The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party executives were tightlipped yesterday about the price tag attached to pulling off the organisation’s grand three-day convention where Prime Minister Perry Christie was overwhelmingly re-elected to lead the party.

One PLP insider, who did not want to be named, estimated that the event, the party’s first since 2009, cost as much as $1m.

Describing the national convention as the “biggest and best” in the PLP’s history, Chairman Bradley Roberts told The Tribune yesterday that he had every reason to believe costs associated with the elaborate meeting fell within the budget set by organisers.

However, when he was asked to reveal this budget Mr Roberts declined comment saying he would rather respond to this line of questioning once the convention committee makes its report at the next National General Council (NGC) meeting.

Convention Chairman Shane Gibson also said he did not know at this point what was spent on the convention and confirmed that it was his intention to give an account for the party’s spending on the third Thursday of next month during an expected NGC meeting.

Once this is done, Mr Roberts said the PLP “might be inclined” to make public the contents of the convention report.

Asked whether critics were right to assert that if campaign finance laws were in place, the governing party would have been compelled to make public the information, Mr Roberts said: “I wouldn’t say convention falls under campaign finance laws.”

“One of the major factors in cost is the entertainment. That’s not free you know, we take care of our entertainers,” Mr Roberts added.

According to inside sources, the party put in place several mechanisms to raise funds to supplement the event.

Not only did each of the 38 branches pay $1,100 in convention dues to the party but it was also mandatory that each delegate pay a $50 fee, The Tribune was told. If a stalwart’s dues were not current at the time of convention, an additional $120 in fees was required, an insider said.

Fundraising was also done through $45 tickets for the party’s prayer breakfast to kickoff convention week and there were also paid advertisements in the event’s souvenir booklet. They were priced at up to $500 for a full-page ad.

The party, another insider said, did not have to pay for the three full nights of coverage from the Broadcasting Corporation of the Bahamas. The Tribune was told that by rule, governing parties are exempt from these costs.

After the Progressive Liberal Party lost the 2007 election, it owed the Broadcasting Corporation of the Bahamas nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

In late 2011, the government-run broadcaster secured a Supreme Court judgment against the PLP, then Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie, and PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts for the payment of $247,974.16.

The PLP’s convention system differs from that of the Free National Movement in that delegates from the Family Islands either pay for themselves to travel to attend convention events or the cost is absorbed by the area MP.

The FNM’s convention last July, though not nearly as grandiose as the PLP’s, was estimated to cost around $350,000.

At the time it was confirmed that FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis and Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner, who challenged him, each had to donate $100,000 to fund convention costs. A large portion of this money, Mrs Butler-Turner told The Tribune, had been earmarked to pay the cost associated with voting delegates transportation and hotel accommodations.

The remaining $150,000 was the responsibility of the party’s Finance Committee.

Last Thursday, thousands of PLP supporters erupted into thunderous cheers and danced in celebration of the re-election of Mr Christie in a landslide victory over former Attorney General Alfred Sears, QC, in a leadership race that seemed to be over before it began.

Stalwart councillors voted overwhelmingly in favour of Mr Christie, who received 1,264 votes to a meagre 169 ballots cast in support of challenger Alfred Sears.

The final night of the PLP’s 52nd convention featured a party atmosphere with performances by the legendary Ronnie Butler, the singing prophet Lawrence Rolle, the Spank Band featuring singers Veronica Bishop and Lady E. On the first night of the convention the party also hired American gospel recording artist Jonathan Nelson who performed his hit song “I Believe”.