Dear Mr. Editor
At the FNM Rally in Eleuthera two weeks ago, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said that the next FNM Government will invest as much as 30 million dollars to up-grade the Defense Force Ports and Fleet to better guard our borders. I believe this was clearly an election pitch speech without thought, because just after he said how much money he was going to spend to deal with poachers and smugglers, he said his government will destroy all confiscated vessels.
Mr. Editor, tell me what sane person would say something so stupid? Can you imagine the amount of fuel it takes to patrol our borders to stop illegal fishing and illegal immigrants? Why would he destroy the vessels that are confiscated rather than auctioning them to Bahamian Fishermen to defray some of the government’s expenses?
What was most disturbing was that the FNM candidates on the stage along with him applauded Mr. Ingraham for saying something that does not make good business sense.
Mr. Editor, it is obvious that Mr. Ingraham selected his new candidates with the same shortcomings as his former cabinet ministers and backbenchers. All of them are afraid to disagree with or to stand up to him.
Mr. Ingraham surrounds himself with people who speak when they are spoken to and answer when they are called. They are so intimidated by him that they clap when he says things that don’t make any sense; such as destroying confiscated vessels, and now the popular “unbelievable, unthinkable” murder conviction statement that came back to bite him in his behind.
They laugh when he cracks stale outdated jokes, like “money in the closet”, “hands in the cookie jar,” and they sing for their supper like little Tommy Tucker. Some of them go as far as having their wives sing also. Remember when Norris Bain had his wife sing the song “Thank you” to Papa for his “blessing” at the opening of the FNM Marco City headquarters? I always wondered what those blessings were.
This intimidation could never have been more obvious as it was when they voted on the BTC sale. Grown men and women knew that the Bahamian electorate was not in favor of the sale, but because Papa threatened to call an early election, they voted against the wishes of their constituents.
Mr. Editor, the BTC sale was the largest give-away of Bahamian assets in the history of The Bahamas. Mr. Ingraham and his cabinet ministers and backbenchers know this, and they are ashamed of it. That is why they are not mentioning it on their campaign trail because they want us to forget that act of incompetence or corruption.
I know that Bahamians haven’t forgotten the sale or the salesmen and they will repay Kwasi Thompson, Zhivargo Laing, Neko Grant, Byran Woodside, Desmond Bannister, Phenton Neymour, Eddison Key, Charles Maynard, Tommy Turnquest, Carl Bethel, Sidney Collie and Kenyatta Gibson on May 7th.
Mr. Editor, I am sure that these puppets will not see the halls of parliament ever again and Norris Bain and Peter Turnquest will never get a chance to cut another deal for themselves on the backs of the good people of Marco City and East Grand Bahama.
Yours sincerely,
An Concerned Grand Bahamian
