The Tribune

By RIEL MAJOR

Tribune Staff Reporter

rmajor@tribunemedia.net

THE Free National Movement slammed former prime minister Perry Christie's "empty rhetoric and broken promises" after he criticised the government’s actions amid the ongoing load shedding by Bahamas Power and Light.

In a press statement released yesterday, officials from the FNM said the former PLP leader's failed promises had ushered Mr Christie out of office in historic fashion.

The statement read: “He even lost the trust and faith of his own constituents. So, to hear Perry Christie today – who literally had years to address the growing problems at Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) when he held power – blast the government for the current situation he had a larger role in creating is not surprising.

“It’s how he operates – creating a mess and then blaming others for the mess he created – in fact, it’s the PLP modus operandi. Quite frankly, that’s why Perry Christie is in retirement today.”

FNM officials noted the PLP claimed to have many plans to improve The Bahamas, but nothing took place.

“The woeful PLP also claimed to have a plan to improve the New Providence landfill but fell short; they claimed to have a plan to revitalise the Family Islands, which never took place, and they had a plan to double the government’s investment in education, yet stood by and watched our schools deteriorate,” the statement noted.

“Words alone won’t improve a thing, which is why our Prime Minister is fighting every day to improve the quality of life for all, because Bahamians deserve nothing less from their elected leaders.”

On Wednesday, former Prime Minister Perry Christie said the PLP left in place a plan that provided both short and long-term strategies for sustainable power generation, as he urged officials to fix the ongoing crisis quickly.

While conceding his administration ran out of time to introduce this plan, Mr Christie said it was complete and ready to be picked up by the Minnis government.

In the wake of continuous load shedding, the former PLP leader said he could now only assume the Free National Movement government either disagreed with these provisions or didn’t look at them.

“We left in place a full plan, but it was too close to elections to try and make it,” Mr Christie told The Tribune.

“We brought in Gowon Bowe, Michael Maura together with Kevin Basden who ran BEC and they joined Sir Baltron Bethel and they all agreed on particular plans going forward, having looked at three proposals and they chose one and they left that in place.

“I would say that we - to predicate all that we were doing - brought in people from the outside, two of them connected to the Chamber of Commerce, one very well respected and one ran BEC, so look we shall see, but whatever we left in place covered every possible development short-term (and) long-term and I could only assume they disagreed or didn’t look at it,” Mr Christie said, when asked if he believed his government had the answers to prevent what the country is now experiencing.

He added: “Everybody is affected now. It’s a very difficult situation for the country, very difficult for the government (and) it’s very difficult for BPL.

“Enormous damage is being deferred on a lot of people and so it’s a difficult situation that has to be addressed as quickly as possible.”

Mr Christie noted he was able to account for everything he’s done in public life, but referred The Tribune to the PLP’s current leader, Philip “Brave” Davis, for further insight as the power provider was under his purview during the former government.

BPL CEO Whitney Heastie admitted on Sunday the company sits “on the edge every day”. He could not guarantee there would be no further electricity cuts nor when the load shedding nightmare will end.