Bahamian Politics
PLP Chairman responds to Nassau Guardian Editorial - Apr 18, 2018 - 2:45:34 PM

The Guardian gets worse and worse every day. Their regard for the truth, their inability to decipher fact from fiction erodes every day. They need to hire themselves out as the official propaganda rag of the Free National Movement. They have outdone even The Punch.

Their latest unhinged, prejudiced broadside  against the PLP is  their editorial of 18 April which says that we should  be quiet and not answer the nonsense that is spewed by the  various spokesman for the Government from the Prime Minister on down, simply because we lost an election last year...

Bahamian Politics
DNA: The Bahamas must plan beyond the EU Blacklist - Apr 18, 2018 - 9:43:58 AM

The decision of the European Union Code of Conduct Group (COCG) to recommend to the Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) Council that The Bahamas should be removed from the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes is a welcome development. The announcement that our removal from the blacklist is expected to be approved and made official by the ECOFIN Council by May 25, 2018 is good news.

The short period of time between the inclusion of The Bahamas on the infamous blacklist and the COCG's recommendation for The Bahamas' removal suggests that we ought not to have been placed on the list in the first place...

Bahamian Politics
Leader of the Opposition responds to PM's comments abroad - Apr 17, 2018 - 4:15:09 PM

"The Prime Minister just does not know what to say when speaking on our behalf overseas. He has been to South America and now in Europe and at each stop along the way, he told the world that The Bahamas is a corrupt place in which to do business.

This bad mouthing of our country shows that common sense is not common. To support his unfounded allegations of a corrupt country, he claimed that 200 million dollars was lost to corruption..."

Bahamian Politics
Leader Of The Opposition responds to The House Communication by The Deputy Prime Minister - Apr 15, 2018 - 12:31:30 PM

Statement From The Office Of The Leader Of The Opposition in response to The House Communication by The Deputy Prime Minister Seeking An Apology From The Leader Of The Opposition 15 April 2018:

Upon my return to the country on Friday 13 April, I learned that the Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest took advantage of my absence from the House on 11 April to raise a controversial communication purportedly answering statements made by me by way of a press release relating to his conduct as Minister of Finance...

Bahamian Politics
PLP Chairman on Sandilands Primary Pre School - Apr 15, 2018 - 8:21:50 AM

The Ministry of Education must explain why it has not approved the generous offer of a private citizen to design and build a brand new administration building for the Sandilands Primary School in Fox Hill. That citizen had also agreed simultaneously to retrofit the existing administration building to accommodate a 40 child preschool.

I am forced to bring this to the attention of the Minister given a recent photograph published by him of children welcoming him to a preschool. The children of Fox Hill would love to have the opportunity to do so as well...

Bahamian Politics
Leader of the Opposition responds to Turnquest - Apr 8, 2018 - 8:13:14 PM

Statement from the Office Of The Leader of the Opposition on Peter Turnquest’s attack on The Opposition Leader about the FNM’s Borrowing Habits 8 April 2018:

Peter Turnquest’s ad hominem and highly emotive attacks on me and the PLP for holding the FNM government’s feet to the fire smacks of arrogance and desperation. He must account for the government’s stewardship of the people’s scarce resources in pure policy terms. To date, the FNM government has not been forthright, transparent or accountable to the Bahamian people...

Bahamian Politics
DNA: Who has the horse in the OBAN race? - Mar 23, 2018 - 12:37:21 PM

As the week comes to a close, the Bahamian people must be suffering from flashbacks to 2012 of the first year in governance of the PLP and the failed Gambling Referendum.  At that time, the Prime Minister assured that there was “NO HORSE IN THE RACE” from his administration, but in the end, scores of Bahamians believed otherwise.

In similar fashion, The Oban revelations have caught the Minnis Administration in a web of inaccuracies, half truths, misstatements and fraud. The most unsettling part is that the revelations are still coming...

Bahamian Politics
PLP Chairman in response to Tribune questions on Shanty Towns - Mar 23, 2018 - 4:30:33 AM

Statement from The Office Of The Chairman Of the PLP Opposition Spokesman On Immigration in response to Tribune questions on Shanty Towns:
   
Dion Foulkes will soon test the limits of political reality when he attempts to raze the shanty towns in The Bahamas. The whole pronouncement with great fanfare going  into Abaco with a large delegation of adoring...

Bahamian Politics
Address by Philip Brave Davis at Sadie Curtis Primary School - Mar 22, 2018 - 8:43:21 PM

Nassau - Address by Hon. Philip “Brave” Davis, Q.C., M.P. Leader of the Official Opposition Leader of the Progressive Liberal Party on the occasion of A Public Meeting; Thursday, 22th March 2018, 7:00 p.m. at Sadie Curtis Primary School:

Salutations: To My Parliamentary Colleagues ....

Good Evening, PLPs!

Tonight, we welcome people around the country watching and listening to this event via social media platforms...

Bahamian Politics
Senator Fred Mitchell on The Fox Hill Community Centre - Mar 21, 2018 - 6:03:34 PM

From The Office Of Senator Fred Mitchell PLP Caretaker for the Fox Hill Constituency a Personal Statement On Fox Hill The Community Centre March 21:
 
I ask the people of Fox Hill who are the owners of the Centre to focus on the following:
 
The Fox Hill Community Centre is a privately owned facility established as a not for profit corporation by the late George Mackey in and around 1990. It is governed by an independent Board of Directors and the government has no role in its governance.
 

