After a five year absence Christie Tour Straw Market

16
1961

christie-market.jpg

Christie welcomed into the Straw Market like a rock star by vendors who rejected him in the May 2 elections.

Nassau, Bahamas : Former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Perry G. Christie along with collegues toured the world famous straw market on Monday morning to hear and witness the plight of straw vendors. Christie in his comments denounced the derailment of the new straw market plans by the Ingraham government. Prime Minister Ingraham during the May 2 election campaign cried shame on the Christie government for its failure to build a straw market over the past five years. Vendors stayed in the hot tent under Christie years after a fire engulfed the original site back in 1991. Amazingly a tourist at the straw market on Monday during Christie’s visit, cried shame on “the Bahamas government who has failed to come to the rescue of these HARDWORKING WOMEN, who work in these deplorable conditions.”

Bahamas Press is just wondering to which government that tourist referred to in her comments. Were those comments for Christie, Ingraham or both. And since we now know Christie was in the market showing support, Bahamas Press would like to know, did he buy anything from those struggling vendors or did he just walked around?

Christie suggested that the visit deonstrates his party’s full support to the straw vendors, however only eight (8) of the PLP’s 17 Parliament team followed Christie downtown to the Straw Market tour, and only 1 Senator. Again Malcolm Adderley PLP MP for Elizabeth could not be found. This represents less than half of the PLP parliamentary team. What happened to the others?

strawmarket.jpg

A tourist that weighed in on the conditions at the Straw Market, calling it a deplorable site.

16 COMMENTS

  1. Thats because he is. BP still didnt understand what PLP Webmaster is asking him to do. Glazing over the visit and then turning it into an attack on the leader of the opposition is is what BP did and continues to do. Just because PLP ask them to be fair and balanced, they start attacking him again. I said I wasn’t coming back but you keep sending me newsletters. Now I know why i don’t trust anything that is written here by Bahamas Press and Truth because they are both one and the same.

  2. I love BP’s disposition. BP tells it like it is. Seems fair to not lean in favor of any party. Too much is hidden in the Bahamas. Sometimes I come to this blog and BP has the news with an opinion. BP’s opinion is combative and thus pulls my attention to areas I would not have ordinarily considered. This is the kind of journalism we need in the the Bahamas period. It works for the rest of the world. It will keep those we put into public office on their toes! I believe BP has been called for such a time as this. Anointed deep in the bush. I even like BP’s bush grammar. There is a David slaying the Giant of evil in the Bahamas. A voice that is not afraid. These stories here are hard hitting and it seems to me that there is careful research going on. Every time someone posts a remark to belittle and discourage BP. BP is tenacious, confident and without fear the stone is further propelled. It is how every reporter should report. Could you imagine if we had even a quarter of the “Bush Anointing” in the Bahamian reporters who work in this nation? It would really be better in the Bahamas. Those in power would never mess up. I’m praying for BP. I wish BP all the best and for BP to stay strong, investigate properly and tell the truth only. We need the media to set this country free from evil and we can now help through blogs like this and speak out! Man! I’m so glad that my cell phone can record video. If anything goes down where I am, I’ll put it up on youtube and send it to BP right away. Bahamians. We can make make a difference. BP is representing the people. That’s what the media’s job is. The people need to remind those whom we employ at the helm of this country and even those who aspire to lead this country that Bahamians want them to seek righteousness and righteousness will exalt our nation!

    The opposition and the government need to know that they have been blessed by Almighty God to lead this country. God has allowed everyone a dem table beating people in parliament to be dere for our good. They have to recognize that it is a true blessing. Many people who have political aspirations will die and never make it in the halls of parliament because God doesn’t want them there. God wants to do more for the leaders so that they will become great examples in their personal and public lives. God is watching. The nation is watching. The people’s mandate requires help from God. Leaders you can attain that help by becoming R E A L men and women of God. The Holy Ghost will be a lamp unto your feet and a light to your path. I used to go to church too and sit up, stand up and then sing when da man call da hymnal number. That’s not it. Being religious is not it! Accept Jesus for real. Learn to study GOD’s word, pray and really hear from God. He will do it for you. He is so real and he is awesome!

