Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) candidate for Carmichael Keith Bell said FNM Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis is “talking fool” in his critical response to the government’s new heads of agreement (HOA) with Baha Mar.
Bell made this comment in a statement yesterday, where he explained that Dr. Minnis “is desperately unhappy that something this big (Baha Mar) and this good is happening for our country.”
Yesterday, Dr. Minnis criticized the HOA, claiming that the Baha Mar deal has “disastrous provisions that will impact The Bahamas for years to come”.
Dr. Minnis said, “The public disclosure of the PLP’s secret Baha Mar is breathtaking in its brazen theft of our country’s assets. The astounding revelations from this disclosure leaves no doubt in anyone’s mind as to why our embattled Prime Minister Perry Christie and his co-conspirator attorney general fought so hard to shroud this deal in secrecy, even going to the courts to seal the contents from public view.
“It’s clear that this corrupt government’s deal is nothing more than a multi-million-dollar theft of the Bahamian peoples’ sovereign rights.”
According to Bell, Dr. Minnis’ criticism “is massive ignorance and malice playing out in real time.”
He explained that Dr. Minnis was invited by the president of Baha Mar to attend the resort’s opening and he refused to go.
“He didn’t go because he would have had to acknowledge that the 1,600 Bahamians working at Baha Mar right now are real. Their jobs are real. Their excitement is real, and what this means for our country is real,” Bell added.
“The young people I know who are working there are furious that Hubert Minnis is playing politics with their jobs.”
Bell noted that Dr. Minnis’ reckless promise to sell Baha Mar, which would incur court cases, stalled progress, and thousands of Bahamian jobs at risk, has infuriated Bahamians.
“The opening of Baha Mar is real,” Bell said. “What is fake is the FNM’s slogan – ‘It’s the People’s Time?’ Please, no one who cared about Bahamians or the reputation of The Bahamas would behave this way.”
