The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

SENATOR Renard Henfield said the governing Free National Movement must focus on delivering on its promises, especially those made to certain segments of society, instead of talking about an election.

He said while the government has had some accomplishments, there is still more work to be done this term.

He made the remarks in the Senate during his contribution to debate on a Bill for an Act to Provide for the Protection and Sustainable Use of Biological Resources and Traditional Knowledge, which was passed in the Senate yesterday.

“We have done well but this ain’t no time to talk about (an) election when we have promised so much and we have a lot more to do,” he said. “I’ve said it. I’ve said what I said. This isn’t no time for (an) election.

“We have promised so much, and we have so much more to do for our women and girls, for local governments in this country, for persons will disabilities, for young people in this country who have been arrested and given police records for small amounts of marijuana, for persons in this country who are suffering from illnesses that could be treated with medicinal marijuana, for new industries that we can create so we are no longer taxing our people the old way.”

He continued: “We can create a medicinal marijuana (regime) from the Ontario, (Canada) model where everybody buys their hemp, cannabis, marijuana products from the government facility, which would then create revenue in the billions for (the) government while creating hundreds of entrepreneurs and thousands of employees.

“I can list many more transformative accomplishments in the last three and a half years as I’ve said,” Senator Henfield added, “I can also list a lot more that we should and could do hence my position that this is not time to talk about (an) election. Let us finish what we promised and let us deliver on it today.”

He is not the only public official to express these sentiments. Last week, Marco City MP Michael Pintard made similar comments.

The minister of agriculture said the government “without question” could have done many things better during its term in office, but maintained the party is the better choice for Bahamians.

At the time he suggested that it may be too early to begin election campaigning.

Instead, Mr Pintard said both he and his constituency’s executives have decided to continue to focus on the needs of the community.

“We’ve made a determination in Marco City to continue to do what we’ve been doing, which is one, to build a strong coalition that is made up of persons who have very little interest in political parties, members of the Free National Movement who have every strong support in my estimation in Marco City, members of other political organisations who would’ve in the past supported the PLP or the DNA to build a coalition around dealing with common challenges facing the community.

“We will continue that campaign and we believe that after an election it’s not the time to watch colours. That’s the time to solve what we have been mandated to.

“The second thing that we will continue to do is when we knock on doors our priority is to find out what are your challenges, how can we help you as a partner and meet those and how can we better serve you.

“It is entirely too tough in the constituency for my primary business and focus to be asking persons to support me the next time when I still have some additional supplies, I am sourcing to help them plug a hole in the roof,” Mr Pintard said recently.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has repeatedly brushed off speculation about a snap election this year, despite predictions from the Progressive Liberal Party and House Speaker Halson Moultrie that one would be called soon.

This comes as both the FNM and PLP have been running campaign style ads and started the process of ratifying candidates. The next election is expected in early 2022.