The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

RATHER than “take the high road,” the Christie Administration decided to “duck and cover and blame someone else” in the aftermath of last week’s tragic Mayaguana plane crash which claimed three lives, FNM Chairman Darron Cash charged yesterday.

He accused the government of “running for cover” and Prime Minister Perry Christie of acting like a “cold-hearted political coward.” He criticised Transport and Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna-Martin and Mayaguana MP V Alfred Gray for their statements in the wake of the crash.
The aircraft was forced to make a midnight landing on an unlit, damaged runway to pick up Rev Robert Black who was in need of emergency medical care, last Tuesday. Upon landing, it clipped one car before colliding with another.

That second car, in which the mother, sister and brother-in-law of former MP Sidney Collie sat, burst into flames – killing all three, inside.

The vehicles had come out to help with the emergency airlift – using their headlights to illuminate the runway, which is not equipped with lights.

“In the immediate hours following the crash the first words from the prime minister should have been words of comfort and prayers and a call for support and comfort for the family,” Mr Cash said.

“Instead, Bahamians got the reaction of a cold-hearted political coward who lacked the common decency to put people before politics. Rather than taking the high road and showing the statesmanship demanded at a time of tragedy, the prime minister decided to duck and cover and blame someone else for the failures of his government. Mr Christie’s behaviour was as disgraceful as it was disappointing,” according to Mr Cash.

Ms Hanna-Martin and Mr Gray “also ran for cover” and “immediately found it necessary” to suggest the lack of a functional airport or appropriate emergency landing procedures in Mayaguana was the fault of the previous government, Mr Cash continued.

In his opinion, “their responses were failures of basic leadership on top of failures as ministers.”

“We expected nothing less from these two officials. However, the prime minister should have behaved differently. Once again Mr Christie failed miserably to rise to the standard we expect of our prime minister.”

After being in office for nearly a year, the government should have ensured Mayaguana’s airport was fully operational, the party chairman said, adding that it is clear Mayaguanans are “simply not a priority” for the government.

“Every dollar spent on foreign consultants, clearing bushes and creating jobs for retirees who did not need them could have been diverted to implementing emergency procedures at airports that needed them,” Mr Cash said.

“Putting proper emergency lighting at the Mayaguana airport would have been considerably cheaper than the one million dollars squandered on the referendum and the fifteen million that vanished from the Urban Renewal slush fund.

“Instead of wasting his time chasing 2 per cent from BTC in meetings that went nowhere, the prime minister should have been spending his time and energy dealing with issues that addressed the immediate health and safety concerns of Bahamians across the country.”

The tragic accident is “another clear example of a feckless and incompetent government that cannot shoot straight,” he said.

Following the crash, Mr Christie said his government has to have an immediate meeting with the I–Group, which was responsible for the Mayaguana airport’s upgrade.

His government, he said, is “not pleased” with its relationship with the development company, which should have rehabilitated the airport, inclusive of lights and resurfacing of the runway.

“Once the agreement was changed, under the Ingraham administration, where they became the owners of the land, one has to wait on them to fulfil the terms of the agreement left in place... I made a speech today to show how the best plans in the world are derailed by political differences because when the FNM came into power they had a different approach where they had to review the agreement and ultimately change it,” he said.

Ms Hanna-Martin had said: “The Mayaguana Airport is the subject of a Heads of Agreement with the I-Group, a foreign development group which under that agreement were obliged to rehabilitate the airport inclusive of lights and runway resurfacing.

“That agreement was reviewed by the previous administration for several years and it was only until February 2012 that a revised agreement was finalised between the former government and the I Group.”

Meanwhile, Mr Gray was quoted in a local daily as calling on the FNM to accept responsibility for the state of the runway. When he visited the island on Thursday, he said the government will upgrade Mayaguana’s airport if the I-Group does not.

Ms Hanna-Martin has already promised residents that emergency lighting is being ordered by the government in order to stop having to illuminate the runway during night landings using vehicles.

Mr Christie also said the government cannot allow the airport to remain in its present condition.

The Ingraham administration signed a revised Heads of Agreement for the $1.8 billion Mayaguana-based I-Group project last February. The original deal signed under the former Christie administration in 2006 was a 50/50 joint venture between the Government, by way of the Hotel Corporation, and the I-Group, with both parties owning the development project under the umbrella of the Mayaguana Development Company.