    PS. Stop writing down dem hymnal numbers in church! God knows what yinna does do wit dem numbers. If the cap fit den wear it!

    I asked God to bless everyone who reads this message.

    Love ya’ll.

  3. Media…..Seriously you need to work being fair to both fnms and plps. u seems to be a bit hard on the plp but u treat the fnm different. eg. take a look at your post with senator Kay Forbes smith, your story was informative, positive and you showed her respect. well i think it was just the opposite when it came to Mr. Christie, don’t u think he should get the respect that he deserve as a grate leader that he is?
    The only reason i come to the this site is to get fair info…. now it seems that you are leaning more and more to the right. Are u the same person that first started out? seems not.

  4. But what is self-deception? On one level, it is an ugly mixture of distorted reality and willed ignorance. It is ”…a shadowy phenomenon by which we pull the wool over some part of our own psyche. We put a move on ourselves. We deny, suppress, or minimize what we know to be true. We assert, adorn, and elevate what we know to be false. We prettify ugly realities and sell ourselves the prettified versions. We become our own dupes, playing the role of both perpetrator and victim. We know the truth, and yet we do not know it, because we persuade ourselves of its opposite” (Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be).

    Bahamas Press
    finds the words of Plantinga as most appropriate when describing the webmaster from the opposition party as he seeks to suggest that we did not speak to the PLP’s visit to the Straw Market. Here is what we wrote;

    “Nassau, Bahamas : Former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Perry G. Christie along with collegues toured the world famous straw market on Monday morning to hear and witness the plight of straw vendors. Christie in his comments denounced the derailment of the new straw market plans by the Ingraham government.”

    But the PLP webmaster in his deceptive spin has suggested the following, “I’m not defending anything but instead I’m asking Bahamas Press why is it focusing on Perry Christie and not the message of what is happening to the straw vendors. We’ve gone back and forth on this all day and you still haven’t even come close to touching that issue.”

    Again we at Bahamas Press ask the now careless, WUTLESS, DECEPTIVE WEBMASTER OF THE PLP TO LEAVE OUR BLOG. “YOU HAVE YOUR BLOG! GET OUT AND STAY OUT!”

    This is no place for politicking and spewing LIES to spill your wild propaganda!

  5. I’m not defending anything but instead I’m asking Bahamas Press why is it focusing on Perry Christie and not the message of what is happening to the straw vendors. We’ve gone back and forth on this all day and you still haven’t even come close to touching that issue. I hope you do an editorial on this situation because it is a serious one.

    As for the tourists, neither of them were referring to Mr. Christie or Ingraham directly except to say that the government needs to put the vendors in better conditions and as customers, they are not at all pleased with the idea of the market as it is and the proposal to move it. It seems the foreigners care more about this than our own Bahamians.

    What the FNM does is their business although I haven’t seen you hit Ingraham hard in a while Bahamas Press, so maybe you’re a bit overdue with the focus on everybody else.

    As for Nerise, obviously somebody is checking our site if Bahamas Press confirmed it above. Nothing wrong there. If you’re not interested, thats on you. I can assure you, there are more FNM MPs reading this site and http://www.myplp.com than are reading their very own site and many of them are not afraid to say so. I wonder why? Now lets talk about late because you people seem to focus on the small things.

    I’d take late over never and your party specializes in that. Why don’t you address the issue raised a few posts back by Bahamas Press on your MP’s brother who is at the centre of an international incident? I think people care more about that than some old tired campaign talk.

