“PM: PLP govt. is not perfect – ‘Voters will look past high crime and unemployment” – The Tribune

Excerpt from this article; “MAKING it clear that his administration ‘never claimed to be perfect’ Prime Minister Perry Christie is confident that voters across the country will look past unflagging issues of high unemployment and crime and return the Progressive Liberal Party to office.

Mr. Christie told crowds of supporters at a mini-rally in Marathon on Saturday that notwithstanding challenges, his government never stopped providing opportunities for Bahamians and remained the ‘best investment’ in the country’s future.

His comments come as parliamentarians prepare for the dissolution of Parliament on Tuesday, April 11^th, and the end of government’s legislative agenda.

‘We know that there are those who are looking for jobs,’ he said, ‘who are looking for security, and who feel that more could have been done.  We have never claimed to be perfect but I tell you this, we have never stopped working and providing opportunities for the people of the country.

‘And I have no doubt whatsoever that in the quietude of your homes when you think about it, you know if you are going to make an investment in your future, the best investment you can make is in the PLP.”

Sometimes I am left to wonder as to the mental state of the present Prime Minister; with all due respect, but there is no way that you can stand before a crowd of people and admit to failing them, failing the country, citing high crime and high unemployment as issues that you have failed to effectively address; which would mean that the economy is also failing and you lied about this fact, and still ask the people to ignore these failures and vote for you because you are their best hope.

Who is that blatant?

The people of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas invested in the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) in 2012 and got nothing in return; a dead investment. So exactly what will the people vote for if they were to vote for the PLP in the upcoming general elections?

“So when people have to make a choice when they ask themselves who they should vote for, look at our  record”; but Mr. Prime Minister you have just admitted that your record is a record of failure, so what is there to look at or even consider? 

The Prime Minister and his party are beyond delusional as Fred Mitchell gets up and does a bit of fear mongering, and I ask do we really want these men with this mentality to continue on as leaders of the country. 

Can we afford this type of mentality?

Indeed Mr. Prime Minister, no one is perfect and no one expected you to be.  What was expected of you was to fulfill your promises to the people to an extent wherein you made their quality of life somewhat better than you met it or at the very least helped them maintain their quality of life if you were unable to improve it, but you have even failed at the standards that you had held the former administration to; not even achieving the bare minimum during your tenure in office and yet you are back asking for another chance.

Another chance at what?

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

END

“Toggie and Bobo at PLP event” – The Tribune

Bradley Roberts has repeatedly attempted to implicate Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis, as being connected with “Toggie” and “Bobo’, the two men at the heart of an alleged murder-for-hire plot against billionaire Louis Bacon and lawyer Fred Smith, QC – the self proclaimed ‘gang members’ were seen among governing party supporters on Tuesday night, The Tribune can confirm.

Wisler ‘Bobo’ Davilma and Livingston ‘Toggie’ Bullard, the two men who were allegedly hired by Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard to engage in criminal activities, attended the PLP’s joint constituency meeting at T G Glover Primary School.

Earlier this year, Mr. Roberts castigated Dr. Minnis over his ‘silence’ regarding FNM candidate for Marco City Michael Pintard, who resigned as chairman of the FNM and from the Senate over his involvement in the lawsuit against Mr. Nygard on March 21, 2016.  His resignation, he insisted, was not an admission of guilt.

On the same day that Mr. Pintard stepped down from the posts, Dr. Minnis admitted to The Tribune that he had met Bullard at his home.

Dr. Minnis said Bullard, his constituent in Killarney whom he said he met three times, contacted him to pass on a warning to Mr. Pintard that he was about to be allegedly ‘set up’ by a high ranking member of the government and others.”

First I would like to say to Mr. Bradley Roberts; as for his attempts to implicate Dr. Minnis or even Mr. Pintard in this ‘murder-for-hire’ plot; any question but forth at this time have already been asked and answered – period.

