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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
 Nassau, Bahamas - Commentary by Bradley B Roberts National Chairman, Progressive Liberal Party on August 22nd 2016:
Neko Grant, the FNM Member of Parliament for Central Grand Bahama announced on Sunday, the 21stAugust 2016 that he would not seek his party’s nomination in the 2017 General Election after 24 years in public life.
Firstly, I take grave exception to Mr. Grant categorizing The Bahamas as a “country in crisis” in 1992 and in need of deliverance. I know this to be a convenient FNM fabricated talking point that the official record does not agree with. The record clearly shows that tourism expenditure in 1992 was at its highest level at that point in our history, suggesting that economically The Bahamas had turned the corner and had weathered the global recession brought on in part by the gulf war. The record also shows that the Atlantis resort project was in progress but delayed by global geopolitics.
I fully accept the “reap and sow” principle that is the reality of politics and the FNM was simply in the right place at the right time and benefitted from the “heavy lifting” of the PLP, namely Atlantis at the bar, the 1989 $105 million Family Island electrification program and the $120 million education infrastructure upgrade program, executed in 1990. The FNM however was no knight in shining armor saving the proverbial day; that is simply a figment of Mr. Grant’s imagination.
The PLP Sowed and the FNM reaped…no more…no less!
If Mr. Grant was honest, he would readily agree that on the social front, serious crime and especially murder accelerated between 1992 and 2002 while the FNM was busy promoting its “make your own sunshine” policy where a large segment of the population, the most vulnerable among us, were left behind and The Bahamas is reaping the whirlwind from this failed FNM social policy (or the lack thereof) to this day. The social crisis worsened under the watch of the FNM. Mr. Grant need only check the statistics and be guided accordingly instead of trying to rewrite and gloss over history with catchy and glib one- liners.
Turning my attention to Mr. Grant’s tenure as public works and transport minister, he mentioned his involvement in the New Providence Road Improvement Project (NPRIP) as a significant achievement but failed to acknowledge and apologize for his role in this poorly executed, devastating, destructive and painful exercise this project was for too many Bahamian businesses and workers and the quality of life for literally thousands of Bahamians.
Bahamians vividly recall that at the signing of the contract on 15thDec 2008 with Jose Cartellone Construction Company, the Minister of Public Works and Transport Neko Grant assured the motoring public that his Ministry “will monitor the project to ensure that it is completed on time so that there would be minimal discomfort and inconvenience to the public.”
Mr. Grant also assured the motoring public that his Ministry “will monitor the project to ensure that it is completed on time so that there would be minimal discomfort and inconvenience to the public”.
He specified that “the Contractor shall so conduct his operations as to offer the least possible obstruction and inconvenience to the public and he shall have under construction no greater length or amount of work than he can properly manage at a time with due regard to the rights of the public in maintaining a free flow of traffic.”
The Bahamian public now knows that all of those promises and assurances were not worth the paper they were written on. As a result of this blatant lack of enforcement by the FNM Government and the Ministry of Works under Neko Grant’s superintendence, the obstruction to public access and the inconvenience to the motoring public and business operations throughout New Providence were massive and constant.
The Contractor demonstrated no regard for time management or the capacity of the workload given the terms and conditions of the IDB loan and the enforcement assurances given by the FNM government via their Minister, Mr. Grant. The result was a disaster with the project exceeding its budget by some $100 million and its deadline.
Many failed businesses and countless job losses resulted from this project debacle. Thanks to the new 2012 PLP Administration, just reparations were made to businesses negatively impacted by the road works as a show of government accountability and good will.
Mr. Grant’s management incompetence granted him immortality in the hit song “The Roads Dem Dig Up Dig Up.” He will also forever be likened to the cartoon character Mister Magoo because of his constant and failed attempts to persuade Bahamians to see the road works debacle through his rose colored glasses.
Grant’s tenure as Minister of Tourism for one year was lackluster and the industry’s performance results during his tenure affirm his ranking to be on par with that of former Tourism Minister Brent Symonette and his failed “Hip to Hop” tourism and travel campaign that was mercifully euthanized.
That said we wish Mr. Neko Grant well as he moves away from front line politics; the Bahamian body politic could not get much worse and history cannot be justifiably kind to his legacy.
© Copyright 2016 by thebahamasweekly.com
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