The Tribune

By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

Opposition leader Michael Pintard accused the Davis administration of not keeping many of the “promises” made to the Bahamian people – and of engaging in practices that “broke the law”.

Speaking at the House of Assembly yesterday, Mr Pintard said the government has not started or fulfilled many of the commitments they made then they took office.

He said: “By our count, this PLP government made around 87 specific policy pledges in its first speech from the throne. Being as generous as we could in our assessment, there are still some 60 promises that they haven’t even touched.

“First, with close to 70 percent of their stated commitments still left to carry out, why did the government see the need to refresh its mandate. This underwhelming PLP government clearly had only begun to scratch the surfaces on the things that they promised to do.

Mr Pintard went on to accuse the Davis administration of breaking the law by allowing Ministers to sign loan contracts and by its $232.3m IMF special drawing rights borrowing.

He said: “They broke the law in the unauthorised signing of the $70m loan with the Saudi Government. They broke the law with the Minister of Housing signing a $20m loan with a Jamaican lender.

“They broke the law with the illegal advance of $232m from the Central Bank SDR foreign reserves and refuse to acknowledge that it is a loan.”

He also accused the government of breaking the law by not disclosing awarded contracts, the $110m loan advanced to Bahamas Power and Light to pay off its fuel arrears and not publishing reports from the Fiscal Responsibility Council.

He said: “They broke the law with the refusal to publish the annual report on all contracts by the government from September 2021 to August 2022. A partially released report with only some details will not silence the public demand for transparency.

“They broke the law with the refusal to publish now six reports from the Fiscal Responsibility Council. They broke the law with illegal loan to BPL of $110m - the terms still not known.

“They broke the law with an illegal tax break for owners of expensive yachts and pleasure craft done outside the budget process.”

The Marco City MP also said the Davis administration has “failed to deliver anything of note” to Grand Bahama residents and accused them of stalling infrastructure projects, including the Grand Bahama International Airport and choosing to fight with the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) instead of working with them to benefit Grand Bahama residents.

He said: “Two years in, they have yet to complete infrastructure projects they found under development. They have chosen a public fight with the GBPA instead of engaging in productive dialogue to the benefit of the people of Grand Bahama.

“After spending millions and causing millions to be spent in preparation for the development of a world class airport the project has without explanation stopped with no communication with the companies which were gearing up to execute the project.”