The Tribune

LEADER of the Official Opposition Philip "Brave" Davis has labelled Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest as the "worst" Minister of Finance, accusing the Minnis administration of borrowing more than $1 billion since assuming office but having nothing to show for it.

He said he is convening a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee tomorrow, as, Mr Davis said, government borrowing continues, but Mr Turnquest continues to blame the Progressive Liberal Party for the country's debt levels.

Mr Davis' comments are the latest in a back and forth with Mr Turnquest, sparked by comments the PLP leader made at a press conference last week.

"Peter Turnquest's ad hominem and highly emotive attacks on me and the PLP for holding the FNM government's feet to the fire smacks of arrogance and desperation," Mr Davis said in a statement. "He must account for the government's stewardship of the people's scarce resources in pure policy terms. To date, the FNM government has not been forthright, transparent or accountable to the Bahamian people. This is unacceptable."

He said the Minnis administration had borrowed a "staggering" amount of money in its first year.

"I simply asked where the money went and will continue to do so on behalf of the Bahamian people. His answer was that the FNM was paying off bills from the previous administration. Well during the last fiscal year this same Peter Turnquest reported to Parliament and the media that the FNM paid $381 million of bills in June 2017 he claimed were left behind by the PLP government. We are now in a new fiscal year; the borrowing continues and he is singing the same incredulous tune of deflection - it's the PLP's fault. I am convening a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday, April 10.

". . . We in the PLP see that the human suffering index in the Bahamas has gone up exponentially," Mr Davis said.

"The poor can get no relief; the minister of health proposes to tax poor people's food while he can't get sufficient medicine and beds in the public hospitals. The FNM has intentionally added to the rate of unemployment and there is a steep deterioration in public infrastructure.

"Mosquitos are out of control and road traffic accidents are killing our people with no programmes in place to stop it. There are bloody murders of our young people every week without fail while promising young minds are steadily leaving the Bahamas for the US, Canada and the UK because there is no support for them here. This is what we see."

Stagnant

He said Grand Bahama's economy remains stagnant, while the Minnis administration tries to "force an economically questionable and environmentally unsustainable project on the people there," referring to the controversial Oban Energies oil refinery and storage facility.

"There is no economic or social policy for the Family Islands," Mr Davis added. "The picture by any measure is pretty grim and no amount of bombast and personal attacks of deflection can change those facts. We also know that Mr Turnquest has failed as minister of finance. He does not understand the sophisticated world of public finance administration; he is a dismal failure at cash flow management."

Last week, Mr Turnquest responded to a previous verbal attack from Mr Davis. He said Mr Davis was in no position to speak about fiscal prudence, as the former Christie administration "mismanaged the country's financial resources, exceeding their last budget by over $500 million alone."

Mr Davis had questioned what the government was doing with its more than $1bn in approved borrowing, but Mr Turnquest retorted: "Make no mistake about it, this last administration had oversight of millions of dollars in inflated contracts of questionable value, and should be the last to open their collective mouths with anything to do with financial matters or fiscal propriety."

Schools

Targeting the "excessive use" of taxpayer dollars on schools and clinics in Mr Davis's constituency of Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador, he added that this all fell "curiously" within the former deputy prime minister's territory.

"Under his watch as a minister in the former government, the opposition leader helped preside over a massive ramp-up of government debt even after introducing value added tax, which added hundreds of millions of new revenue to the government purse," Mr Turnquest said.

"With this dismal record of performance, quite frankly the opposition leader and his colleagues are in no position to talk about fiscal propriety.

"Their government grossly mismanaged the country's financial resources, exceeding their last budget by over $500 million alone, so his critique particularly rings hollow."

Of the government's approved $1.4 billion borrowing for the 2017-2018 fiscal year, Mr Turnquest said $323 million was to cover this year's deficit, while another $400 million was "to settle unpaid bills" left behind by the former administration.