Nassau, Bahamas - The following is a Progressive Liberal Party press statement:
Try as they may to duck, dodge, avoid and deflect from
the significant role the Free National Movement government played in creating
the national mess they left behind on May 7th 2012, Mr. Cash and the
FNM are reminded that they were removed from office for their incompetence and
poor stewardship of the Bahamian economy.
The FNM inherited a robust and thriving economy in 2007,
but through a series of policy missteps, they successfully accelerated the country’s
economic decline. Their policy of tax and spend failed miserably and the FNM
allowed political spite to drive their economic and investment policies to the
detriment of thousands of Bahamian families. The decision to defer and delay
viable projects hurt the economy and made the recession worse. Further, the FNM
government was unable to secure new capital injection to stimulate the local
economy and government spending was unsustainable.
Public projects designed to stimulate the economy were
woefully mismanaged and the Bahamian people did not receive value for money.
The New Providence Road Improvement; the jump start business assistance program
and the Fifty-two Week Jobs Training Program are a few examples of the wanton
wastage of scarce public resources by the FNM. The PLP calls on the government
to hold public hearings on the administration of these programs in the public
interest. Mr. Cash should welcome these investigations as transparency and
accountability are two of the principle pillars of a functional democracy and their
applications do not a witch hunt make.
Having spectacularly failed the Bahamian people on virtually
every key performance indicator, Mr. Cash and the FNM now want the Bahamian
people to quickly forget their atrocious governance of the country. He now vigorously
defends his party’s policy on BTC – a policy he publically scorned and repudiated
just recently. The low prices and superior services promised by the FNM and its
cabinet Ministers never materialized in the wake of the national giveaway yet
Mr. Cash continues in his defense of the indefensible.
As for the PLP government, the official record reveals
that almost 2,000 jobs were added to the economy between May and October of last
year or during a six months period; this is good news. This places the PLP on
pace to create well over 20,000 jobs in its current term. We applaud the
government’s pro-growth strategy, no new taxes in the first two fiscal years and
its bold new initiative to broaden the tax base, effectively bringing about a
fairer tax distribution system. These initiatives will no doubt reposition the
economy of The Bahamas for long term economic recovery, sustained growth, improved
revenue performance and prosperity for all Bahamians.
