The Tribune

By CELESTE NIXON

Tribune Staff Reporter

cnixon@tribunemedia.net

WHILE backing FNM North Abaco candidate Greg Gomez, party deputy leader Loretta Butler-Turner said voting FNM in the by-election is not just about the candidate – but also supporting the opposition and what it has done for Abaconians.

Speaking in North Abaco over the weekend, Mrs Butler-Turner said while Mr Gomez has “big shoes to fill”, he has the “energy and enthusiasm” needed to fight in front-line politics.

She said: “This by-election is not only about your future. It is also about holding firm to the great ideals of the FNM, which rescued this country from one-man rule, victimisation and the entitlement mentality of the PLP, a mentality that is back with a vengeance under Perry Christie.

“If we want to have a strong opposition that will keep this government’s feet to the fire, we have to stay all together. If we want to build on the legacy and accomplishments of Hubert Ingraham, we have to stay all together from Murphy Town to Green Turtle Cay to Cooper’s Town.”

Mrs Butler-Turner said so far, the PLP government is just following through with plans and developments already set in motion by the former Hubert Ingraham administration including the plans for the new port, airport and hospital.

“The proof of what the FNM stands for can be measured here in Abaco by the schools we built, the many miles of road we paved, by the introduction of local government, by the domestic investments we encouraged and the foreign investments we attracted to this island, by the acres we placed in the National Park System, by the Crown Land we granted, by the assistance programmes we put in place, by the subdivisions and homes we built, by the docks we repaired or built, and by so much more.”

If the country wants to continue moving forward, Mrs Butler-Turner said all FNMs must “stay all together” and ensure that North Abaco remains an FNM seat.

She said: “Let us join together and stay all together to elect Greg Gomez as the next Member of Parliament for North Abaco, to succeed the man, who, as I have said before, will go down in history as the great reformer and moderniser.”