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Last Updated: Apr 5, 2017 - 3:44:14 PM |
 Nassau, Bahamas - Remarks By Thomas Desmond Bannister at S. W. Regional Rally 4th April, 2017:
Mr. Party Leader, this is your Carmichael Team of Champions…..And this one will end with a knockout!
Thank you Carmichael for the wonderful welcome back home.
Thank you for inviting me into your homes.
Thank you for the many hugs and kisses.
Thank you for the love that you have bestowed on me.
Home is where the heart is, and all of you know that my heart is in Carmichael,
I’m also very happy to be here tonight among the Bahamian people.
People who care about our country, and want the best for it.
You are here in the thousands.
So thank you for being here tonight.
My voice is not what it should be tonight.
You see my office is close to the dump, and as a result of the smoke I picked up an infection and had to take lots of medication to clear it up.
I call it DUMPITIS.
Many children in Carmichael and in the Southwest have had their health impaired by that smoke. And I blame this uncaring PLP government for causing so many vulnerable children to suffer from DUMPITIS
But you can’t expect too much from the PLP. They are into DUMPOLOGY, TRASHERNOMICS and GARBOLOGY .
The Minister of Education admitted it himself. He’s the one who says that when he wants to find other people’s confidential personal information he looks in his garbage can!
NOW YOU KNOW WHY THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF OUR CHILDREN CANNOT IMPROVE ON HIS WATCH!
He’s sending a message of irresponsibility to our children! I can see him telling them now: ”Children, when you have important issues to research, don’t bother with the dictionary; don’t waste time with encyclopedias; don’t even bother with Wikopedia….just get on your knees and search through the garbage can. That’s what I do, and I’m the Minister of Education”
It’s disgraceful, just think about it….if they can get the private emails of those rich people, just imagine how much of your private information that their illegal spy agency has collected. This is scary.
Then when the courts give decisions against them, they attack the Judge. Or if they get frustrated, they lose control disrespect all of us by flipping the bird to Bahamians. What a terrible example for our children.
Just remember that a government that does not respect the law or the voters cannot persuade anyone to obey the law.
And this is the same government that went against the democratic vote of the people in the gambling referendum, and then blatantly disobeyed a Supreme Court Order.
All of you will be aware that our police officers work long, hard hours to protect us. They make many personal sacrifices. When you work overtime, you should be paid for it. But this arrogant government refused to pay them, so they had to sue for their money that they were entitled to.
The Supreme Court ruled in favour of the police officers, but instead of paying the police, this PLP government appealed to the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal chased them away. And the PLP still refused to pay our police officers. So Mr. Halkitis we know that the VAT money was not used to pay the police.
Mr. Bell, the man who should have stood up for the police officers, called the court decision a hollow victory. He said that officers were not entitled to the money. Now what type of leader throws his dedicated police officers under the bus? Police officers can never ever trust him again.
Mr. Bell was dead wrong to abandon our police officers them during their time of greatest need. He failed the crucial test of leadership, and in the advance poll the police are gonna show him what’s hollow. Our police officers are voting FNM.
So we have to stamp out the crime in our communities cause we can't rely on this PLP crew to do it. I get annoyed every time I hear them speak about crime. They used it as a political tool to get elected, and now crime has gotten out of hand on THEIR watch. That's our young brothers and sisters being murdered in the streets every day. 13 and 15 year olds brutally murdered? We have fallen to a new low under this government.
I was annoyed when for the first time in my memory the first murder of the year occurred right here in Carmichael. We take pride in our safe communities. We want our children to feel safe and secure when they walk the streets. Yet minutes into the new year a young man in Carmichael had his body riddled with bullets. By the time that our bloody January had ended two more had been brutally murdered in Carmichael, one in a most brazen fashion.
There is blood on our streets, yet PLP Ministers including my opponent are walking around armed with guns to protect themselves and THEIR families.
But what about us? What about you? Who's protecting you and your families? And if they have crime under control like they say, why do THEY need to have guns?
By the way, have any of you ever heard about someone campaigning with an armed police escort? An old lady on Cowpen Road asked me if the man scared of her cause he came campaigning to her house with an armed police escort.
Of course, whenever I speak, I touch on serious issues. The opposition never have an answer. So in response they resort to petty personal attacks. We can expect many of them during this Holy season. However, I remain resolved and sober minded. We have a country to build. It is a job that I take very seriously.
I just want to remind them that my quiet demeanour over the past 5 years in no way meant that I have not been taking notes of everything that’s happening, I’m working among my people in Carmichael, but if anyone wants to take my silence for weakness, then let them bring it on. Still waters run deep.