Mr. Pintard’s resignation was not an admission of guilt, as there was nothing for him to be guilty of and as for Dr. Minnis; he met with a man to hear a ‘tale’ and no matter how ‘fishy’ the tale may have been in and of itself, as it was regarding Mr. Pintard being set up by a ‘high-ranking government member’ or others; who exactly would these people be, if you are actually looking to investigate a criminal act here and with this question in mind, let us go back to this picture of at least one of these men, who have for some reason since received government contracts, taking the stage with National Security Minister Dr. Bernard Nottage on Tuesday night and also reflect on the fact that these men are on tape; audio and visual, with Peter Nygard reassuring him of the fact that Deputy Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis had instructed them to ‘watch his back’. 

Yet, now they are seen taking the stage with the National Security minister but when they met with Dr. Minnis and Mr. Pintard with their tale of murder-for-hire, Minnis and Pintard were accused of being concerned with others in mastering minding this plot; you just can’t write a better script than this, or maybe you can and maybe it was well written, because the men did warn that someone was about to be set up.

It is indeed interesting how the Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Mr. Bradley Roberts, who knows all other business now denies knowing these men, “………Mr. Roberts suggested he did not know the men were at the event and said despite Davilma being outfitted in a PLP shirt and pictured alongside National Security Minister Dr,. Bernard Nottage, it did not mean that he had ties to the governing party”, indeed Mr. Roberts it does not mean that the man has ties to the PLP but have you proven that he does not have ties to the governing Progressive Liberal Party (PLP)?

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

END

“Gray not sure why people are upset over carnival delay” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; “Amid ongoing international and local outrage over the change of dates for Bahamas Junkanoo-Carnival, MICAL MP V Alfred Gray yesterday said the fallout from the delay will be a wait-and-see game ad insisted ‘reasonable people act reasonably’.

In a statement to the press, the Bahamas National Festival Commission advised that carnival dates have been changed from its previous dates May 4-6 to May 18-20.

‘The 2017 event will also be consolidated to one island on one weekend,’ the BNFC said. ‘The Music Masters Semi-final will take place in Nassau instead of Grand Bahamas.”

As usual the Christie administration in its implementation of a potentially major initiative, have failed and are now attempting to work backward to order to have the future of this particular initiative actually survive the light of day.  We have seen the Christie administration begin in grand fashion only to have to scale the event back each and every year because of the massive lost of revenue, instead of beginning on a smaller scale, growing a product that is actually marketable and able to be privatized in a more systematic manner.

What I find remarkable is just how out of touch Minister V Alfred Gray seems to be over the entire matter; I am shocked, I know I should not be but I am.

“Many local and international people have expressed outraged on social media over the late postponement.

The Bahamas Carnival Cruise, which was booked to bring over 150 visitors, has said the company is set to lose over $25,000 and its visitors may lose well over $150,000 in total.

When asked his thoughts on the outrage expressed on social media, Gray said. ‘I don’t know the basis upon which people are upset, but I think I indicated reasonable people act reasonably.”  Is Minister Gray actually intimating that those that had booked visits to the island or made other investments based on the previously announced dates for this event and are set to lose money based on these reservations and investment are being unreasonable? 

This reminds me of the attitude that the Christie administration took to the many delays of the opening of the Baha Mar project, with people losing money in anticipation of these openings and the government moving right along with business as usual.

I really should not be shocked at the attitude and cluelessness of Minister Gray, because he is the very same member of parliament that saw nothing wrong with him calling an island administrator on behalf of a constituent’s son who was locked up and suggesting to this local island administrator the ‘options’ that he had.

The seemingly abject cluelessness of Minister Gray in matters such as these; a veteran politician and purported attorney is absolutely amazing and only shows that he along with many of his parliamentary colleagues are totally unfit to continue to serve in elected office in any capacity.

I still wait for Minister Gray to break the tension that hangs over this situation by him telling us that he is only joking.

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

END

“Christie: It’s easy to piss away money” – The Tribune

Excerpt from this story; “WHILE speaking at the renaming ceremony of a portion of Thompson Boulevard to University Drive, Prime Minister Perry Christie urged University of The Bahamas executives and students to ensure they have leaders who are knowledgeable and ‘accountable’ for the state of the economy, insisting that; it is so important to recognize how easy it is to piss away money’.

