The Tribune

FNM chairman Darron Cash said Prime Minister Perry Christie has again demonstrated his lack of confidence in the Bahamian people by bringing in another group of foreign consultants to advise Bahamians.

“Because Perry Christie is Prime Minister, once again Bahamians can say in unison, ‘here we go again!’ The Prime Minister’s high-priced gambling consultants came to town and promptly left.

“Like all the others before them, they have no real vested interests in the recommendations they make.

“As they drop-off their recommendations, collect their cheques and head for the airport, they say of that advice, ‘Take it or leave it’. No ownership. No vested interest in the outcome,” Mr Cash said.

On Thursday, January 17, Prime Minister Christie announced that he was flying in a team of consultants from South Africa.

According to the party’s chairman, these consultants are going to be advising the government on how to fix the gambling laws and regulations “exactly the way” that Mr Christie’s administration wants them.

“Typical of a government that deceived the people and told them that they believed in Bahamians.

“This is further evidence of the cold hard reality that with the PLP in office, Bahamian professionals need not apply. Growing numbers of Bahamians understand that the PLP government is promoting the interests of a select few and are not working to advance the broad interest of those persons with a passion to be a part of the country’s growth and development.

“Qualified Bahaman professionals are anxiously waiting to hear the Prime Minister make the utterance that ‘a team of Bahamian professionals will be the leaders’ on a government project of significance. So far, they have been out of luck and out in the cold. Regrettably, it is because the government has a gun to its head and they have to rush this matter to satisfy their financial backers.

“The PLP’s campaign slogan was ‘gold rush’ and we should all have seen the writing on the wall. They got the gold, now its rush, rush, rush,” he said.

Consequently, Mr Cash said, this government cannot take the time to have Bahamians be the lead agents for change in their country. The foreign consultants must come in and provide an instantaneous “cookie-cutter solution” for the locals.