The Tribune

By CELESTE NIXON

Tribune Staff Reporter

cnixon@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Perry Christie yesterday defended his decision to hold a Cabinet meeting in North Abaco ahead of the impending bye-election, saying he did it for the benefit of that community.

Responding to criticisms that the move wasted a considerable amount of public money, Mr Christie said the meeting was “well worth it” as it gave the people of Abaco a sense of “belonging and identity with the government.”

He said his Cabinet will hold future meetings on other Family Islands.

“We have to be relevant to the people there in these communities and that we had the opportunity yesterday to sit in a cabinet meeting in Abaco and actually demonstrate that – what we were doing will affect savings of a kind that makes the charter flights and lunch, that’s all we paid for, and make the charter flights really inexpensive item and one not worthy of public discussion,” he said.

“I’m going to do the same thing in other islands because I want to symbolically demonstrate to people of our country that governments can come to them – what happened yesterday, for the first time I’m sure, we sat in one room and discussed all of the issues that are relevant to the people of the entire island and I allowed each minister to speak to demonstrate the grasp of the problems and then to say what we are going to do about it,” said Mr Christie.

Earlier this week the opposition Free National Movement (FNM) branded Prime Minister Christie’s decision to hold the Cabinet meeting in North Abaco as an “utter waste of time and money.”

According to FNM party chairman, Darron Cash, this decision by Mr Christie is compelling evidence that the former FNM Government, led by Hubert Ingraham, had left in place a solid foundation upon which the Christie government will be able to build.

“In every respect, North Abaco has been prepared to comfortably accommodate the full infrastructure of the Government of the Bahamas. This is a true testament to the outstanding representation North Abaco received under the FNM. Notwithstanding that reality, the decision by the (Prime Minister) to hold a cabinet meeting in North Abaco should be seen for what it is; a complete and utter waste of time and money. The government’s action is an obscene charade and a naked abuse of power.”

Senator Cash said that the move by Mr Christie is nothing more than a “bye-election ploy” designed to pretend as though his administration cares about the people of North Abaco when their actions in office clearly show that they do not.

However, Mr Christie claimed it was not a political move but rather an opportunity to show the government’s presence and solidarity across the country and also to first hand assess and identify the challenges that need to be addressed.

“We are not going to have a disjointed approach to development we want to be able to move around and be seen to be a relevant government to people and dealing with the issues of people and the best way for us to do that – you get a real sense of being in a place where you can do things unlike if you were sitting in Nassau and talking through officials,” he said in Abaco on Tuesday.

Additionally, Mr Christie said he cannot be accused of “playing politics” as he facilitated the largest developments in Abaco when the PLP was formerly in power and both Members of Parliament representing Abaco were FNMs, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and current Central and South Abaco MP Edison Key.

Further he said the decisions made while in Abaco will be implemented regardless of which candidate is elected in the Abaco by-election.

“You cannot accuse me of politics because with Hubert, and Edison Key as Members of Parliament, I put two of the biggest developments in Abaco and it was the only development that happened in 30 years,” Mr Christie said. “It was my government that started the runway down there and the renovations to the airport – Abaco is too important to isolate it and say it’s politics, it’s like Grand Bahama, it’s too important.”