By Licec Bastian
The Office of the Prime Minister chastised the Free National Movement (FNM) branding Opposition leader Michael Pintard and the FNM as delusional.
The FNM leader, just hours before in a statement, had accused Prime Minister Philip Davis and the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) of repeatedly claiming that the government inherited a country in recession, from the previous Minnis-led administration.
Mr. Pintard contends that the PM’s comment “has been factually proven to be a blatant untruth by the National Statistical Institute (NSI).
“Contrary to the Prime Minister’s claim the NSI reported that the PLP came into office while the country was experiencing double digit growth, rapidly recovering from the effects of the pandemic.
“The Prime Minister falsely claimed that the government’s $232 million raid of the country’s reserves via the SDRs was not borrowed funds, only to have the Central Bank’s audited statements expressly list them as a loan to government,” Mr. Pintard said.
However, Prime Minister Davis in response said that the FNM left the country’s economy in an economic mess.
“FNM makes delusional claims that they didn’t leave the country in an economic crisis. Now want to keep tax breaks for foreigners and put the tax burden on Bahamians to clean up their mess.
“Thousands of Bahamians were out of work because of the lockdowns, businesses were on the edge of collapse because they couldn’t operate in the evenings, and hospitals were overcrowded, flooding and crumbling. People were sleeping in their cars, and children were stuck at home, unable to get a proper education.
“The FNM left a debt of $10 billion, having borrowed $2 billion per year without a single road, school, hospital or clinic to show for it.
“And worse, they were planning to inflict massive tax rises on Bahamians to pay for their incompetence, just like they did when, without warning, they jacked up VAT by 60 percent,” a statement from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) said.
Further, the statement noted that the Opposition leader has made factually incorrect accusations against the government’s budget adding that it is the worst kind of hypocrisy as the Davis administration is “still having to clean up the mess they left behind”.
Members of the Davis administration have repeatedly gone on record to state that the FNM administration benefitted the wealth and not the poor.
“But we are not putting the burden onto Bahamian taxpayers, but now the FNM claims that we’re hurting foreigners.
“Every single time a choice has to be made, the FNM favour the rich and the foreigners over ordinary Bahamians,” the statement said.
The statement goes on to note that the Davis administration is making great strides already throughout the Family Islands as was revealed in the prime minister’s budget communication.
“New roads, schools, clinics, and airports are already being built on many islands. Not even a single house. Major investments are bringing Family Island economies back to life.
“The combined GDP of Cat Island, San Salvador, and Rum Cay experienced a remarkable growth of 39 per cent. Exuma experienced significant growth of 33 per cent in its GDP compared to the previous year, and Andros’ GDP reached its highest level in 8 years, with significant growth of 6.2 per cent.
“This is the investment this New Day government is making and will continue to make throughout our country.
“We hope that the quality of the Budget Debate will not be lowered by constantly correcting the facts of the FNM Opposition,” the statement added.
