The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement (FNM) candidate for Marco City Michael Pintard believes that the Investment Incentives Act, 2016 will “seriously damage” Freeport and should be repealed.

“If you think things are tough now, if we do not repeal the legislation just passed, things are going to get even worse,” he told a non-partisan political forum in Freeport.

“What the government has done quite quietly is they have put in place a piece of legislation that will seriously damage Freeport,” the former senator said.

The Rotaract Club staged the first political forum in Grand Bahama, which proved successful attracting a large turnout of young businesspersons eager to hear from the political candidates contesting the Marco City seat.

Mr Pintard, and Nevar Smith, the candidate for the Democratic National Alliance, presented their positions and ideas to a packed room at Geneva’s Place. The Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) candidate for Marco City Norris Bain did not attend, even though an invitation was extended to all the candidates.

Questions were submitted to each candidate in advance of the forum, and the candidates also took questions from the audience.

During his presentation, Mr Pintard highlighted some of the many challenges confronting business owners in Freeport, and believes that part of the problem is interference of successive governments.

He thinks that the process of forcing businesses to get approval first at the local level then at a national level has discouraged many investments in Grand Bahama.

The FNM candidate contends that “tens, possibly hundreds of millions, were never invested here in Freeport” because of the process now in place.

“The reality is that a part of the problem in Freeport is that successive governments have unfortunately interfered with a wonderful model in the Hawksbill Creek Agreement,” he said.

“The FNM intends to set up a one-stop shop so that if you are a Bahamian and wish to invest in Freeport you won’t have to get an approval in Freeport then have to go to a politician motivated by political consideration to hold up your project for six months or one year until you are no longer interested.”

Mr Pintard pointed out that the sale of the Port Lucaya Marketplace almost fell through awaiting the government’s approval.

“It was sold and approved by the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) many months until the deal almost came off the table,” he recalled.

“I will fight for your rights to be protected, not just from the GBPA (if they are excessive in any of their decisions) but from the central government of the Bahamas,” he vowed.

For his part, Mr Smith said The Bahamas is in perhaps the worst state it has ever been since independence, and highlighted the high levels of crime and unemployment.

He said that both the FNM and PLP governments have taken Bahamians for granted.

“I joined the DNA because this provided me with the most viable, credible and serious alternative; I joined because the party has shown me that it is serious about empowering the youth of our nation and giving us the tools that we need to be all we can be in this country,” said Mr Smith.

He expressed concerns about the high rate of unemployment and under-employment in Grand Bahama over the last 10 years under successive PLP and FNM administrations.

Mr Smith was elected as a local government councillor at 27. He was voted as deputy chief councillor and at one point served as acting chief councillor for Freeport.

He said that DNA would give priority to Grand Bahama’s tourism sector by encouraging more touristic development in western and eastern parts of the island.

“In conjunction with the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce and various public/private lending institutions, a DNA government will introduce a national tourism business idea competition annually as a way to get more Bahamians engaged in the process,” he said.