The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

THE Davis administration will make the decisions it considers necessary, this nation’s leader insisted yesterday, as he dismissed former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham’s assertions about how the government has conducted business since taking office last year.

“This is my administration, and we are making decisions in accordance with the plan that we have set out,” Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said yesterday.

He was asked by The Tribune to respond to Mr Ingraham’s view that the Davis administration had been reluctant to make decisions on controversial issues.

Mr Ingraham also contended last Friday that the Progressive Liberal Party had put on a first class show of public relations and that while they appeared to be getting good reviews now, Bahamians would judge them on their actions or perceived inaction.

The former prime minister gave his post 2021 election view as a guest on Guardian Talk Radio’s “Z Live: Off the Record”, with host Zhivargo Laing.

“First of all, I don’t know what decisions he thinks we have to make or what decisions that we ought to have made,” Mr Davis said in response to a question from this newspaper. “This is my administration, and we are making decisions in accordance with the plan that we have set out.

“It’s all contained in our blueprint for change and if you look at that those are the things we’re following.

“What decisions he’s thinking about that we ought to make, well he had his opportunity when he was there. This is now the Davis administration and we’ll be making decisions as we deem necessary.”

When The Tribune pointed to a view that his administration had not made a decision on the controversial issue of marital rape or efforts to save the National Insurance Board fund since months ago being told in an actuarial review that it was in a dangerous position, Mr Davis said: “I respond to that by saying that the decisions will be made in the time that we have.

“My priority has been from I got elected to stabilise our economy and our fiscal affairs, which has been in shambles. That is necessary.

“My second priority as well is to ensure I relieve the suffering upon the Bahamian people that was brought on by the aftermath of Dorian and wreaked by the handling of the virus and pandemic. I think we are heading in the right direction in respect to those responses.

“Other issues will come. You talk about marital rape if you look in my Blueprint for Change it’s not addressed at all. We are following our Blueprint for Change.

“I am not ashamed of what we have done and we have made the right decisions in the interest of the Bahamian people,” Mr Davis further said of the work of the government nearly one year after being elected to office.

Last Friday, Mr Ingraham said the only major decision made by the Davis administration has been the reduction of value added tax to ten percent from 12 percent.

“They have, since they’ve been in office, put on a first class show of public relations. I envy them. I could never have produced such a show when I was in office,” Mr Ingraham said at the time.

“The public is very happy that the FNM government is gone because they really wanted the FNM out and the public is willing to excuse many things that the present government is doing because they’re just happy to say ‘Well, at least they ain’t here now.’

“But as time goes on, they will be judged by the public as we all have been up to now.

“They’ve not done anything major since they came in, except they reduced VAT from 12 to 10 percent and put it on breadbasket items and they were able to get away with that and the public accepted that 10 percent is better than 12 even though it’s costing lots of money for lots of people who can’t afford it.

“But generally speaking, they’re getting a good review by the population so far, but that’s on the surface. I expect that not long from now they will be held accountable for their actions or inaction just like everybody else.

“What I do know is they have been very reluctant to make decisions about anything that’s possibly controversial. As you know they can only push that back so far,” the former prime minister said.