    Media, you guys will always have the last say on this site so by default you have a right to your own opinions and in all of our interactions, you will note that I have never argued against your right to express it. I just want you to be fair and focus on the issues more than you now focus on the people, in this case, Perry Christie. Is it too much to ask you guys to be “fair and balanced?”

  6. Perry ought to be shame returning to the same people with his 5 year old crap. He had five years to solve their problem. Showing up in the market in 2008. LATE AGAIN!!!

    I think the P.L.P Admin realize now that he was only preaching his crap to P.L.P diehards, nobody is listening to the P.L.P or checking their site, so now they are elsewhere seeking to spew their filth.

  7. Just look at the background of that clip … the place looks like the flea market that its vendors have allowed it to become! Why should government step in to babysit so-called business professionals who can’t even take care of themselves? The location is called a STRAW market, not a Woolworth’s. Embarrassinng all around.

  8. Why is PLP ADMIN, still all over the place in defense of CHRISTIE? I mean you see why media treat your party in the way they do? NOBODY HAS A RIGHT TO INDEPENDENT OPINION ANYMORE? The FNM never come on here defending our comments against HUBERT ya know, and we does hit him HARD!

    Bahamas PRESS/ Editor

  9. Well we cannot speak for Ingraham and say why he has not step foot in the market. ALL we are saying is this, We want to know who the Tourist was referring to whether it was CHRISTIE or Hubert, as far as we know, BOTH have no intention to deal with the vendors.

  10. And I’m still asking you why no FNM MP has been to the market yet and why Hubert Ingraham, in 11+ years as PM has not yet set foot in the market.

    If we’re comparing apples with apples, lets be fair about it and do that.

  11. Bahamas Press, again, you seem to take the gist of what I say and take a course all on your own. Let me clarify so that we don’t get confused. Firstly, your initial post really didn’t introduce a new angle to what was reported on our site and by the other media.

    I would have expected Bahamas Press to come to the market themselves and experience the tour first hand instead of relying on what one or two people had to say to you second and third hand. For the most part, the tour was indeed successful when you define what success is. The media carried the story, you carried the story and between your site, ours and those watching all three television stations and listening to all of the radio stations, many people heard the message. That is success.

    Nobody is under any illusion that the market is 100% PLP. It isn’t and we know that. But the Market is a Bahamian institution and must be protected at all cost because what is happening is wrong. I am simply asking why Bahamas Press chose to editorialize on Mr. Christie’s presence there and not the issues that brought him there. Aren’t you concerned about that Bahamas Press? Surely of your “290,000 readers”, one or two of them are in the market.

    Also, you should quote the other statements by Hubert Ingraham who, after the FNM gave the vendors their $250 following the fire in 2001, said, and I quote “we will rebuild the market in its original location and it will be bigger and better than before.” Don’t take my word for it, go and research the archives of the papers and you will find that quote as easily as we did. I think you missed the ball by focusing on Christie’s presence in the market and not the purpose of him being there and thats hardly “fair and balanced.”

    The fact that there were several MPs who didn’t make it out had nothing to do with the perceived problems in the market and more to do with simple scheduling. And it was a Monday as well, so putting it on anything else was a stretch BP.

    There is no need to challenge me on what will happen with a letter to the media. I know what country I’m in and I know who controls the media so there is no need to go there. My challenge for you is to find out from your “eyes and ears” in the market if any of them actually did have anything to say directly to Mr. Christie or any of the MPs or not. The fact of the matter is that there were people throwing jeers while out of sight but that was okay. As one MP noted, we’re not here for that, we’re here for them.

    So can BP now write an article on the purpose of the walk about and not just who was there and who wasn’t? For your benefit, the whole statement is on the site and later on, I will post and even challenge you to do as you’ve done with other videos we’ve produced to post it here for your readers to see.

    If you do that, at least then you can lay claim to being “fair and balanced”

  12. One thing is certain, if the PLP just put its webmaster on the front lines to be the official spokesperson on national issues, maybe, JUST MAYBE Hubert Ingraham would not have such an easy ride.

