OPEN LETTER TO DR. HUBERT MINNIS

Bradley B Roberts

National Chair Progressive Liberal Party

March 31st 2015

PART ONE

“He (Prime Minister Christie) will go down in history as the worst Prime Minister with the worst government and his legacy will go in the archives.” This is according to you Dr. Hubert Minnis during a press conference on Monday.

This sounds eerily like envy, coming from an opposition leader who after more than 30 months as leader, is yet to articulate one viable and alternative public policy after admitting that your FNM government left the Bahamian economy in a “WHEELCHAIR” as you put it.

Meanwhile, during the same 30 short months while you were fiddling, opposing and deflecting, Prime Minister Christie was busy reforming and transforming this country, confronting every major challenge and enjoying game changing success.

Christie’s game changing FISCAL CONSOLIDATION PLAN continues to draw wide acclaim and approval from the World Bank, Standard and Poors, Moody’s and more recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Article IV consultation team was just here and they interviewed you and the FNM. Had Christie not acted decisively as he did, The Bahamas would be facing an IMF intervention, possibly further downgrading and possible currency devaluation principally due to the fiscal and economic mismanagement of the FNM government. See Minnis, you cannot just make these wild statements when reputed international organizations with no political axe to grind are endorsing, praising and approving the policies being advanced by Prime Minister Christie and by extension his leadership; you come across as lacking credibility when you do that. Remember it was Your FNM ran up the debt then denied and opposed everything since May 2012.

Christie’s game changing policy and legislation on GAMING REFORM literally saved the second largest industry in the country, financial services. Had Christie not acted, the $700 million unregulated Web Shop industry would have so threatened and endangered the regulated financial services industry that The Bahamas would have faced sanctions and increased pressure from the US State Department in their country review; and possible blacklisting from the FAF, the FATF and the OECD. The result of inaction as you were suggesting would have been massive capital flight from The Bahamas and a destruction of our finance sector because the country would not have been able to satisfy the international community that its financial services sector was sufficiently protected from capital that were the proceeds of crime.

As a cabinet minister, you approved a cabinet paper conceding that the FNM government was unable to shut down the web shop industry largely because the business transactions are conducted via the internet and that by accepting fees from them, your government legitimized that unregulated industry. In opposition you flip flopped and said that you opposed regularizing web shops. The consequence of your policy position is a blacklisting and eventual destruction of the financial services sector because you conceded that the police could not shut down the sector.

Additionally, based on the policy you publicly proposed, The Bahamas would miserably fail the litmus test of “PROBITY” during a country audit of its financial services sector by the CFATF or the OAS because web shop gaming operations had to be a part of the national audit.

BAMSI is another game changer for The Bahamas. The Secretary General and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and CARICOM Agriculture Ministers have all endorsed BAMSI and CARICOM Ministers want their citizens to be educated at BAMSI; these individuals and institutions have no political axe to grind in the Bahamas. This is yet another Christie policy that has secured credibility on the international stage. They all saw the burnt dormitory but were able to understand the vision and far reaching national developmental impact a BAMSI would have on the future of The Bahamas.

It is clear for all to see Dr. Minnis that you are not up to scratch on the salient issues facing the country therefore the people who support you do not understand the risk that you pose to this country by the reckless positions you take. How do you justify attacking a Prime Minister whose policies after policies continue to attract approval and credibility in the international community. When you attack Christie, you come across as the one lacking credibility or vision.

SO DR. MINNIS, STOP HATING ON PRIME MINISTER CHRISTIE AND MATCH HIM IN THE COLISEUM OF GOVERNANCE. SHOW THE BAHAMIAN PEOPLE WHAT YOU’VE GOT BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT SAID ANYTHING OF VALUE OF CONSEQUENCE YET AND IT’S GOING ON THREE YEARS.

Stay tune for part two. I will school on what a bad Prime Minister and a bad government looks like.