The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

IN a move touted as being “for the best interest of the country”, officials from both the United Democratic Party and The People’s Movement yesterday announced in Parliament Square plans to merge factions ahead of the 2017 general election.

Unable to present the party’s new name, logo or platform on Wednesday, officials announced that the new party will be led on an interim basis by Marco City MP Gregory Moss, with Bahamas Public Services Union President and People’s Movement political chair, John Pinder serving as the interim deputy leader.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Mr Moss said the groups had worked “arduously” behind the scenes for the past six months to get a deal done.

Stressing that the move was made by “people who have the best interest of the country in mind,” Mr Moss said The Bahamas has suffered as “personal agendas” have taken precedence over national agendas.

“We have seen for too long, personal agendas taking place in this country, which are hurting the country,” he said. “We have seen for too long politicians taking the position that they are what matters but the county does not.

“Now the country is seeing that persons that have that common interest are able to put aside any differences and come together for the common good. I am delighted to confirm that the United Democratic Party and The People’s Movement have merged.

“There are certain protocols that have to be observed, which cannot be observed in the time frame for us to speak to them today, but we are dealing with those protocols and we will be able to give far more details on this during the course of next week.

“But what you will see now is a grouping of people who has come together for the common good.

“We intend to contest every seat in the elections. We intend to win the next government of The Bahamas. We intend to change this country, to give it back to the people and to establish it again upon the foundations of God that it was established upon to begin with.

“We see what is happening in this country and people understand that something is fundamentally wrong. When the people are suffering and the politicians are prospering, something has to be fundamentally wrong with that.

“When you have corrupt people, people who are known criminals being able to just escape justice, something must be wrong. When we have people who no longer have access to education, because we have made that a privileged institution for the select few.

“We intend to deal with the question of employment. We intend to forthrightly deal with the question of work permits. We intend to make sure that we put Bahamians first in The Bahamas. We are not against any foreign person, we are for Bahamians.”

Mr Moss said once elected, his party intends to repeal all the recent economic deals related to Grand Bahama, as they didn’t work in the best interest of the people.

“Fixing the Bahamas without fixing Grand Bahama is impossible and that is so with so many other islands,” he said.

“Dealing with our land policy, our resource policy, but more importantly and I think the overarching point is dealing with the people’s access to information on what their government is doing - proper freedom of information.

“These things will be laid before the people in advance of election so the people can understand (that) we are not guessing at this, we know what we are doing, here is what we commit to doing, give us a chance to do it.”

Mr Pinder, on Wednesday spoke about the recent firings of 61 workers from the One&Only Ocean Club resort, who were fired based on poor performance, according to the hotel.

He said he thought it was in “poor taste” for Minister of Labour Shane Gibson to appear to “side with” the company on the matter, noting that as a former labour leader he should know the struggles of everyday Bahamians.

“Labour has always been a very important part of our country’s development and labour ushered in, or help to unshed in the first majority rule government. We believe that labour has been taken advantage of in this country while labour leaders have been given an opportunity to serve in Parliament. The workers of our country have not been given proper representation and have not been treated fairly.

“To hear the minister of labour kind of supporting what the employers is saying, for the reasoning behind (the firings). This is the reason I have been agitating for the last ten years to have the government to amend the Employment Act to better protect the workers of our country.”

In November 2015, Mr Moss announced that he, along with several concerned citizens, formed and launched the UDP in Grand Bahama and that he was elected to serve as leader.

Meanwhile, The People’s Movement led by Mr Pinder and former Senator John Bostwick, was conceived out of an intense opposition to the June 7 gender equality referendum.

In July, the group said it issued more than 500 membership applications as it at that time maintained that it was only a populist project that could morph into a political party.

The party said it plans to host its first convention in the coming months, noting, however, that the move was not guaranteed as it was operating with the view that the governing Progressive Liberal Party could call a snap election as early as March of 2017.