The Tribune

FREE National Movement Chairman Darron Cash has charged that the relationship between Prime Minister Perry Christie and Lyford Cay billionaire Peter Nygard “cannot be good for the Bahamas” and suggested that the Progressive Liberal Party government “bows” to rich foreign investors at the expense of the country.

In a statement released yesterday, Mr Cash said the Christie administration must reverse this impression.

Mr Cash added that the fashion designer projects an attitude that he “owns” the country and the government, something the chairman said most Bahamians find “offensive”.

“Sometimes even a government is judged by the company it keeps,” Mr Cash said in a statement released yesterday.

“For governments, the reality is that not all foreign investors are created equal. Some foreign residents love the Bahamas and her people and work hard to uplift both. The overwhelming majority of foreign residents are selfless and add a great deal of value to the nation in their own quiet and understated ways. No one would ever ask them to ‘sit small’ and or to be quiet, but most people who are guests to a country understand social boundaries and are well aware of where the line is drawn between good taste and national engagement.”

He charged that when the first Free National Movement administration assumed office in 1992, the party went to great lengths to “clean up” the country’s image and reputation abroad “by reminding all concerned that we were now a place for clean business not financial hanky panky and dark closeted deals.”

He added that the FNM crafted a well-defined National Investment Policy to set out parameters for deals with foreign investors.

“The FNM message was simple, if you’re a foreign investor into foolishness don’t come to the Bahamas,” Mr Cash added.

Mr Cash said the government has not learned from the policies created by the Ingraham administration.

“Foreign nationals and investors who behave as if they own the government and the country should not be welcomed here. That kind of attitude is offensive to most Bahamians. This is not an attitude that the people’s government should encourage or condone. Sadly, the aforementioned is too often the attitude that Mr Peter Nygard projects.

“It was, after all, Mr Nygard who boasted after the 2012 general election that ‘we’ got our government back,” Mr Cash added, referring to comments Mr Nygard made in a video he posted to YouTube.

“He also bragged that he wrote the legislation and directed the Christie government to pass stem cell legislation. And it was after the general election that almost the entire Christie cabinet traipsed down to Nygard Cay to pay their respects to their benefactor as if they were making a pilgrimage to Mecca or the Holy Land as it were.

“A disturbing feature of the Christie government is their obvious willingness to ‘kiss up’ to and bow to rich foreign nationals at the expense of the environment and their people,” Mr Cash added. “Mr Christie must take the lead in erasing this unfortunate impression.”

Mr Nygard has said he has financially contributed to both the PLP and the Free National Movement (FNM) in the past. An affidavit he filed in court last year said he was a “major backer” of the PLP.

He has also publicly said he prefers Mr Christie to former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.

Mr Nygard is embroiled in a bitter dispute with his Lyford Cay neighbours and environmental groups over plans to develop and rebuild his property at Simms Point/Nygard Cay.

Last Monday scores of people marched downtown, waving signs, in support of him and denounced the criticism he has received over plans to expand his property.

Last Wednesday, former PLP Cabinet Minister George Smith joined the debate over Mr Nygard’s applications for Crown land, charging that Mr Nygard should “behave appropriately as someone who is a guest in another man’s country.”