The Tribune

ON Monday, October 10, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis will deliver his first national address since being elected to office last September.

The address will be aired on all local television channels at 8pm.

According to Press Secretary Clint Watson yesterday, Mr Davis is expected to deliver an update on the way forward for the nation. He will also address matters, including the cost of living, the government’s legislative agenda and industrial concerns.

Additionally, the prime minister will talk about his administration’s goals, where the nation is headed and explain some of the plans presently underway.

“We want to encourage all of you to tune into that to hear the prime minister’s first official national address,” Mr Watson said yesterday during a press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister.

He continued: “The administration is committed to ensuring that Bahamians experience in their everyday lives a series of improvements the government is undertaking, and we’ll hear more about that when the prime minister addresses the nation on Monday, October 10th, at 8pm.”

On Wednesday, Mr Davis told Parliament that his administration has laid a strong foundation for recovery and future progress during its first year in office, while expressing confidence that it will continue to do so until all its objectives are achieved.

While outlining his administration’s performance, Mr Davis said that while much has already been accomplished by the government, there is still more to be done.

He also took shots at the former governing party’s actions in office, saying when his administration assumed power last year it found the country in a bad state.

“The country was in a dire state,” he said in the House of Assembly this week. “The economy was headed for a fiscal cliff. Two billion had been borrowed every year for four years, with no plausible plan for the growing debt. Hospitals remained under extreme pressure, with patients treated in parking lots, severe shortages of doctors and nurses, and regular leaks and flooding in the buildings. Schools were still going back and forth between in-person and online learning, with thousands of students not attending classes at all.”

However, he said that over the last year, his administration has sought to correct past mistakes, help the nation recover from the COVID crisis while also bringing about transformative changes.