It really must be something in the water or maybe it is the heat of it all but it would seem that some people have ‘lost it all’.

“PLP calls for public demonstrations over blackouts” – The Nassau Guardia

Excerpt from this article;”Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Fred Mitchell yesterday said he is ‘embarrassed’ by repeated power outages across New Providence and called for public demonstrations to hold the government accountable on the matter.

‘The government must as early as tomorrow in the Senate make a public statement about why they can’t keep the power on,’ he said.

He added, ‘The FNM has failed us.  It is time for demonstrations to bring this government into account.  They must answer for their falsehoods and say what is happening,’

‘It is embarrassing today in a church service with the minister responsible for electricity present and the church was plunged into darkness,”

As the Chairman and Senator of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) seems so quick to put pen to paper, it would appear that he did so without any forethought or maybe he just hopes that the Bahamian public are not just forgetful but also dumb and ignorant.

First, Mr. Mitchell would make it appear as if the vexing problem of power outages due to load shedding by BPL, formerly BEC, has only just began under this Free National Movement (FNM) administration.  This seems to be his devious way of promoting what is tantamount to a lie.  The problem of blackouts due to load shedding has been a very vexing problem spanning decades and successive governments; even the last two Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) administrations of which Mr. Mitchell was a Cabinet Minister.  Doing both terms little to nothing was done to alleviate the problem, due to this fact he should be ashamed to even address this situation but it a desperate need to remain relevant by remaining in the news it would appear that Senator Mitchell does not care about  the role that he played in actually assisting this situation deteriorate to this present point.

My other point, which Mr. Mitchell fails to address as he gets up on his soap-box and advocates for “public demonstrations”, is that even as he thinks to put out this rubbish, the situation has been addressed and action has been taken to bring about the necessary relief to the problem – #notalkbutaction.

I am not pleased with the present situation and the blackouts, as I have said it is very vexing; but I am pleased that a plausible solution is being carried out; unlike the scandal ridden efforts of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP).

“Davis: PLP would welcome McAlpine” – The Nassau Guardian
Excerpt from this article; “Following Pineridge MP Fredrick McAlpine’s scathing criticism of the government last week, Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) leader Philip Brave Davis yesterday hinted that his party would welcome him should he choose to leave the Free National Movement (FNM).
‘I don’t want to at this time comment on any views as to whether he should leave his party and join me or otherwise,’ Davis told The Guardian.
‘What I do know..politics is about numbers and every time we can add one, it means the other doesn’t get that one.’
During his contribution to the budget on Thursday, McAlpine said that the government claimed ‘it’s the people’s time’ but ‘only for a select few, a resurrected oligarchy, special interest and elitist with foreign interests.”

What I really feel is important for the Pine Ridge member of parliament at this time to decide is what is it that he really wants and exactly how he seeks to achieve it. He suggests that his motives are purely altruistic in nature and are driven by a genuine need/desire to help the people of The Bahamas at large but he does not really say how this should be achieved. It would seem that his only action to date has been to criticize the present government over its actions as they do what they feel what is best and/or necessary to achieve the goal of trying to help the people of The Bahamas; it’s first action being to strengthen the economy of the country – the foundation to growth.
Yes, he was voted in with a Free national Movement (FNM) party that was elected to do ‘something’ but now seems to stand with those that sing the chorus of “oh, not that/this!!!”
Another question which Mr. McAlpine should ask himself is, will the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) as an organization and as a government, look out for the best interest of the country at large especially given their track record.
He should also bear in mind that as he wishes to hold the Free National Movement’s (FNM’s) government accountable for its campaign promises, he will also be expected to do so for the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) if they were ever to become the government and as he is courted by their leader; the Hon. Philip ‘Brave’ Davis.
In the end, he must essentially figure out if he is ‘this’ or ‘that’ – ‘that’ being resistant to change and which is not ‘this’.
END

This is the second true Free National Movement (FNM) budget presented by the Minnis administration.  The very first budget being the result of the consequence of continuation of government, in that case a budget based on figures and projections put forth by the previous administration.  With this being said, it is amazing that the only major criticism to both FNM budgets has been the same; a complaint of being “uninspiring”

“Cooper: I don’t believe the numbers” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; “Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Deputy Leader Chester Cooper lambasted the government’s ‘uninspiring, unimaginative’ budget communication, asserting that he doesn’t ‘believe the numbers ‘put forth by the minister of finance.

Last week, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest said despite raising the rate of value-added tax (VAT) by 60 percent last year, the government will fall short this fiscal nearly $240 million short of its projected revenue target for this fiscal year.

However, Cooper shot that down during a PLP town hall meeting on Monday night.

