The leader of the Progressive Liberal Party, Philip Davis says the disparaging reference to Sir Lynden Pindling in the budget address of Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis “nothing short of despicable.”
Mr. Davis said, “while Bahamians hoped against hope for a budget presentation by the Prime Minister that would address their disappointment in his government and their increasing misery, like his national address, the Prime Minister flubbed it again, making his presentation more about his obsession with the PLP than the concerns of ordinary Bahamians.
“His message fell flat because he is a stranger to the truth. His account of hospital repairs and especially the children’s ward in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew is a bold faced lie and this statement must be withdrawn forthwith and struck from the hansard.
“Another outrageous lie told by the Prime Minister was that the PLP government reduced the scholarship allocations. To the contrary, the PLP government increased the scholarship allocations.
“His disparaging reference to the father of the nation to score cheap political points is nothing short of despicable. The Prime Minister as do many of his FNM colleagues sit where they are today because of the vision and fight of Sir Lynden and the principled stance he took against the dreaded UBP and the ruling oligarghy of the day.
They all owe Sir Lynden a debt of gratitude as Brent’s father, Sir Roland, would have had the course of our history travel in a very different direction.
It then stands to reason by the general public – what else is the nation’s Leader lying about or whether anything in his budget presentation credible or remotely believable for that matter?
“Further, the people of Grand Bahama saw no help and have lost hope even as our brothers and sisters to the south, the entire island of Inagua, a company town, remain in a state of panic under the looming threat of a worker lockout, effecting shutting down the economy of that island.
“Inagua saw no hope or felt optimism in this Prime Minister’s uninspiring presentation,” said the Opposition leader.
He said, “As tens of thousands of hotel workers ready themselves for an industrial strike, the Prime Minister continues his false and error-riddled narrative about PLP corruption and mismanagement, descending into the irrelevance of the 1980’s, all as deflection from the current abysmal performance of his government.
“Obviously lost on this Prime Minister in the midst of his political bluster was the judicial condemnation of two of his ministers; growing unemployment; stagnent wages; the increasing cost of living and the fact that his policies of tax hikes, mass separations, cronyism, self dealing, refusal to pay contractors and a dogged pursuit of an elusive fiscal deficit target have all contributed to misery, discontent and dissatisfaction Bahamians have with this administration.”
Mr. Davis in a statement yesterday said, “none of these critical issues that are important to everyday ordinary Bahamians were resolved or for that matter adequately and directly addressed by the Prime Minister.
“Further, much of the Prime Minister’s debate content were essentially recycled material from the past two budget communications and funding of much of what he promised cannot be readily found in the budget heads.
These promises will be vigorously tested during the committal stage of the debate.
“This is sad and highly unfortunate because many of these issues and the general malaise were the direct result of actions or inaction by this Prime Minister and his maladministration.
“Nobody is listening to or buying what this Prime Minister or his government is selling any more, “ Mr. Davis said.
