In one of the most shameless attacks since the Bahamas Information Services (BIS) fell back into the hands of the present Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government and has been used to pump out some out of the most outlandish and propaganda; the Deputy Director, Elcott Coleby has put what would be can only be termed as ‘laughable nonsense’, if the matter were not so grave.

It is fact that the Bahamas Information Services (BIS) is used by the government of the time to spread its ‘message’; as is ZNS but there has to be limits, even if they are only moral limits to the level of rubbish that any Bahamian government should will attempt to impose in its people.

“Dr. Minnis ‘thief of our birth right’ comment unclear”

Elcott Coleby, Deputy Director of Bahamas Information Services

Excerpt from this article; “FNM Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis on Wednesday renewed his call for PM Perry Christie to reveal whether he supports the proposed $2.1 billion agri-fisheries venture with Chinese investors, as he said Mr. Christie’s ‘stony silence’ may well ‘go forward with this theft of our birthright.’  Dr. Minnis is on record as calling the proposed investment venture secret and lacks transparency.

He was speaking at the ratification ceremony at the FNM Headquarters.

It is important to note that all the genesis, the facts and the documentation surrounding this investment initiative are all a matter of public record.  The announcement of the $35 billion fund earmarked for CARICOM by the President of the Peoples Republic of China is matter of public record; the announcement was made over four years ago in Trinidad and Tobago during the CARICOM-CHINA Summit.  The draft paper ‘for discussion only’ prepared and submitted by the Bahamas Ambassador to China to Agriculture Minister the Hon. Alfred Gray has been published in its entirety in the local newspapers.  The authorization letter submitted by Mr. Gray to pursue this economic oppurtuinity was also published.  The Ambassador shared both documents with the Bahamas National Trust (BNT), BREEF and a number of local stakeholders as part of his consultation to solicit the input of the industry stakeholders, I note that consultation with stallholders by its very definition denotes transparency so the charge of secrecy appears to be at odds with the facts as we know them.”

First question here is who is “we”? because it would appear that Minister Gray was not privy to the facts as ‘we know them’ because he first admitted to them and then changed his mind and went on to deny them; it makes it seems as if ‘someone’ is being less than truthful with the Bahamian people.

“Hours after Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources V. Alfred Gray acknowledged to reporters that he gave the go-ahead for the Bahamas Embassy in China to have discussions with the Chinese government on the $2.1 billion proposal for and agri-fisheries project, Gray claimed in a statement that The Nassau Guardian’s story detailing the proposal was ‘utterly false,’

In spewing his propaganda, which could be only in an attempt to deflect from the true issue at hand, the writer of this piece gets lost in his very own rhetoric; the central issue is what did the Prime Minister know and when did he know it? The writer goes off on same strange tangent of; “To ask the Prime Minister, the head of the cabinet, to make a policy decision based on the suggestion of a civil servant is unfair and inconsistent with the manner in which informed public policy is formulated at the cabinet level.’   Are they both not civil servants?

Okay let me ease the tension here and clear some of the confusion in Mr. Colbely’s mind on this issue; Did the Minister of Finance aware of the fact that someone in his cabinet was looking to ‘cut a $2.1 billion deal’ with the Chinese?

This is not the first time that this particular minister flip-flopped on the explanation to perceived malfeasances on his behalf; because he did the same thing when he was accused of interfering in a judicial matter of one of his constituents.

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

END