    Bahamas Press
    simply asked the webmaster of the PLP, have you figured out yet why Christie tour to the market has such little effect or impression on people? Even half of his own men and women on the PLP side FAIL to appear on the tour, WHY? Answer that for our 290,000 plus readers.

    In all honestly we did see the clip which was carefully scripted and well editorialized by yourself. BUT that could not be the genesis of our posting on this blog today.

    Remember those are your views what you posted on myplp.com, NOT ours. Our post share a totally different opinion and that is why your back in here commenting and defending the unsuccessful tour.

    Believe it or not, we posted our eyes and ears in the market yesterday. Where one vendor had some VERY UNKIND words to Mr. Christie and his team as they entered the Straw Market. Words we cannot repeat on this BLOG. We also heard the comments of the tourist we heard what the tourist said but again she needed to really state which leader she meant.

    Here is why, we said what we did however. At a rally 8th February, 2007, Hubert Ingraham used this line, which he expanded on at every rally prior, “During five years in office they have not been able to construct a new Straw Market on Bay Street.”

    Added to this there is a growing opinion that suggests that whilst vendors should remain on Bay Street, those persons don’t sell STRAW ANYMORE. They selling GUCCI. DORA, SPONGE BOB products. Whilst real straw vendors on the island of Eleuthera, Andros and other family island are suffering from poor sales by market vendors.

    The Bahamian people today see the market as a hideout for drug selling, and illegal migrants. Perhaps this is why less then 50% of PLP MPs followed Christie downtown.

    Now let it be assured that it is not Bahamas Press the PLP must be concerned about. But rather, the GUTTER, WUTLESS Media in this town who clearly raise the volume on those same unkind of statements made by Hubert Ingraham made during the last election and now in the House of Assembly.

    Bahamas Press
    also hope the webmaster of the PLP notes, that we are ‘Fair and Balanced’ and challenge him to write a response to any of the ‘WUTLESS’ publications in this country and see if he would make the garbage bin. Our guess is that that letter would end up somewhere in the filthy bathrooms in one of those papers.

    KEEP READING ‘PLPADMIN’ KEEP READING!

  13. And can you show me a photo of Ingraham touring the straw market, EVER?

    No, you can’t because he’s never done it.

    Why aren’t you writing about what the government is doing to these vendors in favor of the other merchants and shippers on Bay Street or are you to afraid to go there? Almost 700 hardworking Bahamian vendors will be displaced in favor of five Bay Street families that own everything and want more. Lets talk about that before we go after Perry Christie’s visit to the market.

    Also, a good journalist would know that last year, in late August, Mr. Christie hosted the straw market vendors, FNMs included, to a luncheon at the Hilton where he spent several hours hearing their concerns about what was being planned by the FNM so his walk through this week was a follow up he made to them at this luncheon.
    Next time you’re on the PLP website looking for inspiration, do some research and you will find the story, photos and all.

  14. Its nice to see that Bahamas Press, despite going overboard and asking me not to “come on their site” has found it necessary to continue taking snap shots of our site and pinching stories.

    Guys, you’re the news “pros” remember. Maybe you should be out there getting the actual stories instead of editorializing off of other people’s stories. If you were there yesterday, you would have heard the tourist speak in greater detail about just who she meant but no, you sat, watched our clip and formed you anti-Christie opinion in a vacuum.

    Take this suggestion Bahamas Press, don’t be the lazy press you complain about. Get up and get out and get the news first hand, not third and fourth hand. It only makes sense since you have a problem with the “wutless media.”

    And another tip, it is so unprofessional of you guys to continue this amateur practice of pointing a camera at a television screen to get your photos. I can suggest for you a much better, cleaner way to get the images from the screen and the best part is, there are no cameras involved. I assure you, your images will look one thousand times better and you won’t look bad in the process. All you need do is ask.

Comments are closed.