Do we have a confession here?

Indeed, Mr. Prime Minister, it is easy to ‘piss away money’, as your administration has proven time and time again’, with the main issue being the manner in which you detailed the accounting how over a billion dollars in value-added tax revenue collected since its implementation has been used; in light of the realities of our current economic position, that being our credit rating being at ‘junk status’.

Most Bahamians are getting over the insulting explanation by the prime minister and sometimes minister of finance on the accounting of the revenue collected from VAT:

• 40 percent went to reducing the deficit
• 30 percent went to general expenditures while,
• 30 percent went to replace revenue ‘lost’ from tax reductions

With the numbers presented; approximately $56 million has been allocated to reducing the defect but yet the deficit has continued to grow; unabated and with no explanation.

No reasonable person expected value-added tax to be the ‘magic spell’ and take away all of our national debt while lowering the county’s deficit over night, nut when one opens the dailies or turns on the news and hears and sees that the debt had incurred another billion dollars and the deficit has risen at an alarming rate, despite the recent tax reform exercise; one would be irresponsible not to question the government as to what is really going on.

So, I am left to buy the Prime Ministers unsolicited explanation as to what has happened to the money collected from VAT; it has been poorly managed and basically ‘pissed away’.

One positive piece of advice that Prime Minister Perry Christie passed on to the young people in attendance was to “ensure they have leaders who are knowledgeable and ‘accountable’; basically advising they not to vote for him and his Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) organization.

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

END

“PLP: Minnis ‘unprincipled and ill-prepared’ to lead” – The Tribune

Excerpt from this article; “The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) continued to promote its message that the Christie administration is the ‘only government’ that can take the country into the 21^st century at the weekend, while accusing the Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis of being ‘unprincipled and ill-prepared.’

While addressing scores of supporters at a joint Abaco branch meeting at the Central Abaco Primary School on Saturday night, Prime Minister Perry Christie said he has the ‘intellect, eloquence and energy to run the country while Dr. Minnis, on the other hand, is afraid to stand on the same stage with him and debate the issues.”

First, I would just like to say that from word ‘on the ground’ and pictures of the PLP’s event in Abaco, to say that ‘scores of supporters’ were present in being extremely generous but to bring that to light is just simply being petty, like the Prime Minister presenting himself as intelligent, eloquent and energetic compared to Dr. Hubert Minnis or anyone else for that matter.

The Progressive Liberal Party government has failed.

They have now sat down, re-evaluated the situation and have come to the determination that if they were to attempt to run on their record and achievements, they have a very serious problem; because they have failed the people miserably, so the best that they can do is to channel all of their efforts into discrediting the Leader of the Free National Movement on a more personal level, and they are even failing at this – they are failures.

The Prime Minister speaks to who is least principled and prepared and I ask him who is less principled then himself; to have a Cabinet riddled with scandals without any repercussions; surely he is not serious and I would dare say that the only thing that he seems prepared for is to give an eloquent and superfluous speech and the accompanying photo-op; as the actual principles of governance still seems to elude him and his government.

Indeed, Prime Minister Perry Christie has attempted to make the campaign narrative about Dr. Minnis and himself, while Dr. Minnis has made it about his team and the people but I cannot blame Prime Minister Christie about making it about him and not his party; because beside having no record to run on it would be best to focus on himself because it would appear that over fifty percent (50 %) of the PLP’s ratified candidates are ‘repeat offenders’ from his first administration; whom he has recycled in hopes of reviving into a third term, God forbid if he were able to win the upcoming general election.

I wonder what principles would Prime Minister Perry Christie be talking about though, when he is the one losing his cool over the words of a person he describes as a “lunatic’ and openly flipping him ‘the bird’.

The Prime Minister either has turned into a comedian or has taken leave of his sense.

