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Last Updated: Jan 27, 2012 - 3:53:44 AM |
 During
his address at the launch of the Free National Movement’s Grand Bahama
candidates at the Grand Lucaya Resort in Freeport on Sunday, Prime
Minister Hubert Ingraham boasted that the FNM will win all five seats in
Grand Bahama.
Someone quite rightly suggested that Ingraham
“is clearly delusional if he thinks the FNM will sweep Grand Bahama in
2012 and must also believe that he can walk on water.”
Surely,
if the Prime Minister is honest, he must realize that the FNM’s three
“new faces”—Peter Turnquest, candidate for East Grand Bahama; Norris
Bain, Marco City; and Pakeisha Edgecombe, West Grand Bahama and
Bimini--and the two FNM incumbents seeking re-election, Neko Grant in
Central Grand Bahama and Kwazi Thompson in Pineridge, are no match for
the extraordinary slate of candidates who are standard-bearers for the
Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) in Grand Bahama: Dr. Michael Darville,
Pineridge; Gregory Moss, Marco City; Tanisha Tynes, East Grand Bahama;
Julian Russell, Central Grand Bahama; and incumbent Obie Wilchcombe,
West Grand Bahama and Bimini.
The truth of the matter, however,
is that Ingraham knows that there is convincing evidence which suggests
that the FNM will lose all five Grand Bahama seats because of his
government’s uncaring and vindictive policies that have wrecked the
island’s economy. Therefore, with the general election not far away, he
has embarked on a pre-election promotional blitz, with the hope that
there is truth in the saying that “Bahamians have short memories” and
residents of Grand Bahama will forget the high-level of stress and
suffering they have had to endure as a result of his government’s total
neglect of Grand Bahama over the past four-plus years.
This is
what the highly publicized official opening of the new addition to the
Rand Memorial Hospital Wednesday morning was supposed to help
accomplish. We can also expect that there will be another grand opening
for the new government complex on the Mall before the next election.
Further evidence of the pre-election promotional blitz is reflected in
his announcement on Sunday that he is now speaking with Sir Jack
Hayward, one of the principal owners of the Grand Bahama Port Authority
(GBPA), now that Hannes Babak is no longer a topic, noting that they
will now work together on some projects for Grand Bahama. It was
Ingraham’s refusal in December of 2009 of a work permit for Babak, then
chairman of the GBPA, that sparked the feud between him and Sir Jack,
resulting in Ingraham’s refusal to meet with leaders of the GBPA to
discuss ways to revive Grand Bahama’s struggling economy.
Labour Minister Dion Foulkes expanded on Ingraham’s announcement in an
interview with ZNS on Tuesday when he said the government had reached an
agreement with the GBPA that would result in more jobs in Grand Bahama
and an improved economy, noting that the GBPA “has a lot of initiatives
on the drawing board” and “the worst days for Grand Bahama are over.”
It is quite clear that these promises by the Prime Minister and Foulkes
are pre-election ploys aimed at hoodwinking voters in Grand Bahama into
forgetting how badly they were neglected by the FNM over the past
four-plus years.
If GBPA indeed has “a lot of initiatives on
the drawing board,” many of these proposed projects could very well have
been gathering dust over the past two years that Ingraham refused to
speak to Sir Jack. Surely, if the Prime Minister had not been so
spitefully malicious and stubborn during his feud with Sir Jack, Grand
Bahama’s economy would not be in the poor state it is in today and many
of the businesses that had to shut their doors would still be open.
In an excellent commentary recently, Kirkland Russell provided a list
of businesses in Grand Bahama that have closed in recent years, among
them: The Redwood Motel Port Lucaya, Island Palm Hotel, Lighthouse Point
Hotel, Reef Village hotel, Ferry House Restaurant, East Asian
Restaurant Port Lucaya, Le Dolche Vita Italian Restaurant, Freeport
Concrete, Frenistation, Glass Company, The Home Center, GB Snack and
Bakery, International Distributors, McDonalds Restaurant, Grand Bahama
Water World Miniature Golf, and Grand Bahama Bowling Ally.
This
extended list of closed businesses certainly confirms the crippling
effect the FNM’s policies have had on Grand Bahama’s economy. Now we are
being told by Ingraham and Foulkes, with an election on the horizon,
that better days are ahead for Grand Bahama because the Prime Minister
is now speaking with Sir Jack.
Better days are indeed ahead for
Grand Bahama, but under the incoming PLP government, headed by Prime
Minister Perry Christie, who is poised and ready to implement the PLP's
well-thought-out and innovative plans to reduce violence, create jobs,
revive the economy and generally restore good governance to this
country.
And the new government will include five representatives from Grand Bahama.
© Copyright 2012 by thebahamasweekly.com
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