“Davis Says Over-The Hill Bill Will Only Help Rich” – The Tribune Friday 27 July 2018

Excerpt from this article; “OFFICIAL Opposition Leader Philip Brave Davis yesterday branded the government’s touted Economic Zone Bill 2018 as ‘flawed’, adding the legislation in its current form will only boost the rich at the expense of the poor.

Instead of doing what its title suggests, Mr. Davis said the bill would create special ‘exploitation’ zones.

Speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday, the Progressive Liberal Party leader said the legislation fell ‘dangerously short’ of addressing the structural deficiencies of Over-the-Hill communities and did not do enough to tend to the lack of education, with which many there are challenged.

Before Davis’s critique, Tall Pines MP Donald Saunders blasted the opposition claiming their criticisms of the legislation were because the PLP felt its base being threatened.

He said for an organization that constantly spoke about the love for the poor and disenfranchised, the party had not done enough to help those in this category.

However, when Mr. Davis spoke he questioned several aspects of the Economic Empowerment Zone Bill.  He said it was more likely that wealthy investors would take advantage of its many concessions, which will ultimately adversely affect the very people who need assistance.

‘I recognize, Mr. Speaker, the urgent need to respond to the challenges of these communities,’ Mr. Davis said yesterday during his contribution to the debate.

‘We need a durable long-term solution to this situation.  However the prime minister’s highly touted concept of special economic zones is flawed, this Bill is flawed.’

‘Its chief flaw is that it offers further enrichment to the rich at the expense of the poor.  This initiative is what I call the cart before the horse.  It dangerously falls short of addressing the structural challenges plaguing the Over-the-Hill communities,’ Mr. Davis said.”

So while the Member of Parliament for Englerston is spreading misinformation that the constituency that she represents has been left out of the initial zone suggesting that she has been discriminated against, Mr. Davis is attempting to make a case for why he feels the entire initiative is a bad idea and at the same time admitting that these areas that were once considered Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) strong-holds for decades are failing and that they [the ] Progressive Liberal Party] have failed them even after promising to invest in them.

It is amazing the manner in which Mr. Davis addresses the issue of the Economic Empowerment Bill, while attempting to “stand strong” for the people that actually live in an improvised state because he and his party have basically said there is nothing much that they could do or should do to help these people better their standard of living, this is evident in the statement; “The Over-the-Hill community and economic woes are long-standing and have been exacerbated by education and economic woes”, when exactly did Mr. Davis notice these problems?

I would suggest that he questions the viability of the Urban Renewal and Urban Renewal 2.0 programs to find the answers to the questions to find these answers.

While Mr. Davis looks for the answer to these simple questions, I would like to say of the Over-the-Hill Empowerment Bill, which Mr. Davis sees as the sky falling, here is an  opportunity for the persons in these areas who have moved out and left properties abandoned, to now come back and become owners of the economy by investing in generation properties. 

Now is the time for Bahamian citizens too band together and take full advantage of this opportunity, to improve their lives and the well-being and environments of the Over-the-Hill communities.

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