The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The jury has finally returned with a verdict. The current PLP government led by PM Perry Gladstone Christie after only 26 months since coming to high office is by far the most scandal-ridden government in Bahamian contemporary history, even surpassing with breathtaking ease the scandal plagued governments of The Bahamas’ first PM Sir Lynden Pindling during the 1980s.

PM Christie is truly a man among men. No one knows who is the skipper of the SS Gold Rust Ship. Christie cannot control his supposed PLP underlings Philip ‘‘Brave’’ Davis, Fred Mitchell, Dr Bernard Nottage, Keith Bell, Obie Wilchcombe, Shane Gibson, Leslie Miller, Dr Andre Rollins and Gregory Moss. These men are running their own quasi-governments within the Christie government. It looks like Christie is deftly afraid to put his foot down.

The PLP has moved from one catastrophic, mindboggling blunder to another. The latest blunder has been Labour and National Insurance Minister Shane Gibson falsely accusing a decent, law-abiding private citizen of composing the US State Department 2014 Investment Climate Statement of The Bahamas – a document which says among other things that the Gold Rust government has failed to fulfil many of its campaign promises, such as creating 10,000 jobs within its first year and establishing a mortgage relief programme.

The statement also claims that the Christie government lacks transparency. US Charg� d’affaires John Dinkleman has since repudiated Gibson’s baseless allegation, which were made without a scintilla of evidence. Gibson only sought to rake Hank Ferguson over the coals because he just happens to be the son of former FNM Chairman Johnley Ferguson.

As PM, Christie should demand that Gibson issue a public apology to the Ferguson family. Clearly Gibson was attempting to portray Hank Ferguson, who is reportedly a PLP, as an unpatriotic Bahamian, as Dr Andre Rollins has already sought to do with the FNM by accusing the opposition of being unpatriotic for supporting the US government’s unflattering views of his government. And for Rollins’ information, in March 2004 then Massachusetts Senator and de facto Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry claimed that some foreign leaders had privately confided to him that they wanted him to defeat then US President George W Bush in the 2004 Presidential Election.

According to Kerry, who is the current secretary of State in the Obama administration, these foreign leaders were critical of Bush’s foreign policies. This bit of information debunks Rollins’ claim that you will never hear an elected member of the United States Congress stand to his or her feet and quote criticisms of a government foreign to the United States.

Rollins should have done his research before making such a claim in an attempt to defend the indefensible.

Gibson’s latest gaffe is as asinine as his recent attempt to convince Bahamians that his government created 30,000 jobs in the past two years. When it became apparent to him that even Stevie Wonder could see the implausibility of such an astounding claim, he quickly backpedaled, as Christie has done with respect to the 10,000 jobs pledge.

In addition to the Gibson fiasco has been the situation on Grand Bahama regarding the 18 public schools’ having their electricity supply disconnected by the Grand Bahama Power Company due to the PLP’s negligence in paying its bill, which had reported mushroomed to over $1m.

This incident coincided with National Report Card Day, which one can imagine greatly inconvenienced the teachers and parents. This blunder is eerily similar to fresh allegations which have surfaced throughout the country that Sawyer’s Fresh Market has stopped accepting Social Services food stamps from poor Bahamians because once again the PLP has failed to meet its financial obligations, which leads to the conclusion that the PLP government’s priorities are misplaced.

Interesting, the Department of Social Services has been reportedly moved from the NIB building in downtown Freeport to the Sun Plaza building which is allegedly owned by a brother of a Cabinet minister. If true, then this has conflict of interest written all over it. It is further alleged that the rental fee is between $20,000-$30,000 per month.

The Whistleblower cannot understand why the PLP would want to dole out over $20,000 a month for rent when it has the massive Government Office Complex located in Freeport, which also houses the Radio Northern Bahamas Service, at its disposal. There is ample space in that building to accommodate Social Services. But some smart alec in the PLP government decided instead to pay this massive rental fee to a PLP supporter. All the while, Social Services food stamps are not worth the paper they are printed on.

The Whistleblower can go on and on with regards to the many blunders this inept government continues to commit. As the Whistleblower writes, the PLP has already set wheels in motion to regularise webshop gaming, despite the January 2013 gaming referendum results, that clearly states that most Bahamians are opposed to legalising the industry.

Nevertheless, Christie has reneged on his word to abide by the results and has made it patently clear that his administration will acquiesce to the wishes of a few webshop owners, as opposed to the majority of the electorate who wasted their time voting in the opinion poll.

One million in taxpayers’ dollars wasted, and for what? And consider the thousands of workers who were given the mandatory three-hour break to take part in the referendum. Business owners lost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in three hours of productivity due to an opinion poll Christie had no intentions of adhering to once the results were not what he desired.

The PLP places more value on the webshop owners and Peter Nygard than in the masses who gave them their lofty positions. You see, the masses are not as moneyed as the special interest groups this government is tripping over itself to please.

Meanwhile, as hundreds of poor Bahamians live without electricity, BEC Chairman Leslie Miller continues to be handled with kid gloves by Christie even though he still allegedly owes BEC in excess of over $100,000. Miller’s annual salary as BEC chairman is a staggering $100,000.

Most Bahamians don’t even earn half that much, particularly the hundreds of police reservists who allegedly were not paid in months. In a normal society, Miller would have been relieved of his duties once it was brought to the attention of his leader that he owed nearly a quarter million dollars to a government entity. The thing which staggers the mind of the Whistleblower is Miller’s indifference. He cannot see that he has lost his moral authority to demand delinquent BEC customers to pay their bills. For him to demand such is like the pot calling the kettle black. Christie’s reluctance to remove Miller is further proof that he is afraid of him. The PM didn’t even reprimanded Miller for cracking jokes in the House about beating up his girlfriend.

This Miller BEC matter is similar to the former VAT messenger Ishmael Lightbourne debacle. He too owed a significant sum in taxes yet was given a lucrative post with the aim of ensuring Bahamians comply with VAT laws. The Whistleblower, while not surprised at the PLP’s ineptitude, is greatly disappointed in the FNM troika of Dr Hubert Minnis, Loretta Butler-Turner and Darron Cash.

They have failed to capitalise on the PLP’s many blunders and have failed to offer to thousands of disillusioned Bahamians an alternative to the PLP. The FNM should be further ahead in the public opinion poll, but it continues to lag behind due to the many missed opportunities of the FNM triumvirate. The FNM is too embroiled in senseless spats while this inept PLP government gets away with bloody murder. The Whistleblower is left with very little choice but to call for the return of Hubert Alexander Ingraham to active politics and to the FNM. Ingraham is the only opposition figure able to outmanoeuvre this scandal-ridden PLP government.

The FNM troika has been too ineffective in holding this PLP’s feet to the fire. And the frightening part is the PLP’s apparent arrogance.

The PLP seems to be of the view that it can govern irresponsibly and still defeat an FNM party led by Minnis, Butler-Turner and Cash. Bahamians just cannot afford for the PLP to get back into office in 2017 because it will destroy this country.

They have brought disgrace to this country and have lowered the morale of thousands of Bahamians, especially those who voted PLP. Ingraham must return to active politics to save this country from the hands of the PLP.

THE WHISTLEBLOWER

July 6, 2014.