There is a saying that you must remember your lie and stick to it; I think that the government is in desperate need of counseling on perpetrating lies; they tell a lot but just cannot seem to keep up with them from day to day.

Each time that the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government has failed the people of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas through their sheer incompetence and ineptitude and have had their shortcomings highlighted, they have accused others of playing ‘politics’, this is a shameless act perpetrated by a government that has mastered the art of playing politics with the lives of the Bahamian people.

“Gibson: FNM is exploiting cuts – Party ‘trying to play politics over Sandals job losses’ – The Tribune

Excerpt from this article; “The Free National Movement (FNM) is attempting to make the termination of more than 600 Sandal Royal Bahamian employees political despite sending thousands to the unemployment line when the party was last in office, Labor Minister Shane Gibson has told The Tribune.

While the opposition plays ‘political games’ with the lives of the redundant workers, Mr. Gibson said the government is trying to get many of them as possible rehired by the hotel.

During an interview yesterday, Mr. Gibson called the situation ‘unfortunate’ as an industrial agreement was not in place at the time of the redundancies.

Asked to respond to criticism that the Christie administration was blindsided by Sandals’ decision, the minister said there were labor laws in place and the government cannot start a precedent of dictating to private sector business owners how to conduct their affairs.”

Clearly Minister Gibson has forgotten the entire Baha Mar Saga and why that $3.5bn property is sitting unopened on Cable Beach but we will get back to that.

Let us begin with the minister’s claim of the situation being ‘unfortunate’ and ask yourself while it is unfortunate was it avoidable?  And remember that you are dealing with a person, in Minister Gibson that ‘cut his political teeth’ dealing with unions and labor issues.

“Gibson blasts Sandals as 600 lose their jobs” – the Tribune, 16^th August 2016

Excerpt from this article; “Labour Minister Shane Gibson said his ministry was given very little notice by Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort of its decision to make more than 600 employees redundant yesterday so it could conduct renovations.

However, Mr. Gibson’s suggestion was denied by a source connected with Sandals who told The Tribune that high-ranking officials of the resort informed Prime Minister Perry Christie of the intention to make employees redundant.

‘It was with deep disappointment that the Minister of labour received a letter from Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort, informing us that the contracts of more than 600 employees would be terminated today as a result of Sandals’ closure,” Mr. Gibson said during a communication in the House of Assembly yesterday.

‘My ministry first learned of the closure on Tuesday, August 1, with the rest of the country when information was leaked to the media and printed in the local newspapers.  I requested a meeting with officials from Sandals on August 3.

‘We met with Chief Executive Officer of Sandals Resorts International Adam Stewart as well as members of the executive and legal teams.  During that meeting, we asked them to consider laying employees off instead of making then redundant.  They told us that they would consider this suggestion and get back to us within 24 hours.  However, after not hearing from them, my ministry wrote Sandals a letter in August 4, requesting the resort’s lastest position and further details on the porposed closure. ‘Sandals has yet to respond to my ministry,’ Mr. Gibson added, ‘Instead resort representatives wrote the attorney general and copied the Ministry of Labour on Friday, August 12, informing us of their decision.”

Theoretically, what Sandals has done is against the law, theoretically Ministry Gibson knows exactly what they are doing and have done and theoretically he could have and should have acted against such a course of action being able to come to pass but he has not but yet wishes only now to offer excuses for his ineptitude; this within itself is just as much as a slap in the face as Sandals, days after firing 600 person, then posting in the dailies that they are about to have a job fair; isn’t anyone serious anymore? And how do people get away with such blatant acts against the Bahamian people with such a ‘labor friendly’ government of the people in charge?  This is utter madness.

Now we will a wait for the minister to have these people rehired why he also finds jobs for the 5,000 misplaced by the ineptitude of his government’s action at Baha Mar.

The Progressive Liberal Party fails for one reason, it is their nature.

END