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

END

Excerpt from this article; “Prime Minister Perry Christie yesterday warned Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis to be mindful about criticisms made against public servants who are responsible for figures revealed in his latest value-added tax (VAT) communication, after Minnis said Christie is ‘delusional’ if he believes anyone has brought his explanation on how VAT revenue has been used by his administration since its implementation in 2015.

‘What I should say to the public is that I note that the member of Parliament for Killarney (Minnis) who is no longer the leader of the Opposition, has indicated that the figures are unbelievable.’ Christie told reporters outside of Palmdale Primary School yesterday.

‘I simply want to say for the record, the figures [and] the accounting was done in accordance with the requirements of the constitution.

‘The financial administration honored that and they were prepared by the same civil servants and public officers who will advise him, if by chance, he becomes the next prime minister of the Bahamas.”

Prime Minister Perry Christie should be ashamed of himself and his entire administration; as it has been this government that has seemed free to question public servants in their professional capacity, at each and every available opportunity; with this past week being no exception, as Transport and Aviation Minister, Glenys Hanna-Martian, accused Auditor General Terrence Bastian of ‘guesstimating’ while conducting his most recent audit of the Road Traffic Department. 

 Indeed the Auditor General has been the subject of much ridicule and admonishment by this Christie administration when his figures did not reflect those which the government hoped that they should be.  This was seen in the case of the audit of the Urban Renewal program, where the auditor general’s figures suggested some ‘accounting irregularities’, which to this day are still unexplained. The Progressive Liberal Party government immediately went on the defensive, undermined the office of the Auditor General and hired a ‘private’ firm to do an audit of the program, which gave them the more favorable figures that they desired.

Then there was the  issues of the figures coming out the Department Statistics regarding the high level of unemployment in the country, which were quickly refuted by Minister National Insurance; Hurricane Czar Shane Gibson in an attempt to support the claims of the creation of 32,000 jobs created by this present Progressive Liberal Party government.

I ask; were these ‘figures [and] the accounting….[not] done in accordance with the requirements of the constitution”?  Or is this an instance where it is more convenient for the Christie administration to simply ignore the constitution of The Bahamas?  

If these “figures [and] accounting…[were] done in accordance with the requirements of the constitution”, then didn’t the Christie administration seek at that time to disparage them [public servants] by being carless and irresponsible….”?

Again, Prime Minister Perry Christie attempts to take the natural course of the ongoing conversation and twist it to fit his foolish needs, as no one has, including Dr. Minnis, questioned or criticized the public servants who were responsible for the figures revealed in his [the Prime Minister’s] latest value-added tax communication but rather Dr. Minnis and many others are questioning the Prime Minister and sometimes Minister of Finance’s; the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie’s very liberal interpretation of these figures.

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

END

A few days ago Prime Minister Perry Christie promised to detail how monies collected from Value-Added Tax (VAT) was spent and yesterday he shocked the nation by actually following through on a promise in a timely manner but it was quickly realized that his explanation has invoked even more questions than it answered and actually lays out how the implementation of VAT was intended to service the economy thereby showing how the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government has failed at this objective – what else is new?

“PM: Not a dollar of VAT wasted – Christie says $1.14 bn in revenue fritted away” – The Tribune

Excerpt from this article; “Amid lingering questions regarding Value-Added Tax (VAT) collections, Prime Minister Perry Christie was on the defensive yesterday as he explained how his administration handled $1.14bn in VAT revenue accumulated during 2015 and 2016, insisting that not one dollar of the money has been ‘frittered away’ or spent ‘surreptitiously’.

Finally giving an extensive explanation of VAT revenue since the matter was reignited following the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) convention in January, the Prime Minister told Parliamentarians it was a ‘worrisome’ and ‘nonsensical’ misconception that his administration mishandled VAT money.  The issue, he said needed to be put to rest once and for all.”

What the Prime Minister must understand, in this age of a more enlightened populace and in an age of modern technology, matters such as these will never be ‘put to rest’ as long as the people have questions; these questions must be satisfied.

