The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

OPPOSITION Leader Hubert Minnis has questioned why “one of the earliest actions” taken by the government with regards to crime was to “change the method of recording and reporting serious crime”.

He was speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday where he graded the government’s performance on a number of initiatives as an “F” – explaining the government is “even lagging behind” the country’s national grade averages with its performance.

Naming a myriad of initiatives that have been started by the government and “failed,” Dr Minnis also criticised the PLP over the country’s recent crime figures and questioned the success of various programmes aimed at reducing crime.

“In contrast to the successful policies that the FNM left in place, what has the current administration offered us,” Dr Minnis questioned.

He dubbed the Mortgage Relief Plan as “dead on arrival;” he said Swift Justice is “not working;” and the government has no solution to crime which is “still out of control.”

The Homeowners Bill also got an “F” with Dr Minnis calling it “complete disaster in the making.” He also criticised the Pension Bill and graded that an “F,” as well.

The government’s promise of job creation – specifically the creation of 10,000 jobs – was also labelled a failure by Dr Minnis, as was the pledge to double the investment in education.

“It’s amazing as I go through my list and see the number of F’s, this PLP government is even lagging behind the national grade average of the Bahamas. You should be ashamed. Those students are doing better compared to your performance,” Dr Minnis said.

Calling the nation’s crime problem one of, “if not the greatest plague” on society, Dr Minnis hit out at the proposed budget as “deficient” in addressing crime.

“Here we are 13 months following the election of the PLP on May 7, 2012... Let us review what the PLP have accomplished fighting crime since that day,” Dr Minnis said.

“On May 7, 2012, the murder count stood at 45, eighteen days later the murder count had risen by 11, to 56. On May 29, 2013, the day on which this year’s budget communication was delivered, the murder count stood at 49 as compared to 48 on the same day in 2011.”

Within the space of less than a month, a visitor was killed at the foot of the bridge, two visitors were robbed downtown, and an American diplomat was robbed, Dr Minnis continued.

“In (Prime Minister Perry Christie’s) budget communication he told us that ‘crime generally is trending downward’. Where does he live? And where were the promised ‘saturation patrols’, ‘cease fire’ and Urban Renewal 2.0?”

“The prime minister and his party have had control of the government for exactly one year and six weeks now and what is the murder count on their watch – 121. That’s 66 murders between May 8 and December 31, 2012; and 55 murders between January 1 and June 16, 2013; and I am not counting what they now call ‘legal homicide’.”

Stating the PLP “vigorously claimed” crime was an “FNM issue,” Dr Minnis said: “On the FNM’s watch 368 murders in 48 months. On the PLP’s watch, 121 murders in 13 months. Do the maths.

“Is the prime minister concerned now? Will he not hold an elaborate press conference now? No bashing the government now? Now, he says we are going to ask the US for assistance to help us stop killing ourselves and sometimes US citizens – this from a government led by a party that campaigned on an election platform which claimed that they were the only party with the experience and know-how to tackle crime.

“Will the FNM put up posters in red at roundabouts and areas traversed by visitors as they did? No we won’t. As we have said many times before, we are different from them, distinctly different.

“Given all their talk about programmes they would implement to fight crime if elected, I am compelled to ask: Where exactly are the saturation patrols to combat crime? Surely it is not in our capital city where it now seems that neither Bahamians nor tourists are safe from assault.

“And,” Dr Minnis continued, “given the serious state of crime in the country, will the prime minister give an accounting for why one of the earliest actions taken by his Government on the crime front was to change the method of recording and reporting serious crime?”