The Tribune

THE Parliamentary seat for North Andros and the Berry Islands has been officially vacant since March 1, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham revealed.

Embattled PLP MP Vincent Peet declared last year that he will not seek re-election, but Mr Ingraham told a crowd last night Mr Peet is already no longer a member of the House.

He said: “In accordance with the House rules, written and put in place by the PLP, if a Member of Parliament is absent from the House without leave for a period of 90 days, he automatically vacates his seat.”

Mr Ingraham, who was speaking at the opening of the FNM’s Marathon constituency office, said: “The records of the House of Assembly reflect that Mr Vincent Peet last attended a sitting of the House on November 30, 2011.

“In accordance with the rules, his North Andros and the Berry Islands seat became vacant on 1 March, 2012.”

On December 21, 2011, Mr Peet, an attorney, confirmed that he was stepping out of the election race. At the time, it was speculated that his decision came as a result of an accusation that he had mismanaged $180,000 worth of client funds.

Following his revelation last night, Mr Ingraham went on the offensive, asking the real leader of the opposition to “please stand up.”

He was referring to the fact that on Tuesday night, Mr Christie again promised to double the education budget – according to Mr Ingraham, “from $290m a year to $580m”.

But, he said, on the very same day other media reports portray PLP MP Fred Mitchell as “contradicting” this promise.

Mr Mitchell was quoted as saying a doubling of the investment in education amounts to an increase of only $22 million a year, as the PLP propose to exclude the “labour content” of the education budget.

The Prime Minister went on to chastise the opposition for seeking to resurrect former Prime Minister, the late Sir Lynden Pindling.

He said: “You remember that they declared their party to be the ‘New PLP’ in 2002? At that time, they wanted to de-emphasise any connection to Sir Lynden and his administrations. They treated him like some people in earlier uninformed times used to treat their disabled children when visitors approached their homes: ‘Boy get in that room and lock that door, you can’t see company coming?’

“They didn’t believe Sir Lynden was fit to be held up to the public. That’s why they were rebranding and reinventing themselves.

“They won the election. Then after the public found out who they were, they lost. They know the people ain’t into them. Once bitten; twice shy!

“So now they want to repackage Sir Lynden. When they went down to South Andros the other day they even tried to bring him back to life.

“They put his picture on the podium as if he were the candidate; then they played a recording of him speaking. They said they were celebrating the anniversary of his birthday.

“Well, while they were in office Sir Lynden had birthday anniversaries in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. Did they celebrate his birthday then?

“Now that they are out of office and getting no traction, they go down to South Andros to invoke his name and celebrate his birthday.”

The governing party leader said the PLP are panicking if their “new list of promises” were any indication.

“They went down to Exuma last week with a new list of promises. They promised Exuma to build a community hospital. The contract for the new hospital to be constructed in Exuma will be signed in George Town next Wednesday. I need say no more.”

“Then they promised to reconstruct the bridge connecting Little Exuma and Great Exuma. The contract for that work is also being signed in George Town next Wednesday.”

“And then they promised to undertake some repairs at the George Town dock. That work too has already been contracted.”

He said as the PLP continue to promise, his party continues to “deliver.”

The prime minister also responded to another daily’s lead story that the FNM and PLP were in a “dead heat” for victory in the upcoming elections.

“I saw in this morning’s Guardian headline that says we are in a dead heat with that other Party. “The headlines say one thing. Then when you read the story, it says something else. They could slice and dice all they want, the numbers show Colour Red is ahead. The newspapers 'gat their numbers. We 'gat our numbers, and we 'gat the PLP number. All the numbers say the same thing: Red, red, red!”

“We are ahead in votes, ahead in enthusiasm and ahead in support. Support coming from FNMs and support from many who have never supported us in the past.”

He asked the residents of Marathon to support candidate Heather Hunt and the FNM in the upcoming election as he promised them “talent of a team that will deliver” and honest, hardworking and decisive leadership.