The Tribune

YOUR SAY

By CHARLES MAYNARD

FNM national chairman

SINCE the general elections on May 7 this year, scores of Bahamians have felt the wrath of the PLP, which came to power under the guise of believing in and supporting Bahamians.

The PLP never indicated that they intended to work narrowly in the interest of those who they perceived supported them. However, the actions of various government ministers and party operatives clearly reveal this administration’s intention to disadvantage Bahamians who they believe did not support them.

Cancellation of contracts

Contracts signed by the Free National Movement have been stopped and cancelled. These contracts, based on their amounts, primarily were allocated to small and medium business enterprises; the very group the PLP claims they are concerned about.

Secondly, the PLP does not make the case that the contracts are unnecessary, which leaves us to believe their concerns are less about the nature of the contracts or the amounts but more about who has received them.

Examples of this can be found at the Department of Environmental Health.

It is ironic that so many of the projects heavily criticised by the PLP escaped their stop and cancel approach. This is in large measure due to the fact that their original complaints while in opposition were unfounded and dishonest.

Furthermore, we believe that another reason why several of the larger projects were not interfered with or stopped by the PLP is because these large contractors, unlike their small counterparts, have the economic might to legally respond to any unjustified action taken by the PLP.

The third and more sinister reason why certain projects were not touched by the PLP may be due to the fact that certain senior PLPs might be connected to the projects, whether through law firms or other professional firms servicing the projects and their contractors, and they are reluctant to act against the personal financial interests of their own members.

So devious and petty are PLP government officials that they have gone as far as to threaten some insurance companies that they would pull government group insurance if those companies did not remove the name of certain FNM agents who secured the lucrative contracts and replace such names with PLPs in the firm. Indeed, it is speculated that at least one of the insurance agents tapped to benefit from this new arrangement might be a close relative of a senior PLP.

Public service purging and intimidation

The PLP programme of victimisation and intimidation of contract and permanent workers in the Public Service rivals if not surpasses that of the pre-1992 PLP. The widespread substantiated allegations now have names, departments and painful stories of vindictive ministers and their operatives setting out to destroy the careers and economic prospects of Bahamians who are perceived not to be supporting the PLP.

It appears that no ministry or corporation is off limits. The public would recall the following terminations:

• 80 Urban Renewal staff that were replaced by PLP supporters;

• Coralie Adderley, the Hospital Administrator;

• Island Administrators and Junior Administrators, some of whom were terminated while others were transferred, costing the government thousands of dollars when they were summoned to Nassau for an initial meeting to threaten them rather than share the government’s vision.

• Known FNM supporter Ivoine Ingraham, terminated from BTVI despite the success of his class over the years.

Cat Island seems to be one of the Family islands hardest hit by the most vicious attacks on Bahamians.

Numerous residents have had their reputation, safety and jobs threatened.

The PLP threats have been followed by the transferring of known FNMs out of Cat Island for no apparent reason; the firing of a very talented and popular worker from a government utility company; the passing over of FNM supporters in the promotion exercises of the RBPF on the island and other despicable acts that will come to light over the next few weeks.

We will continue to fight this wicked trend being re-established by the PLP where ordinary Bahamians who love this country and work hard on their jobs are singled out and punished simply because it appears that they did not support the PLP.

These men and women are exemplary public servants and outstanding Bahamians who are loyal to the government of the day. They implement all lawful directives of policy makers as a matter of principle.

They have no other agenda but to serve the Bahamian people and support their families. Now, sadly, many of them are without work or are deliberately transferred to islands away from their families or to departments where they will be under-utilised.

Winning an election does not bestow the right on a political party to alter the lives of law-abiding citizens to serve partisan political ends.

A political culture of vindictiveness must not return to the Bahamas.

Today, we encourage all right thinking Bahamians to stand on the side of what is right. We call on Prime Minister Perry Christie to be a man of his word and work in the interest of all Bahamians and to restrain his party’s members who are inflicting great harm on our people because of perceived or actual political differences.

We ask any member of the public who believes that they are being victimised to contact our headquarters so that we may intervene on your behalf. We care about what happens to you and your family.