The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard said Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis should issue an “unfettered” apology to the public for presenting the wrong deficit figure in Parliament and “own” the mistake.

On February 22, Mr Davis told the House of Assembly that revenue collections were up but also noted that the government experienced a net deficit of $285.7m, which represented an increase of $7.8m compared to the previous period.

The revelation made the headlines in the local dailies, however Mr Davis singled out The Nassau Guardian’s headline, “Revenue Rises but Deficit Up” as not being accurate during his contribution in Parliament last Wednesday.

 However, East Grand Bahama MP Kwasi Thompson later pointed out that Mr Davis’ February 22 speech contained the figure about the reported deficit increase, to which Mr Davis then admitted that his speechwriters made an error when writing the figures in his speech.

 He then sought to clarify the true figure. According to Mr Davis, the fiscal deficit actually decreased by $5.3m in the first half of the fiscal year when compared to the same period in the previous year.

 During a recent interview, Mr Pintard said it is such an important mistake Mr Davis made that he has to “own it”.

 “This is so important that he ought to issue an unfettered apology, not just to The Guardian, which is very important, but he ought to do it to the Bahamian people because what he said on such an important matter as the state of the deficit has implications for us in terms of credit agencies, rating agencies, investors,” Mr Pintard told this newspaper recently.

 “It is such an important mistake that he made that he has to own it. He can’t blame it on speech writers — certainly not. He has an entire finance team and the people from the Ministry of Finance have been such professionals for both administrations.

 “They go through a very rigorous process arriving at the final figures and so when the Prime Minister makes such an egregious mistake he has to remember that he had an entire week from the time the headline came out in order to correct it.

 “Certainly, the professionals at the Ministry of Finance, any mistakes that they detect they would quickly say to a minister of state or a prime minister or financial secretary here’s the mistake. The political directorate now has the responsibility, if there was a mistake, to correct it on the public record. Prime Minister allowed an entire week to go by, so his explanations are not believable.”

 Also during his contribution, the Prime Minister levied allegations that a non-profit organisation went on “a spending spree” to purchase two high end trucks and boats with public funds meant to provide food assistance to Bahamians during the pandemic.

 Mr Davis informed that the substantial amounts of money along with boats and trucks were recently returned to the government by the organisation in question.

 The Tribune reporter was about to ask the Prime Minister on Thursday if there would be charges against the NGO, but he walked away and continued to avoid answering the question.

 The FNM leader said the Prime Minister continues to “sully” the names of ordinary Bahamians who have been doing “non-profit work, philanthropy work for decades”.

 “If there is one agency or individuals who have done something inappropriate or unethical or illegal, we have the means in order to deal with them. But for him to label all of those involved with the food programme is irresponsible and mean-spirited as a leader,” Mr Pintard said on Thursday.

 “You have the Christian Council who participated with the Grand Bahama Port Authority and the government in Grand Bahama. You have the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, Walter Hanchell - many different agencies have been feeding Bahamians for years and during the pandemic. They continue to do this incredible job.

 “He must not leave any vague labels on an entire group of persons who have carried the country when neither government had the capacity to do so. So, what he has done is very irresponsible. I said before he loves to drip feed salacious details.”

 Mr Pintard said the Speaker of the House of Assembly should have forced Mr Davis to lay the documents on the table substantiating the accusations or withdraw them.

 “There are different rules for the PLP in the House of Assembly and a different rule for the Free National Movement,” Mr Pintard claimed. “So, he has done a serious disservice to persons who have been serving this country longer than he has and have been doing it with their reputations intact, which he is now destroying.”