Prime Minister Perry Christie states; “…it is was ‘worrisome’ and nonsensical’ misconception’ that his administration mishandled VAT money’; so it is the Prime Minister’s position that in light of the government has collecting more monies from its citizens through tax reform, it is ‘worrisome’ and ‘nonsensical’ for those citizens to then enquire as to how this money is being spent especially when the national debt and the deficit have increased at an alarming rate and the country’s sovereign credit rating has been downgraded four times; is he really serious?

So how was the money collected from Value-Added Tax (VAT) spent?

“He [the Prime Minister/Minister of Finance] told the House of Assembly, 40 percent of VAT revenue went towards reducing the deficit, 30 percent replaced revenue forgone from tax reductions and the remaining 30 percent went towards general expenditures.”, but yet there are reports that the government’s fiscal deficit for the six months to end – December 2016 had more than doubled year-over-year, increasing to 112 percent, now up to $314.2 million and the total government expenditure rising by $121.9 million up 11.7 percent to $1.66 billion; so when the Prime Minister makes statements such as the following; then I am totally confused – “Put further in layman’s term, if I reduce the amount by which my expenditures exceeds my revenue, the less money I borrow.  This is a slowing of debt accumulation” .  This how we thought that things should have worked but the present state of the economy does not bear this out.

The Prime Minister/Minister of Finance goes on to say; “As my revenues start to exceed my expenses, which are projected to take place [by the] fiscal year 2018/2019, there would be an actual reduction in debt”, Mr. Prime Minister/Minister of Finance, most of us actually realize this economic fact, which you had suggested had already began in a statement earlier in your communication, and this gives us even more reason to question how tax revenue is being spent and for you to now even suggest that by 2018/2019 there would be a reduction in debt, given the current economic path that we are on is asking us to take a giant leap of faith with you and given the ‘dark paths’ that you have already led us down; we do not trust you enough anymore to take such a risk – simple risk management.

Indeed, Mr. Prime Minster/Minister of Finance”‘……if the government has been able to repay debt without having to borrow as much, we are on the right fiscal path”, but this has taken place yet but yet the implementation of VAT is deemed a great success and the explanation which you have given is considered viable by you and your government – despite four downgrades.   I can only surmise that you await the moment when our economy is on the brink to come and ‘save’ it, as you claimed to have done with the Baha Mar project, but sir, we are at junk status now; so when will you wake up?

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

END

I know that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) had been tabled and debated in the House of Assembly but I have no knowledge of it being made law; with that being said, I find it quite interesting that the Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), Mr. Bradley Roberts was able to freely reveal the personal financial information of Rickey Mackey, Free National Movement (FNM) candidate for North Eleuthera without repercussion or fear of any.  My main question being how did he [Mr. Roberts] come across the information and why would he feel ‘obligated’ to divulge such information at a political event in an attempt to question Mr. Mackey’s ‘suitability to hold public office’.

Let me first say that it I believe that if you are in debt to the government or anyone for that matter, you should be responsible enough to settle ones debts, circumstances permitting, especially if you are vying for public office.  So having Mr. Mackey settle his long overdue bill with customs is something that I feel that the Free National Movement (FNM) should have done their diligence in when vetting him as a candidate and made sure it was settled; but now we have reached a point where his private information has been made public by Mr. Roberts at a political event and we would like to know which ‘political garbage can’ he looked in for it or has the FOIA been made law when everyone was asleep to allow him access to these documents.

For me the warning signs began with Minister of Education, Jerome Fitzgerald making public the private correspondence of the Save the Bays organization without having to account for where he got the information from.  “My political garbage can”, is not an acceptable answer, well not to me, as it suggests that the “political garbage can” is the “waste land” that he calls his mind, but even with all these questions concerning the willful and unlawful dissemination of another person’s private information and the entire controversy surrounding the proposed “Spy Bill”, the Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party still sees fit to issue threats to further violate the constitutional right to privacy of a Bahamian citizen.

“Roberts: More to come for Mackey” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; “Following confirmation that Free National Movement (FNM) candidate for  North Eleuthera Rickey Mackey paid the $9,591 debt he owed to the Bahamas Customs Department in taxes dating back t 2002, Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Bradley Roberts warned that there was ‘more to come’ for Mackey.

