The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Perry Christie yesterday said he is “distressed” over the “politicisation” of the government’s hurricane relief efforts, charging that his administration does not “have the time to get distracted by politics” and become “tribal” while grappling with the aftermath of a natural disaster.

Mr Christie, during a press conference, sought to disabuse the public of the perception that hurricane relief efforts will involve alleged cronyism and corruption. He charged that the last thing in the world persons suffering from Hurricane Matthew should be thinking about “is whether or not a PLP government is going to bypass them.”

He said he is of the view that all stakeholders should be “working shoulder to shoulder together to get the job done for the Bahamian people”.

However, Mr Christie responded to criticism of the National Emergency Management Agency’s (NEMA) request for trucks and volunteers post-hurricane from Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr Hubert Minnis, claiming that the reason for doing so was to “avoid people claiming politics” and to “give everybody an opportunity to participate” in the restoration efforts.

On Tuesday, Dr Minnis claimed that the government’s hurricane recovery and restoration efforts will involve cronyism and victimisation.

Dr Minnis also said the government “dropped the ball” by waiting until after the category four storm had passed to ask for trucks and volunteers, further charging that the government should have known it would need such items and/or assistance, given its prior knowledge of the storm’s strength.

“Of course we knew that we’re going to need trucks and of course we have truckers,” Mr Christie shot back yesterday. “But to avoid people claiming politics we then broadcast all truckers who are available and interested come forward to give everyone an opportunity and to let the people know we’re just not selecting the truckers who we know.

“That’s why it was broadcast, not to say we don’t have truckers who we were calling on, we’re calling on people all the time. But we wanted to give everybody an opportunity to participate in this. And this is nationwide. You cannot sit down and make selective decisions on this matter. And we wanted to disabuse people of that.”

Mr Christie went on to explain how he, during a recent post-hurricane tour of Lowe Sound, Andros, made “special efforts” to venture into the “FNM section” of the community just “to let them know I was there for them too.”

“…I just wanted people to know there’s no politics in this,” Mr Christie stressed. “That’s how particular you have to be. Because the worst thing in the world in a hurricane is to become tribal.

“…The point I’m making is you can see therefore it transcends politics. And this is about addressing an issue where we are all affected and we need to work together, and we need to work harmoniously together, and we need to work quickly harmoniously together, and that’s the whole idea.”

He added: “We have to get things going, we have to do it quickly. We have people coming from outside. You don’t want to discourage them by saying if the alternative government is saying we are nakedly discriminating and politicising, what you’re doing is saying to people ‘don’t donate’. And surely that’s not the thing to do at this stage.

“The point is we should all be working shoulder-to-shoulder together to get the job done for the Bahamian people.”

Mr Christie made his statements during a press conference for the donation of $100,000 by Commonwealth Bank Limited to NEMA at the latter’s headquarters on Gladstone Road. It marks the second monetary donation by Commonwealth Bank this week to hurricane relief.

Minister of Labour and National Insurance Shane Gibson, the government’s coordinator for hurricane restoration efforts, said while the bank’s “generous contribution” is but a “drop in the bucket,” it will go “a long way” in helping the government throughout the recovery period.

Mr Gibson also said he hopes Commonwealth Bank’s donation will “inspire other corporate Bahamas citizens to do likewise and assist us.”

“…This is something that is beyond the government’s capacity,” he added. “And it’s in everybody’s best interest to restore the Bahamas as quickly as possible. It’s going to take time.

“… It’s not as easy as it was in the past where you had a limited number of persons affected, limited islands. We’re talking now the hub of the entire Bahamas affected, which is New Providence.

“We’re asking persons to exercise patience. During these things we try to move quickly, but we want to make sure that we don’t have abuse of the system. Because even though everybody wants us to move quickly, at the end of the day we are held accountable to what we did.”