Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Bradley Roberts said FNM Chairman Sidney Collie is “losing his mind.”
Mr. Roberts was responding to Mr. Collie’s comments when he said the PLP “pissed away” billions of tax payers’ money.
While the PLP chairman stated that Mr. Collie is entitled to his personal opinion, he challenged him to provide evidence where billions of dollars were in his words pissed away by the PLP government.
“The Auditor General under Article 136 of the Constitution has audited public accounts and did not find what Mr.Collie is claiming,” Mr. Roberts said.
“The FNM controlled Public Accounts Committee could not in five long years verify Collie’s election eve claims and the Central Bank in all of its monthly and quarterly financial reports could not find these missing billions that Mr. Collie claims.
“Also, the FNM parliamentarians voted for and approved four of the five budgets. They now concede that the budget they voted against was a grave error in judgment because they now realize that VAT is necessary and was the right policy decision. They were slow and late in realizing this but better late than never.
“That said, Collie’s outrageous claim is a figment of his vivid imagination and sick mind. This man is losing it upstairs.”
Mr. Roberts said the FNM administration lacked the courage and political will to implement the much needed tax reform and public finance reform measures necessary to put the government’s fiscal house in order.
“The PLP did and the smooth roll out of VAT continues to attract high praise from international financial agencies of repute like the International Monetary Fund (IMF). VAT also enjoys one of the highest rates of compliance,” he said.
“Since facts matter, it is instructive to note again that the administration of public finances is governed by settled law and to date, no critic of the government has been able to point any violation of any of these laws.
“Many of our people oriented programs like BAMSI, NTA, NHI, UB, doubling the nation’s investment in scholarships, Mortgage Relief, making the CLICO policies whole and Project Sandy Bottom are all necessary because of the PLP’s confidence and competence in making the right decisions for The Bahamas.”
