The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts hit back at FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis yesterday after Dr Minnis called for the Cabinet to resign and for a general election to be called.

While touting the government’s “successes” this term, Mr Roberts said Dr Minnis should have called for the resignation of the Bahamas Cabinet years ago after his party failed Bahamians.

“The problem with the media comments attributed to Dr Minnis is that it was he and the FNM who were kicked out of office in May 2012 before the FNM ‘destroyed the country’ because their ‘record of poor judgment in governance’ that placed the Bahamas on a path to ‘disaster,’” he said. “Further, Dr Minnis needs to be more concerned about immediate problems and turmoil within his party and the threat of his leadership, let alone an early general election.”

Reiterating party lines, Mr Roberts said the Ingraham administration’s “mismanagement” of the Bahamian economy exacerbated the recession locally, causing thousands of Bahamian families to suffer and for unemployment to double.

“During Dr Minnis’ tenure as cabinet minister, the Bahamas not only suffered multiple downgrades of its sovereign credit rating, but the deleterious effects of the FNM’S poor stewardship ricocheted throughout the country months after their departure when Standard and Poor downgraded the Bahamas because of the policy decisions of Dr Minnis and the FNM government,” he said.

Mr Roberts said that since the PLP came into power, stopover arrivals have increased by more than 30 per cent in the Family Islands and the government has approved “some 35 investment projects…valued in billions (of dollars)” while creating thousands of jobs.

“Given the enormous mess the PLP inherited in May 2007, to his credit and thanks to his vision, tenacity and strong and focused leadership, Prime Minister Perry Christie and his team has successfully pulled this country from the proverbial fiscal cliff and has effectively turned this economy around in just two short years,” he said.

He added: “He succeeded against tremendous politically motivated opposition and headwinds.”

Mr Roberts said Dr Minnis “and his outrageous, sensational and headline grabbing rhetoric” cannot be taken seriously as he lacks credibility.

He added: “While this PLP government was hard at work on behalf of the Bahamian people, Dr Minnis was busy distancing himself from the mess his FNM government left behind and trying his very best to obfuscate, oppose and block every piece of legislation or policy advanced by the PLP government to improve the quality of life for Bahamians everywhere.”

Earlier this week, Dr Minnis said the Christie administration has a track record of “poor judgment” and is “incapable” of governing the country.

He again hit out at the government for its plans to ignore the 2013 gambling referendum and go ahead with the regulation of webshops.