The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard yesterday shot back at the Davis administration after it accused the opposition party of being hypocritical and abandoning Abaco residents following Dorian’s passage while in office.

“The government is engaged in deflection and they are consistent in terms of attacking persons who would raise questions about the course of action that they take or do not take,” Mr Pintard said during a press conference from Abaco yesterday.

“It is absolutely unnecessary for them to use the kinds of perjoratives or masking language to attack persons who are simply asking on behalf of their constituents and on behalf of the public, for the government to give reasonable explanations for decisions that they make.

“So, if they are saying that any criticism of what they did in the demolition of the domes is hypocritical and nasty, one of the terms that they chose to use, then they are doing so by criticising the Member of Parliament for South and Central Abaco whose views are no different than our views.”

Mr Pintard was responding to the Office of the Prime Minister’s recent criticism of the party following its rebuke of the demolition exercises on Abaco last week.

The FNM leader and a team of FNM supporters travelled to Abaco yesterday to assess the now disbanded dome site.

Following those assessments, Mr Pintard told reporters that it was mind boggling for the government to destroy the housing structures which were largely being occupied by Bahamians and yet not address the issue of unregulated communities on the island.

“Because of our failure to ensure compliance with the law, we have allowed (the situation) to mushroom over time,” he added.

In a statement, the Office of the Prime Minister said it was especially hypocritical and distasteful for the FNM to “pretend to care” about Abaco residents’ fate considering how they “abandoned” Abaconians during a time they needed help the most.

However, Mr Pintard admitted that while the party has made missteps which it has since acknowledged, it did not mean that they should stop “from holding this administration accountable.”

He also noted that, aside from the construction of a “handful of homes” and the introduction of legislation dealing with the presumption of deaths for missing people, the government has done little to assist Abaco and Grand Bahama residents over the last year.

He also said that if the government was to compare their first year in office with that of the Minnis administration, “they will still come up wanting.”

Speaking specifically to the government’s housing projects, Mr Pintard called on the Davis administration to assure the public that due diligence was being done to build “safe” homes and also provide clarity as to why construction on one particular housing initiative had stopped.

He said: “We wanted to look at the homes that are presently being constructed - some of those homes or homes that were started while the Free National Movement was in power and we worked collaboratively with Baker’s Bay.

“Some five homes were commenced and we wanted to know why the construction one year later has not continued and so we have raised questions, asking the government for clarification on what was the complication.”