‘There is more to come’ Roberts told The Guardian.

‘When I start something that’s only the opening shot.’

‘There is more to come for Mr. Mackey’.

‘Tell him to tighten his seatbelt because it is coming.’

Roberts revealed the information at a rally in Eleuthera Friday night, calling into question Mackey’s suitability to hold public office.

Roberts released a letter written to comptroller of customs on April 18^th, 2013, stating. ‘I Rickey Mackey, of Harbour Island, Eleuthera, owe the Bahamas Customs Department $12,789.20 for Eleuthera Petroleum’.

Mackey then confirmed on Sunday that the difference was ‘some $9,000’.

Roberts said, ‘He should also pay interest for all those years he owes the government money as well.

‘When someone owe someone debt, they should pay it.”

It is remarkable that Mr. Roberts actually got a letter written to the comptroller, be it four years old, of Mr. Mackey acknowledging his debt and is now stating that there is more to come.  What  I do give Mr. Mackey wrong for here is not following up on the debt and seeing that it was settled.

I wonder is Mr. Roberts really wants to open this ‘pandora box’ as he seeks to apply for the job of official government tax collector and I actually encourage him to because there are many of us that would like to know the people that were bailed out by Resolve Bahamas and I personally really do not care which political organization that they are affiliated with.

I wonder if Mr. Big bad Brad is brave enough to reveal all the names of all persons that owes the government taxes at this very point in time?

Yes, go on ‘Big Bad Brad’, expose ALL the persons that owe the government taxes and make sure that they bring their bills current, because like you say “When someone owe someone debt, they should pay it.”  Or are you trying to convince the people of the Bahamas that everyone in the Progressive Liberal Party is debt free as it concerns the government to date?

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

END

“Christie pledges to meet promises” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; “Prime Minister Perry Christie pledges to keep all promises he made in respect to Parliament, including the full reporting on value-added tax (VAT) revenue, and suggested this would be done before Parliament dissolves.

On the floor of the House of Assembly, Christie said the government has promised to indicate where the economy stands fiscally, and ‘I will meet all the promises that I made with respect to Parliament.”

Prime Minister Perry Christie, this all sound fine and well but I have two questions;

1. Does these new promises to fulfill old promises cover those made on the 2012 campaign trail and that were laid out in the Progressive Liberal Party’s ‘A Charter for Governance’ and;
2. If you plan to make good on all of these promises, will Parliament ever be dissolved?!

With only months before the next general election, the Prime Minister is now promising to fulfill the following promises along with quite a few others;

1. To give clarification on matters related to value-added tax and the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC), which I assume is appoint a select committee to probe the ‘controversial’ 2011 sale of BTC to CWC under the Ingraham administration.
2. To provide a report on Resolve Bahamas, wholly government owned special vehicle created in 2014 to take $100 million of the books of Bank of The Bahamas.
3. Provide an accounting on monies spent on various trips that were questioned by the public; a trip to Sri Lanka and one to the Vatican to meet the Pope.
4. Give answers on questions raised by Richard Lightbourne; MP for Montagu, concerning the government’s issuance of contracts for works so close to a general election.

Looking at these new list of promises a few are quite laughable; such as three and four but how long as the government been promising to form this select committee to probe the BTC sale and what has promoted him to finally want to offer a report on Resolve Bahamas?

As it concerns the particulars concerning the BTC sale; I ask is the Prime Minister promising to begin this ‘witch hunt’ and no matter who wins the government, if it is called before the conclusion of this farce; as it should be or is he hoping that if he calls it now and knowing that it will not conclude before next general election, it would then convince the people to keep him in office so that he can finish to build the ‘house of straw’ that he began?

Then there is the promise of a report on Resolve Bahamas, which was formed n 2014; why is it that only now some three years later we are being promised a report on the performance of this ‘wholly owned special vehicle’, which by my understanding was set up to collect the $100 million of debt from the Bank of The Bahamas, which by the way is still hemorrhaging money; will he be explaining this also?

