The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

FNM Senator Zhivargo Laing said he will resign from his seat if the PLP can provide proof of a nationwide 33 per cent unemployment rate as was allegedly claimed by the party during their election campaign.

In his contribution to Monday's Senate session, Mr Lang took time to make an "observation" about the PLP's successful, "historic" election that led to the Speech.

He showed the Senate a photo he took himself of a poster displayed around the capital.

"I have a picture here of a poster which was placed - and a number of which still remain on many poles throughout the country," Mr Lang said. "This photo was taken by me of the poster on a pole on West Bay Street, right there on the property of the old Seafloor Aquarium opposite the Easter entrance of Arawak Cay. As you can see, the sign reads at the top, 'FNM Delivers', in the middle, '33 Out of Every 100 Bahamians Are Out of Work' and at the bottom, 'PLP Believe in The Bahamas'."

However, Mr Lang claimed the unemployment statistic emblazoned on the sign was and still is "simply untrue" and called on the government to provide evidence of the claim.

"In fact, if any member opposite in this place or any member opposite outside of this place can prove that this assertion is true or correct, I will resign my Senate seat," he declared, so sure of the inaccuracy of the claim.

"According to the assertion, there is more than 100,000 Bahamians out of work, which is roughly 1/3 of the 300,000 Bahamians. Now, if the PLP put these signs up and knew that it was incorrect, then they were indecent for publishing this lie - untruth."

Mr Lang said that in addition to being "indecent", the PLP is also "ignorant" and "insane" depending on their knowledge of the supposed untruth. "If they put the signs up and did not know that what they were putting up was untrue means that they were ignorant and that does not inspire much confidence going forward," he said. "If they put the signs up and did not know how true it was means that there was some level of insanity there and that would be a frightening proposition."

Mr Lang stated he wished to make this observation to prove that "elections can be won on truth and they can be won on untruth".

"It all depends on what people like," he said, before making note of another claim that he believes needs more verification. The assertion that the PLP produced 22,000 jobs while in office last time - another assertion that cannot be independently verified," Mr Lang stated. "I trust that this will not be the tenor of the administration with the responsibility of administering the pledges in the Speech from the Throne."

Commenting on the Speech, he applauded the government for prioritising items such as fighting crime and spurring the economy.

"With these priorities, I cannot argue," he said. "They are sound priorities. Indeed, they were priorities for us when we were in office. They lie at the heart of our substantial investment in crime fighting and economic stimulus."

Bahamians have "high expectations" about the benefits that they voted for and should come to them, Mr Lang continued. He said they want less murder and crime, more jobs, mortgage relief, less foreigners - both legal and illegal, a $400 million education investment, and national health insurance.

"If they can get these things, the country as a whole will be better off. Indeed, it would be utopia like," Mr Lang said. "They were promised these things."

On par with fellow FNM senator Desmond Bannister, Mr Lang also hinted at the PLP receiving campaign donations from an owner of an illegal webshop.

He started by quoting the Speech from the Throne which spoke of a referendum to decide whether a national lottery should be instituted and whether webshop-type gaming should be decriminalized and regulated.

"I have no difficulty with a referendum on gambling. We, the FNM proposed the same first, in fact. I do note, however, that this item has a curious and interesting priority in the crime fighting effort," he said, before adding: "I dare not believe that its high priority bears any relations to the recent general elections."

He continued: "In a sense, one way to reduce crime is to decriminalise the crime itself. In this case we know the gambling is illegal, though a number of prominent persons are the major traders in it and though many Bahamians practise it. This notwithstanding, it is today illegal so those who are its business people are engaged in an illegal trade in crime. So those who take money from them are engaged in the taking of money from the proceeds of crime. Until it is actually decriminalised, it remains a crime."

Now that the government believes gambling can be "unilaterally" decriminalised and regulated it "resorts" to a referendum, Mr Lang stated.

"The campaign in this referendum will be most interesting, especially as it relates to funding the campaign," he said. "I wonder if we will put campaign finance laws in place on this one."