Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Fred Mitchell suggested yesterday that the new Ministry of Disaster Preparedness, Management and Reconstruction is headed for disaster.
“So the lousy, no good, lazy, good for nothing FNM has now opened their sick mouths to blow smoke up the prime minister’s derriere after this useless appointment of a minister for disaster. They have risen from the grave to issue a statement today, patting themselves on the back,” Mitchell said.
“Who could have advised the prime minister to name a ministry and the minister, the minister for disaster. It tells you exactly where the ministry is headed.”
In the Free National Movement’s (FNM) statement issued on Monday, the party applauded Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis for his vision to create the new ministry with Central Grand Bahama Member of Parliament Iram Lewis as its minister of state.
“Rather than relying on outside help and foreign aid, our Prime Minister Minnis is leading the way in restoring Abaco and Grand Bahama, planning, executing and ensuring our government has the tools and autonomy it needs to manage a recovery effort as efficiently as possible,” the FNM’s statement read.
The statement also attacked PLP Leader Philip Davis and the PLP’s management of disaster relief during Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
“The old and tired Brave Davis responded to the prime minister’s bold policy announcement just as we would expect the woeful PLP to. They choose misinformation, distraction and political rhetoric rather than focus on how they can help the Bahamian people throughout the recovery,” the statement said.
“The Minnis administration’s vision and strategy in developing this ministry is a far cry from the pitiful disaster relief management after Hurricane Matthew, which was marked by both the PLP’s incompetence and corruption. Bahamians don’t forget the corrupt PLP’s hurricane response record.”
However, Mitchell called the attacks on the PLP’s leader “silly” and said the FNM should realize that Davis is not the issue being discussed.
“The government’s performance is the issue. The stench of death hangs over Abaco weeks after the storm and there is no plan in sight. The issue is that scores if not hundreds of people are dead and unaccounted for when the government of the FNM knew or ought to have known that these people should have been evacuated before the storm,” Mitchell said.
“No amount of self congratulations or crocodile tears, espostulations by their religious boosters and protectors can cover up for the shocking negligence of the government in this storm.
“Now after failing to move the people before the storm and with hundreds still missing and may be dead, the new minister wants to move people out of Abaco. Why should people in Sandy Point leave their homes? The minister does not even know that that part of Abaco was unscathed.
“Philip Davis extended the hand of harmony and peace to the prime minister. The prime minister knocked it away.
“The PLP used its own resources to help the storm victims, visited them in their homes. No one heard from the lousy FNM as a party and now they have the cajones to open their mouths to attack the leader of the PLP who has been generous to a fault.”
According to Mitchell, the PLP and its leaders have delivered relief and “not idle words or blowing political smoke” following Hurricane Dorian.
“They are on the ground,” he said. “The FNM was in hiding.”
Mitchell added that the FNM in its statement violated a court injunction by referring to a case against a PLP member.
“So we hope that the independent judiciary and the independent prosecution service will do their work and invite the FNM leaders to purge their alleged contempt in court,” he said.