‘I don’t believe the numbers and I don’t believe the spin,’ Cooper said.

‘Spin, spin, spin.  That’s all what they master.  They said that the VAT increase would have yielded hundreds of millions more than it actually did.  Then they want to tell you that it’s not important if they don’t collect that money, that only the deficit matters.

Copper said the government was;’too competent’ to collect taxes during the 2018/2019 fiscal year.

He also called the 2019/2020 budget a ‘tragedy not comedy’.

‘Listen, this budget is not for the Bahamian people’, Cooper said.”

“Then they want to tell you that it’s not important if they don’t collect that money, that only the deficit matters.”, to my recollection this was never stated as fact or even suggestion in any way but then what are facts as the Progressive Liberal Party looks to score political points.

It would seem that Chester Cooper is asking the Bahamian people to accept Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) propaganda over fact and logic.  It is very disconcerting that he would label the current budget as “unimaginative and uninspiring”, as budgets are about informing the country about the country’s economy performance and future plans; imagination and the selling of dreams should play little to no role in this process, and is probably why the previous administration had so much trouble keeping the country’s finances in order – caught up in imaginations and day dreams.

Even more disconcerting is the statement that “…this budget is not for the Bahamian people”, because it is my understanding that an improved economy benefits the entire country and not just a few as Mr. Cooper would have you believe.

So, what this really comes down to is a case of Progressive Liberal Party propaganda over brains, you either take the facts as provided by the minister of finance, who has admitted to the short falls of the last budget, and come to a reasonable conclusion,  or you can have him lie to you  and put forth unmitigated propaganda,  as the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) suggests that should be do, by being more “imaginative and inspiring”; while hiding the truth.

What is truly uninspiring is a lackluster opposition who only oppose to oppose, while presenting no factual evidence or reason to have persons to follow, beside blind partisanship

 

END

 

It would appear that the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) has been caught revealing their true nature.

Every reasonable thinking person would have thought that they would have taken at the very least twenty-four (24) hours to deliver a concise and well-thought out objection to the budget communication as presented by the governing Free National Movement (FNM) yesterday, but in their haste to be heard, to be seen as doing their job as the official opposition, they stumbled out of the gate with a weak, nonsensical and basically irrational response.

“PLP: Budget a tale of epic failure” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; “The budget communication was a ‘tale of epic failure’, Progressive Liberal Party deputy Leader and Shadow Minister of Finance Chester Copper said yesterday.

Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest presented the 2019/2020 budget yesterday in the House of Assembly.  ‘What we can categorically say about the latest budget is that the FNM (Free National Movement’s) strategy of taxing and borrowing and focusing on putting numbers over people has inflicted untold pain and suffering on the Bahamian people,’ said Copper at a press conference.

He said that despite the government’s focus on fiscal responsibility and deficit reduction, overall debt has increased as well as the debt-to GDP ratio.

‘This government, despite all its talk of old bills, borrowed like a drunken sailor, increased incurrent expenditure by $246 million, increased the debt-to-GDP ratio from 54.4 percent in 2016/2017 to 58.2 percent in 2018/2019 and the national debt increased to $8.2 billion,’ he said.”

As Mr. Cooper goes on to attempt to chastise the government’s efforts to bring the country’s fiscal situation under control by then questioning how will it meet its current fiscal projections, I ask of him to honestly stand before the people of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and as a person seeking to be deputy prime minister and say that large amounts of monies were not borrowed over the past two years to settle outstanding government debt left in place by the former Progressive Liberal Party and also how many government have actually met their fiscal projections?  A lot of people may accuse me of pointing fingers and playing the ‘blame game’ on this issue but it is a reality that we live; a reality which I. Chester Copper and the rest of the PLP seems to wilfully ignore of just be unaware of.

While I. Chester Cooper and the rest of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) now accuse the Free National Movement (FNM) government of “taxing and borrowing” and “focusing on putting numbers over people”, I remind him that this is the very same model that pervious governments including the PLP have followed, only this time by the end of its first term as the government it will yield positive results for the citizens of The Bahamas and not four economic downgrades.  Then there is the accusation of “numbers over people”, this is how Mr. Cooper would out it and I ask him how long can we ignore the numbers?  Should we wait until the numbers have run out of our favour, the cupboards are bare and there is nothing left for the people?  Is this responsible governance?

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) response to this budget would be laughable it were not so desperately shameful. The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) at this point has lost ALL moral authority to chastise anyone, even the peanut man on the street, on fiscal responsibilities and prudence.

The Progressive Liberal Party continues to fail for one reason; it is their nature.

END