Abandoning Crooked Island as Peter Turnquest suggested is a non starter for the PLP and exposes the FNM’s “warped” and “erratic” reasoning surrounding the development of The Bahamas.

Just as The Bahamas enjoys the benefits of being a one hundred thousand square mile multi destination playground paradise for many; nestled between North and South American continents and in the middle of one the premier international shipping lanes, it also happens to be in the hurricane belt and any one of our major islands can be hit by a catastrophic hurricane or tornado at any given time.

Obviously Turnquest has a short memory because it was just a decade ago that Frances, Jane and Wilma decimated Grand Bahama, causing extensive damage to the public infrastructure, the tourism plant and the commercial plant. Should we have abandoned Grand Bahama in 2005? Absolutely not!

Hurricane Andrew severely impacted New Providence and even Abaco was hard hit during the 1990’s so during any given hurricane season, any of the major islands of The Bahamas can be negatively impacted by an act of God. We have seen and tracked Hurricanes that have developed off the west coast of Africa, within the Caribbean Basin and in the Gulf of Mexico because of climate change. Further, irregular weather patterns in recent years have defied existing computer models so it is not possible to predict which island will be impacted.

The Bahamas is best served by fortifying its infrastructure and utilizing the natural resource strengths of each island to harness and maximize the full economic and human potential of the entire Bahamas.

Unlike the FNM, the PLP government has not for a moment considered abandoning Crooked Island or any of the other impacted islands in our southern chain. Prime Minister Christie has fully acknowledged that the road to full recovery will be long and challenging but with the resilience, “strength and the indomitable spirit” of the Bahamian people, we as a nation will emerge stronger.

While the FNM is quick to go all wobbly in the knees, lose faith and cut and run - essentially bailing out on the Bahamian people at the first sign of a national challenge, the PLP will stay the course with the Bahamian people and rebuild our islands together.