vie, a nutritional drink, from 10
percent to 45 percent and the alleged involvement of Minister of State
for Finance Laing in reportedly seeking to have that decision reversed.
His sister-in-law was one of the importers of Mona Vie.
What's more, Laing may also want to explain why some Bahamas Customs
officers complained to their union about the promotion of his
brother-in-law Milo Stubbs to Assistant Comptroller of Customs. Given
the fact that Laing, who as Minister of State for Finance has
responsibility for Bahamas Customs, charges of rank nepotism have been
suggested by some Customs officers, who question Stubbs' rapid rise to
the position to become Assistant Comptroller.
These issues more likely than not will follow Laing to Fort Charlotte
in New Providence, where I understand he will be soundly defeated by
Dr. Andre Rollins, one of the cadre of future political leaders who are
included in the PLP's slate of candidates.
In any case, there is a consensus that Greg Moss will easily win the
Marco City seat, despite the many promises made at Saturday's rally by
the Prime Minister in an attempt to "hoodwink" and "bamboozle" voters in
Grand Bahama into forgetting that the FNM totally neglected Grand
Bahama over the past four-plus years.
To be sure, the pain and suffering endured by far too many Grand
Bahamians under the FNM are too acute for voters in Grand Bahama to
forget just how bad a government the FNM has been over these past
four-plus years.
Some of the things that voters in Grand Bahama will not forget were
highlighted by PLP Deputy Leader Philip "Brave" Davis in his address to a
massive crowd of PLP supporters at a rally on Friday night in West
End, Grand Bahama, to officially open the campaign headquarters of
incumbent PLP Member of Parliament Obie Wilchcombe.
With an election now imminent, Davis told thousands of cheering PLP
supporters that Ingraham is "deceptively trying to lull" Grand Bahama
"voters into forgetting that his vindictiveness was primarily
responsible for most of the pain and suffering you have had to endure."
Davis advised Grand Bahama voters to let Ingraham know that "his
spiteful policies towards Grand Bahama are mainly responsible for the
island's outrageously high unemployment rate."
"You must let him know that his mean-spirited policies are
responsible for the decimation of Grand Bahama's once vibrant middle
class sector," Davis said. "You must let him know that you cannot forget
that although the FNM has five Grand Bahama MPs, three of whom were
cabinet ministers, they remained totally silent while he neglected Grand
Bahama."
Davis added: "You must let him know that the country's economy
overall would not be in the poor shape it is in if it were not
mismanaged by himself, as Minister of Finance, and his Minister of State
for Finance Zhivargo Laing. You must let him know you cannot forget the
irresponsible and reckless borrowing by the FNM that has skyrocketed
the country's national debt to $4.6 billion. Yes, Grand Bahama, you must
let them know that you are sick and tired of their bad governance and
will vote them out in the next election."
Unquestionably, these are issues voters in Grand Bahama should demand
that FNM candidates provide answers for when they come knocking on
their doors seeking their support.
Yours sincerely,
Oswald T. Brown