Now I want you to check the record. Every time that we win Carmichael we win the government. We are on track to win Carmichael big, so the petty personal attacks will come. The big money has already started flowing into Carmichael, but Carmichael residents are sensible. They will not be fooled. This election is too important, and the stakes are too serious. The good thing about this election is that they will not be able to reverse the vote of the people as they did in the gambling referendum.
Our people are hurting. They want answers, and after 5 years this government refuses to provide any transparency. So the Bahamian people have to decide, as the residents of Carmichael have already determined, to throw them out, and to bring in an accountable FNM government.
This irresponsible government refuses to tell us how they are wasting our VAT money, and they continue to waste more every day. St. Vincent Road, for example, is plagued by the crookedest, ugliest sidewalks that you ever saw in your life …one of them the people call “the hill”, and if you see it you’ll know why. You’ll break your legs trying to walk on those sidewalks. The PLP owes Carmichael an explanation: Who built the crooked sidewalks? How much of our VAT money were they paid? When will they be fixed? Will the crooked contractor be made to pay, or will the Bahamian people pay twice for the same job as we were forced to do for BAMSI?
I will guarantee you tonight that we will not be getting any straight answers from this government. They can’t explain the crooked contractors who were paid by crooked politicians to build crooked sidewalks. But I can tell you that in Carmichael your VAT money was spent to build crooked sidewalks.
Where else did your VAT money go? In Carmichael your VAT money went to pay a man to do a job that was way over his head.
The Sir Gerald Cash Primary School is one of the best in the country. Every year it produces outstanding graduates, many of whom are making their mark in our country. Carmichael residents are proud of our school.
Last year after hurricane Matthew this irresponsible government issued a roofing contract to a plumber. He’s a qualified plumber, but roofing is an entirely different matter. His only qualification for a $300,000 roofing job is that he’s a PLP campaign general. So he did what any good PLP would have done….took the job and subcontracted it to his brother. At our cost.
Why wasn’t that contract awarded to one of the many qualified roofing contractors in Carmichael? Any one of them would have done a much better job. Now we have a poorly shingled roof on one of our best schools, and our VAT money was wasted once again.
As I speak, VAT and NEMA money is being wasted by PLP candidates in their desperate attempt to buy this election. But the people are wise to them, so it won’t do them a bit of good.
But enough about their irresponsible conduct. They will soon be gone, and there is much for us to do.
Our young people are frustrated. We have the highest unemployment rate among young people in our history They are hurt. They are angry. They are confused. They have lost confidence in our elected officials. They cry out when they pass all of the tests to be enrolled as Immigration and Customs Officers, but are passed over for less qualified, politically connected persons.
The next FNM government will have to focus on rescuing our young people.
Cypress Gardens is hurting. I have warned two PLP Ministers that a Fish fry won’t fly in Cypress Gardens. It will not be tolerated. The residents took their life's savings to buy their dream homes there. It is quiet and peaceful. They have friendly neighbours and clean streets. Residents will not permit anyone to put a fish fry there. That fish fry is a health and safety hazard. It won’t fly in Cypress Gardens.
Our beautiful parks in Golden Gates, Belair, Flamingo Gardens and Emerald Gardens must be restored. The park in Silver Gates has to be properly constructed so that families can enjoy safe recreational time in their own communities.
Much of the money that is required for these projects have been wasted by this irresponsible government, but I know where some of it can come from without using one cent of VAT money. For five years, Carmichael’s missing in action M.P. has collected in excess of $100,000 that was earmarked for the Constituency Office that he never opened. I’m calling on the Auditor General to audit him, as he audited me when I was in office, and to make him pay back to the Treasury any money that was not spent for the purpose that the law says it should have been spent. That money can better be spent in Carmichael as it was intended.
When we add the Constituency Allowance for the past 5 years, the total jumps to almost half a million dollars. With that money we can refurbish the computer lab in our school; build walking trails in our parks; revitalize our basketball courts; build our baseball programme; pave many of our roads; erect street signs where they have been removed; and build the Silver Gates park.
Our community needs the money to revitalize, recover and restore. But the PLP are so irresponsible that they are now wildly and extravagantly spending money buying and wrapping cars with their faces gloating at us from the streets. I believe they have four in Carmichael alone. Children are going to bed hungry, frustrated and broken. Tens of thousands of Bahamians are unemployed. So many have lost hope; yet this PLP gang is just as arrogant and cocky as ever. Talk about misplaced priorities. Shame on them.
When you see one of them with these fancy campaign cars, ask yourself where did the money come from?
Ask yourself, who is it who wants the PLP to win so badly that they will spend all of that money on fancy cars just for a campaign?
Ask yourself whether you want an M.P. with such misplaced priorities that they will spend money customizing these fancy campaign cars rather than help those in need in our community?
Time is short for this outgoing government.
They have got to go.
© Copyright 2017 by thebahamasweekly.com
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