Remarks by PLP Deputy Leader

Philip Brave Davis

Sea Breeze Opening

Friday 17th Feb. 2012 at 7PM

West End Grand Bahama

Grand Bahama, ARE YOU READY?

I asked you Grand Bahama, ARE YOU READY???

Mr. Party Leader and Mrs. Christie

Collegues…

West End and Bimini! Good Evening.

If you’re READY to get rid of this uncaring and vindictive FNM government, let me hear you!

In fact, let Papa hear you.

Let’s tell him and the FNM tonight that it’s time to ring the bell!!!!

Grand Bahama, we know just how bad things have been for you under Ingraham and the FNM.

This is virtually true for the entire country, but the pain, suffering and hardships have been particularly acute for you here in Grand Bahama.

And the truth of the matter is that this need not have been the case if Hubert Ingraham had not purposefully neglected Grand Bahama.

He neglected this island for the past four-plus years for personal reasons that still have not been fully explained to the Bahamian people.

In fact, Ingraham all but admitted at a press conference held in Freeport recently that Grand Bahama was neglected because of a personal feud he had with the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA).

That sounds like a man who does put self before his countrymen and women.

That feud came as a result of his refusal in December of 2009 to renew the work permit of Hannes Babak, the then chairman of the GBPA.

At that press conference, Ingraham announced that he and Sir Jack Hayward, one of the principal owners of the GBPA, were now on good terms because Babak was no longer an issue.

No one man should be that important that the welfare of the residents of Grand Bahama should depend upon whether Hubert Ingraham liked him or not.

He was prepared to neglect and make a whole Island suffer because of one man!

I wonder if he forgot that more than one man can vote!

But after having totally neglected Grand Bahama, and with an election now imminent, Ingraham is deceptively trying to lull you into forgetting that his vindictiveness was primarily responsible for most of the pain and suffering you have had to endure.

You would have noticed that in recent weeks they have announced the start of several projects in Grand Bahama, including the construction of the new fire station in Freeport.

He certainly must think the residents of Grand Bahama are fools.

You must vote them out Grand Bahama and come with the PLP!

A few weeks of promises cannot make up for a five years of suffering!

You must let Ingraham know that such election ploys will not make you forget that his vindictive policies are responsible for the stagnation of Grand Bahama’s economy.

You must let him know that you cannot forget not being able to make mortgage payments and the anguish of losing your homes.

You must let him 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 the decimation of Grand Bahama’s once vibrant middle class sector.

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.

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.

The reality, Grand Bahama, is that they don’t care! If they cared then they would have worked with whomever was in charge at the GBPA and not play games with the lives and livelihoods of Grand Bahamians!

Surely, things could have been so different in a positive way for Grand Bahama if Ingraham had lived up to promises be made shortly after the FNM returned to power in 2007.

Back then, they told you how much potential you had; how much they loved you; how they would never leave you and how much they needed you!

In fact, in 2007, at the opening of International Distributors in Freeport, Ingraham said, “The rate of unemployment and under-employment in Grand Bahama is inexcusable.”

So, if unemployment was “inexcusable” then, what the hell is it now?

At that same event, Ingraham also promised, “We will bring Freeport back.”

Fast-forward five years, and the evidence is quite clear that conditions in Grand Bahama are far worse than when the FNM returned to power.

Grand Bahama, this election will be the most serious that we have seen in perhaps a generation!

There is so much at stake; there is so much to lose!

These are serious times and serious times call for serious leaders!

This is no time for shucking and jiving. This is no time for slack talk and loose thinking; that brand of politics has passed and is no longer relevant.

Yet, Ingraham has taken off his Prime Ministerial hat for that of a petty, simple-minded jester!

His silliness knows no bounds and he will gladly sink to any dept.

He has no shame!

The stakes are high PLPs and those other fellas know it.

I cannot stress enough the importance of these elections enough! In the five short years that the FNM has been in power, we have not only seen record murders, record unemployment, record national debt, but even more seriously than that we have seen the erosion of the average Bahamian’s social standing.

In these five short years thousands of people have been evicted from their homes and thousands have fallen back into the poverty that their grandparents and parents worked so hard to climb out of only a generation or two ago.

This is the Bahamas that Ingraham has delivered and no amount of money that they will pour into the campaign will change this fact.

Grand Bahama!

It is time to do that ting!

We in the PLP need your vote! And we need you to gather everyone you know to register!

Register now and let your voice be heard against this FNM Government!

We must remind them of the hundreds of young people who met their premature end!

We must remind them of the thousands struggling to put food on the table!

We must remind them of the pain business owners feel having to tell their employees that they have to close shop!

We must remind them of the heartache a parent feels when they have to stand outside with their child in order for them to do their homework by the streetlights!

Ours is a serious task! Bahamians are counting on us!

They are counting on us to restore to them what was stripped away.

Yes PLPs, they are counting on us to restore good governance to our beloved country.

We must not let them down.

With your help Grand Bahama, we shall not.

PLP! PLP! PLP!

Thank You, Goodnight and God Bless!