The Free National Movement is proud of the men and women who have offered to represent us in the upcoming general election. Our leader has led the charge in ratifying the first eight prospective candidates who will help share the FNM’s vision and hold the PLP led government accountable.

Leonard Sands will carry the Torch in Bain Town. This young talented engineer, who leads the Contractors Association is new to front line politics but not new to addressing critical issues that confront Bahamians. Under Bradley Robert’s and the PLP’s leadership Bain Town steadily deteriorated. This trend continued under Dr. Nottage. The success stories in Bain Town are a result of the efforts of ordinary citizens, entrepreneurs and community leaders like Reverend C B Moss. Sands will bring leadership that the community could be proud of as oppose to the shame the now Chairman of the PLP brought before he was forced out of frontline politics.

Several PLP Ministers in government have publicly bemoaned the fact that crime, especially murder, is at an unprecedented level. The FNM’s candidate in South Beach will be Doctoral student Mr. Howard Johnson. He is a conflict resolution expert and is one of the inspirational leaders of his generation. The FNM is attracting credible men and women while talented young men and women are resigning their elected and appointed positions in the PLP Cabinet, House of Assembly and Senate. The PLP has failed to keep its promise to young Bahamians and as a result continue to lose them.

The old nasty style politics of Bradley Roberts is an example of the PLP going backwards rather than forward to the new Bahamas that Dr. Minnis, the FNM and all right-thinking Bahamians are seeking to create.

Frankie Campbell, a former law enforcement officer and diplomat, is suitably qualified to work with other stakeholders in Southern Shores and nationally to effectively implement the FNM’s comprehensive Law and Order programme. He is a refreshing new voice on the national scene and understands the plight of the uniform branches of government intimately. The entire southern belt of New Providence is poised to rid the House of Assembly of the ineffective PLP Candidates that promised plenty but delivered very little. One of the incoming FNM representatives is the young community minded lawyer Don Saunders who will no doubt retire Leslie Miller from frontline politics.

Just recently the country celebrated the induction of Shonel Ferguson into our sports Hall of Fame. This dynamic entrepreneur is passionate about the development of Fox Hill and providing leadership on the ground where people need real help. Nassau Village much like Fox Hill has been neglected by the PLP. Attorney Halson Moultrie has already struck a cord with the many residents who detect his passion, sincerity and common sense ideas on how to deal with the daily challenges they face. Halson is aware that under an FNM government he and his constituents will not be neglected like Dion Smith, Damian Gomez, Picewell Forbes and others were neglected by the PLP.

This government under PLP leadership has stumbled from scandal and controversy to scandal and controversy. The majority of initiatives promised prior to the last general election have not emerged. There is no clear sense of where this administration is taking our beloved country. Self-interest has taken precedence over service to country. For these and other reasons the FNM ratified talented and forward thinking persons like Dr. Duane Sands who understands the complexity of the challenges we face and is bold and insightful enough to make a positive difference. Unlike his counterpart Ryan Pinder, Dr. Sands does not intend to use the people of Elizabeth as a stepping-stone to securing himself personally.

College of the Bahamas lecturer Zendal Forbes has had a lifelong love affair with his home South and Central Andros and will help rescue it from a government who continues to take Androsians for granted. The FNM believes that the years of neglect in Andros must come to an end. Toothless dinosaurs like Bradley Roberts should use what’s left of his voice to speak on behalf of the hundreds of families who have lost love ones to murder. He should advocate for intervention programmes for families ripped apart by drugs including alcohol. He should bark on behalf of women who are in fear because of the frequent robberies and rapes in our community. Roberts and the Prime Minister, for whom he speaks, should raise their voice to lay out a clear plan that would reduce the power bills of struggling Bahamians. As Mr. Roberts spends his time name calling- more and more unemployed Bahamians are crying out for jobs so that they may feed their families and pay school fees for their children who represent our best hope for a better Bahamas.