The Tribune

FORMER Democratic National Alliance candidate Osman Johnson is asking the government to explain what happened to the many initiatives it promised for Grand Bahama.

In particular, he said, people on the island want to know what happened to the pledge that the high level of unemployment will be tackled if the PLP were to be elected to office.

Mr Johnson said: “We are still suffering under the weight of woeful unemployment figures, now well in excess of the 22 per cent previously quoted and the impact that this has had on the lives of our people and the fortunes of Grand Bahama can be seen every day in the empty stores, the empty hotels, the empty bars, restaurants and nightclubs which litter this once prosperous island.

“We watch in jealousy as the capital is being transformed into a Mecca of tourism, with state-of-the-art facilities and world-class amenities for visitors to New Providence.

“The question has to be posed – where exactly is OUR Baha Mar, where is our flagship development which could transform the lives of the people and bring us out of this seemingly never ending slump that we now face every single day.”

Mr Johnson said that although the Ministry for Grand Bahama has been formed as promised, in reality this entity lacks the finances and mandate from the administration to create any real progress, “despite the undoubted efforts of the minister in charge”.

He said the people of Grand Bahama are desperately calling out for the PLP government to remain true to its word and to take any and all necessary steps to address the “economic nightmare” that is their every day reality.

Mr Johnson said: “The price at the end of the day, for the failures of our leaders, of our governments, is not paid by the ministers in New Providence, it is paid for by working people, by the single mothers, by the families who inhabit this island and have to bear witness as their futures slip out of reach, before their very eyes and for no other reason but a lack of direction and more importantly, action, from those we have entrusted to rule our country.”