The Leader of the Opposition, Philip “Brave” Davis yesterday said, “the national address of the Prime Minister was a flop and fell flat, just like the hopes and dreams of thousands of Bahamians who were duped by this deceitful Minnis FNM into believing it was their time.”
In a press statement Mr. Davis said, “for the suffering and struggling Bahamians who tuned in to listen to the national address by the Prime Minister, they walked away as hopeless as they were before watching his address.
“In the end, half of Bahamians earning $30,000 or less still cannot make ends meet. The speech changed nothing for them.
“No doubt many of those affected Bahamians turned in, looking for hope and help, only to have those hopes dashed,” said Mr. Davis.
He said,“the Prime Minister presented nothing new, transformative or empowering for the hopeful masses of Bahamians.”
“We abhor the use of scarce government resources to announce routine infrastructure works and general day to day operations such as road paving and construction of public buildings that were long overdue. This comes across as abusive.
“While we welcome the announcement at long last of the construction of the $2.5 million clinic in Ragged Island, I call on the Prime Minister to explain the status of the clinics in Cat Island started under the PLP, but cancelled by the FNM government for no apparent reason.”
The PLP leader said, “the Prime Minister offered no timelines for many of the public projects announced and did not say broadly how his government expects to pay for these big ticket items.”
“I note that in the current fiscal year, revenue collection in down, the government will miss its revenue target by at least $400 million and has intentionally starved national public capital works to meet some elusive deficit target.”
“He now comes to the Bahamian people with an ambitious and aggressive capital works agenda. In light of the forgoing, the Prime Minister does not come across as credible or believable.”
“The Solar Farm at the Thomas A. Robinson National stadium and the carbon war room challenge for renewable energy for our family islands were all negotiated by the last PLP government when then Environmental Minister, Kenwood Dorsett, served as the co-chair of IRENA,” said Mr. Davis.
He said, “many of the projects announced were old PLP projects that the Minnis Government intentionally delayed. The $14.7 million roadworks announced for North Andros is a prime example. Those road works started several program for North Andros including the construction and establishment of BAMSI.
“In Grand Bahama where the FNM won all five seats, last night’s words from the Prime Minister ring hollow. There is a mass exodus of people leaving that island to find work elsewhere in The Bahamas,” said the Cat Island and San Salvador MP.
Mr. Davis appealed to the Government again to ensure that this 2019/2020 national budget works for the Bahamian people and not for foreigners, the FNM donor class and not to appease international agencies.
“Our resilient people deserve much more,” he said.