Prime Minister Perry Christie still continues in the ways of the old politician, ‘promise a lot, deliver a little and ask for more time to deliver on what you failed to deliver on, even after you have had the opportunity to have delivered on them; just sad, out dated and a reason as to why we need a person of action and not a ‘sweet talker’.

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

END

 “Ingraham complaints dismissed by Deputy PM” – The Tribune

Excerpt from this article; “IN DEFENCE of the government’s fiscal performance this term, Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis yesterday dismissed criticism leveled by former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham as complaints from an ‘alternative universe’.

Mr. Davis claimed that Mr. Ingraham was ‘missing the spot light’, suggesting that the former leader’s comments were motivated by the pain of watching his successor – Dr. Hubert Minnis –‘wander around in a fog of incoherence’.

Latching on onto Mr. Ingraham’s admission that the country was still grappling with the effects of the Great Recession when his party left office, Mr. Davis questioned how the former Free National Movement (FNM) leader could find ‘the nerve to complain about how it was rescued?’

‘The reality is quite simple,’ Mr. Davis said, ‘the FNM left the economy on an unsustainable path.  In 2012, the government was spending $500m more than it was collecting.

Without the implementation of VAT, billions would have been added to the national debt – an unmanageable amount, which would have left our country unstable and vulnerable to requiring IMF bailouts and restructuring like Jamaica.”

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) continues to speak to having to clean up the ‘mess’ left by the Free National Movement (FNM) administration and now Deputy Prime Minister Davis is talking about having rescued the country and I look around to see exactly what ‘mess’ was left without a plan in place and exactly how has the Christie led administration has rescued the country and from what exactly?

What did former Prime Minister Ingraham say that has Mr. Davis talking spewing just irrational nonsense?

“Ingraham hits out at lack of transparency’ on economy” – The Tribune 03.21.2017

Excerpt from this article; “Mr. Ingraham said: ‘The reality though is that there is a feeling in this society that the Value-Added Tax was a tax that was going to be used to pay down the government debt.  Well, that was how it was sold to the public but the truth is that it was a revenue raising measure.

‘The national debt in and of itself was not a challenge in a society if people could see where the money is going and what the money is being used for.  When you continue to increase the debt and you’re able to touch, feel and see what the money is being spent on.

‘The government does have answers to give as to why the debt has increased to such an extent over the last four and a half to five years.  They blame us for many things but the reality is, if you take the amount of money they borrowed over the last four and half years and compare it to what the FNM borrowed in the five years it was in office – even while the Great Recession took place in 2007 and government revenue just dropped out – expenditure just skyrocketed.”

The question is why has government expenditure outpaced that of the previous administration; especially with the introduction of VAT?

When it came to the issue of the increasing national debt Deputy Prime Minister Davis responds; “…..that the government plan reduced the deficit by 80 per cent by the 2016/2017 fiscal year and attributed the current setback ‘mainly to expenses associated with two devastating hurricanes, Joaquin and Matthew.’  The expenses associated with these two storms have been noted but when was our first credit rating downgrade?  This is where things get a bit ‘tricky’.

If we were to ‘forgive’ the government for their fiscal irresponsibility before the 2016/2017 period, and only focus on that period, which would be ridiculous, but exactly what is DPM Davis suggesting that we should do; then we must note that during that period when he claims that the ‘that the government plan reduced the deficit by 80 per cent’, then it is safe to assume that the current deficit and additional debt has been incurred since this time and would it be safe to assume that the two named storms are the sole reasons as to why the national debt has increased by over a billion dollars and why the country’s sovereign credit rating has been downgraded at least twice during this period; once on August 22^nd 2016 by Moody’s and then again in December 2016 by Standards and Poor’s?

It s indeed laughable that Deputy Prime Minister Davis would suggest that another person’s criticism of his government’s fiscal practice as being from an ‘alternate universe’; while the entire Progressive Liberal Party’s governance to date has been an exercise in nothing more than alternative facts and theories.

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

END