Bahamian Politics
The Leader Of The PLP on PM's Oban Energy Statement in The House - Mar 21, 2018 - 12:19:24 PM

I am appealing to all PLP supporters and right thinking men and women of goodwill not to be misled or confused by the mishmash of words and the juxtaposition of rewriting history that was the tale told by the Prime Minister in the House of Assembly on Oban Energy and his decision to conclude an agreement with them. What a web weaved in the House by the Prime Minister on 20 March.
 
Firstly, this is not about the Progressive Liberal Party.  The PLP did not sign an agreement with Oban. The record is clear.  It is the FNM who signed a Heads of Agreement with Oban...

Bahamian Politics
Senator Fred Mitchell response to House comments by The Immigration Minister - Mar 20, 2018 - 9:14:53 AM

Statement By Senator Fred Mitchell Opposition Spokesman on Immigration responding to Minister Brent Symonette’s statements in The House on Immigration:

The PLP has not seen the details of the proposals on immigration by the Minister for Immigration.  Judging, however, from what is reported in the press, the question must be asked: why would the Government waste time on an amendment to the immigration laws to grant permanent residence with the right to work to those who miss the application deadline for citizenship beyond their 18th birthday...

Bahamian Politics
Office of PLP Chair on immigration hires - Mar 14, 2018 - 11:55:53 PM

It is sad that ten months after the General Election the Public Service Minister cannot simply do his job and have the letters of appointment issued to the immigration  trainees who are working every day to defend this country.

Yesterday his statement to the House complaining about how they were hired left many of them depressed and dispirited. Even those who have letters of appointment were denied a passing out parade to show their friends and family...

Bahamian Politics
DNA: EU Blacklist - Did the Government drop the ball? - Mar 13, 2018 - 12:00:53 PM

The Bahamas was today added to the European Union’s list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes (blacklist). The blacklisting of The Bahamas was carried out despite last minute efforts by the Government to prevent this adverse action by the EU and following an initial exemption from the screening process due to the impact of hurricanes on the Caribbean region in 2017.

In its press release announcing the addition of The Bahamas to the infamous list, the EU stated that The Bahamas “failed to make commitments at a high political level in response to the EU’s concerns”...

Bahamian Politics
DNA: EU Blacklist - Time to change our approach - Mar 12, 2018 - 1:00:54 PM

The recent announcement that The Bahamas is at risk of being included on the European Union’s list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes (blacklist) is both surprising and disappointing. According to media reports, the Code of Conduct Group (COCG) intends to recommend to the Council of the EU, the inclusion of The Bahamas on this infamous list.

In the aftermath of the recent efforts made by the Government to avoid the blacklisting of our nation, it is clear that the age-long practice of international and multilateral agencies continuously moving the goal post is still alive...

Bahamian Politics
DNA: Government must terminate Fraudulent Heads of Agreement - Mar 5, 2018 - 7:55:06 PM


For weeks now, the Oban Energies melodrama has played out in the media. Each week, new revelations have been unearthed tearing away at the credibility of both the company and more importantly, this inept Minnis administration, which failed on multiple fronts to maintain the confidence of the Bahamian people in this and future foreign direct investments. Rather than attempting to adequately address the lingering concerns of environmentalists and the wider population, the Prime Minister and his cabinet have often become defensive with members of the press and others who have dared to suggest that the deal in question is not in the best Interest of the people of the Bahamas...

Bahamian Politics
DNA: Feed a Nation, Free a Nation - Mar 1, 2018 - 3:38:42 PM

A nation’s ability to feed its citizens is by far one of the most important markers of true development. At a time when our regional counterparts have managed to position and market themselves as exporters of produce, fruit and vegetables, the Bahamas has remained nothing more than a consumer. Sadly, here at home, successive governments have paid only lip service to the idea of agricultural development. Now, it appears that this visionless Minnis administration is hell bent on continuing the trend. Like other Bahamians, we in the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) were shocked to hear the PM gush about the possibility of having products grown in Haiti on his plate...

Bahamian Politics
PLP Chairman on Tribune inquiry on morgue in Cat Island - Mar 1, 2018 - 2:31:35 PM

The following statement comes in answer to a question put by Morgan Adderley of The Tribune on the morgue in Cat Island and related issues. The MP for Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador the Hon. Philip Davis has authorized the following statement:

The situation with the morgue should be properly addressed to the FNM administration. There were provisions for a morgue in the construction of the new clinic which had begun under Mr. Davis' superintendence as Works Minister...

Bahamian Politics
Statement by the PLP Chairman on the CARICOM Inter-Sessional Meetings - Feb 26, 2018 - 5:10:20 PM
From The Office of  The Chairman of The Progressive Liberal Party on The Caricom Intersessional Meeting Feb 26:


It appears that the Free National Movement and the Prime Minister who leads their party has finally caught on to the need for there to be international contact and exposure. They came to office with shocking ignorance of the ways the world but now are flying into international meetings apace with large delegations which they criticised while in Opposition.

The Caricom meeting is amongst the most important in our international engagements. The relationship with Haiti is also an important one. We hope the FNM finally gets it...

Bahamian Politics
Remarks at PLP Rally by Chester Cooper, Exumas and Ragged Island MP, PLP Deputy Leader - Feb 15, 2018 - 2:26:31 PM

Remarks at PLP Rally, Chester Cooper, Exumas and Ragged Island MP, PLP Deputy Leader  February 15, 2018:

It’s incredible to be here tonight to see so many PLPs who will stand up for what is right!

I hope that today, in the aftermath of what went down in the House of Assembly yesterday, Bahamians of political persuasions can see that democracy and due process are under assault in this country.

The four members of the opposition went to Parliament in attempt to do something extremely straightforward – have the speaker of the House of Assembly removed for his complete lack of impartiality and flagrant abuse of the rules of the House...