By KYLE WALKINE
Tribune Staff Reporter
kwalkine@tribunemedia.net
DEMOCRATIC National Alliance (DNA) Leader Branville McCartney said yesterday that if he were the prime minister, he would “look elsewhere” for a Governor General and not to Dame Marguerite Pindling, based on the recent controversy surrounding her real property tax payments.
Mr McCartney said that while he has respect for Dame Marguerite and her family’s contribution to the development of the country if she is appointed as Governor General it would not look good on the Bahamas internationally.
“I respect Lady Pindling,” Mr McCartney said. “I highly admire her as a person. But based on circumstances, I would have to look elsewhere. The fact is that she is a public official. On many occasions she has served as the Deputy Governor General. But for her to be given the title of Governor General would not bode well for our country. I think people forget that the Governor General is the highest position in the country.”
Last Thursday The Tribune reported that Dame Marguerite, who is said to be the favourite to replace Sir Arthur Foulkes as Governor General when he demits office next month, owed over $306,000 in real property taxes and had not made a payment for 14 years.
However, The Tribune has since learnt that her debt was paid in full after the information was made public.
The revelation about Dame Marguerite’s real property tax came the same week it was revealed that Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) Executive Chairman Leslie Miller and one of his family-owned businesses owed the corporation a total of $239,533.33. Last Wednesday, a cash payment of $100,000 was made towards the bill for Mr Miller’s Harrold Road Bowling Alley, days after the outstanding bills were made public.
Mr McCartney questioned the morale of certain public figures close to the government, whom he believes have the ability to pay their debt owed to the country but refuse to do so because of their relationship with those in power.
“Last week, it was revealed that about half a million dollars owed to the country was owed by members of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP),” he said. “Those are only the ones we know about. They’ve been owing this money because they have been allowed to do so. But hey, only in the Bahamas.
“This goes to show that this Perry Christie-led administration allows certain people to get away with not paying bills. But for the average Joe Blow, they come down with an iron fist. That is of much concern to me. Lady Pindling had to have known of her real property tax debt. The government just had an amnesty and I’m sure it had to have crossed her mind. BEC is turning off the lights of people that owe $200, but those who owe hundreds of thousands get to have theirs on with peace of mind.”
The DNA leader said the Bahamas is quickly proving “ourselves to be a fourth world country” because its leaders have the nation “going backwards”.
Recently Minister of Agriculture and MICAL MP V Alfred Gray said the media is out to get members of the PLP. However, Mr McCartney said criticism of public figures has nothing to do with party politics.
Comments
proudloudandfnm 9 years, 10 months ago
This dude ran the biggest set of jokers in our history last election. Rushed to put whoever he could get on the ballot. Ran Delano Munroe knowing Munroe was charged with theft.
Yet he claims he would not give Lady P the GG job...
And some folks in this country will actually believe him....
Thinker 9 years, 10 months ago
Because some people are better at Ruling over us than others... Ha ha... Joke's on us.
sheeprunner12 9 years, 10 months ago
All right-thinking Bahamians should rule out Lady Ping as GG
birdiestrachan 9 years, 10 months ago
Thank God Bran McCartney is not the Prime Minister and prayers should go up that he never does. If she did not pay her property taxes for 14 years some of her debt occurred when the FNM party was in power. Mrs. Pindling will do well if she is given the post.
McCartney does not have one original idea . except flogging in Rawson Square.
John 9 years, 10 months ago
So Lady P. was entitled to full property tax exemption when she turned 65. That was sixteen yars ago. SO Does that mean that if she applies for the exemption she will get back the $300,000 she paid PLUS the two years that was paid prior?
Well_mudda_take_sic 9 years, 10 months ago
WELL WORTH REPEATING: Even if she and her family have been shamed into paying her long past due tax bills, it does not take away from the fact that she is a tax dodger who has brought much shame on the Bahamian people. We as a country have over the years graciously bestowed so much on Mrs Ping (notwithstanding the findings of the Commission of Inquiry regarding the corrupt activities of her late husband) and for that she has spit in the eye of the much less well off common Bahamian people. Think of all the poor children in this country who lack decent medical care, lack school supplies, often go to bed at night hungry, and so on, just because the likes of her and the Ishmael Lightbournes in our country feel they do not have to pay their taxes out of a sense of entitlement whereby they believe they are above the law. All the while, she resides like a queen in her lakeside mansion on an eleven acre estate in an upscale Cable Beach neighborhood, no doubt looking down on all of us hard working Bahamians as peasants with complete disregard for the horrible financial hardships most of us must endure day in and day out. AND TO THINK THIS WOMAN MAY EVEN STILL HAVE THE GALL TO WANT TO BE OUR NEXT GG! HAS SHE NO SHAME?.....NOT EVEN A PUBLIC APOLOGY, NOT THAT IT WOULD MAKE MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE AT THIS LATE STAGE!!
leonardlaing 9 years, 10 months ago
Mr. McCartney, You hit the nail on the head. I agree with you 100%.
TheMadHatter 9 years, 10 months ago
In over 40 years of Independence - we have only seen fit to have 3 Prime Ministers. That's hardly much of a democracy in action. Maybe we should have just stayed with the Queen if we're gonna have the SAME people over and over again?
Did this article mention the name Pindling? Wow, unbelievable. Same old, same old.
TheMadHatter
baldbeardedbahamian 9 years, 10 months ago
i was always taught that it was an unforgivable dimplomatic sin the keep our queen waiting. if i remember correctly, at the chogm meeting held here in nassau in the early eighties, a reception for all the government leaders was held on the royal yacht brittannia hosted by HM and PP. ping and wife arrived 25 minutes late for this reception, keeping everyone else waiting. now i dont know if this was deliberate in order to make a dramatic entrance, was deliberate to make a point, or just lack of broughtupsyness, but one thing you can be sure of is that although most of us will have forgottten, the queen's handlers will not have forgotten or forgiven this insult. apart from the fact the pings wife has done virtually nothing, leaving out the redx, for anyone in this county, and leaving out her interference with the judical process on the arrest of her son, the chogm incident should have precluded her from being appointed acting GG let alone being the actual GG. if she is confirmed in the post i will be writing a personal letter of apology to HM to let her know that this appointment does not have the support of the common people and was not done in the best interests of the common people but was political payback move by our prime idiot, sorry i meant minister,
Reality_Check 9 years, 10 months ago
If she is nominated by Christie and appointed GG, I suspect many a sufficiently well connected Bahamian will also be writing to senior members of the London press and a number of the London tabloids to tell all Brits about Mrs Ping and her family's embarrassment of the Bahamian people through her attempt to evade payment of her taxes, including reminding the London press and tabloids about the outcome of that Royal Commission of Inquiry as regards her late husband, LOP. Obviously the poor judgement of Christie would feature heavily in such writings, including his coziness with leading known mobsters and racketeers in our country, like Craig Flowers. One can only imagine the stir this will cause. Who knows, it may even become the triggering event for another Commission of Inquiry. Christie (and by extension the Bahamian people) are unfortunately still the butt of a very good London pub joke about the renaming of Nassau International Airport.....let's try not to create another really good London pub joke with Mrs Ping, Christie and the Bahamian people being the butt of it. There's only so much laughter well tanked Londoners deserve to enjoy!
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