Dear Editor,
The Right Honorable Papa had a press conference today where he went on record for a second time seeking support from the PLP in regards to the Baha Mar project’s 5,000+ Chinese laborers that will invade the Bahamas if the deal is approved by the Chinese Government.
Firstly, i have to make this point, where was the FNM government when Baha Mar agreed with the Chinese investors that 5,000 Chinese workers will be allowed to work legally, in the Bahamas, on the project? How can Baha Mar negotiate immigration matters on behalf of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, a supposedly sovereign country? I know i am not the only person who sees something wrong with this? But rest assured, Baha Mar cant agree to something like that UNLESS they were given the ok by the government of the day, the FNM.
What does this mean? The Baha Mar Deal hinges on this very stipulation, that 5,000 Chinese laborers be allowed to work on the project. THAT’S WHY THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT HAS NOT APPROVED THE FINANCING YET BECAUSE THEY ARE WAITING ON THE BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT TO GIVE THE GREEN LIGHT ON THE 5,000 CHINESE LABORERS!
Bahamas Press, i bet you one case of Kalik that as soon as the government agrees to grant the 5,000 Chinese laborers, in a few weeks, word will come that the Chinese government has approved the finances for Baha Mar.
In other words, the fate of the Baha Mar project rests in the hands of the Minister of Immigration, who takes orders from Papa. So the question is, why is MR Decisive being so indecisive now?
Bahamas Press, understand this, in the last year and a half, this FNM government lead by The Right Honorable PAPA, faced a backlash on the Martial Bill, the response to the Haitian earthquake, the 2010-2011 budget, suffered a humiliating defeat in the Elizabeth bye election and had the most popular FNM MP resign from his cabinet because he felt “stagnated.” There was backlash from the Market Street road reversal and now when a development that is badly needed is on the table, PAPA only has to allow 5,000 foreign nationals to invade the county for the deal to be approved.
Talk about a string of bad luck. If i didnt know no better i would think that the last thing PAPA voodoo doctor did before that rock land on her head in Haiti was to stick some pins and needles in a Hubert Ingraham doll!
Papa knows that the mood of the country is already trending away from him and his party. To allow 5,000 foreigners to come in to work in your country in a time of recession will not only piss of mightily the Bahamian people, but the Bahamas will be the laughing stock of the Caribbean. Can you name one other Caribbean country that would allow 5,000 foreign nationals to come into their country to mix cement while the citizens of the country just stand there and watch? You think that sh** could happen in the United States, Canada or anywhere in Europe or for that matter China? Hell no!
In his press statement Papa admitted that Atlantis was built with majority Bahamian workers, so why cant the same be done with Baha Mar? From a technical stand point the Baha Mar project, from what i understand, isnt any more sophisticated than the Atlantis development. So why the need for 5,000 Chinese laborers? I will tell you why; because in the current financial climate no banks are lending and the Chinese investors, who is really the Chinese government, is the only folks in the mood to lend money. The credit markets have been frozen since mid 2008, thus when looking for a financial partner, the Baha Mar investors were limited in who they could turn to. So essentially, the Chinese government, knowing they had the upper hand, will lend the money but their people must do the majority of the work. Nothing more, nothing less.
This is a hard pill for a sovereign country to swallow. If those workers are allowed to come in, the Bahamas is telling the world, and more so the Caribbean that we cant do sh** for ourselves and we are willing to do anything and give up our sovereign rights, culture and national pride for a few dollars and a couple jobs as maids and cooks.
Bahamas Press, i am so pissed right now. Why is it that our leaders are always putting money ahead of national pride and sovereignty? How the hell could China dictate who we let come in and how many? This shouldn’t even be an issue. If Papa had any pride he would have said no to Baha Mar when they approached him with the stipulation. And what does it say about how bad the Baha Mar investors need China when they too are hoping the Bahamian government agrees to this. If Baha Mar couldnt find a better partner with better terms, they should have scale back the development or put it on hold until the global economy improves. The stipulation to let 5,000 Chinese workers to come in to mix cement should have been a deal breaker. The only people who will be benefiting from this deal will be the investors from Baha Mar and the Chinese government!
Is this not the country of L.O.Pindling and Milo Butler? Where have our national pride gone? Somewhere in heaven, Lynden Oscar Pindling is hanging his head in shame!
From the politics side of things, watching PAPA sheepishly ask the PLP for help when he never asked or consulted with the PLP before speaks volumes. He never asked for it on road the road improvement works, the port development, the earthquake in haiti response, the prescription drug plan, the marital rape bill, etc. PAPA was never interested in nothing the PLP had to say and now when he is faced with a decision as big as this, Mr Decisive suddenly wants the PLP’s support?
Why? Why now? What is PAPA up too? Remember, the Baha Mar deal has been renegotiated by this FNM administration when they took office in 2007 because PAPA said Perry gave away too much. So why wont PAPA sign off on the “better” agreement he claims his government made?
Papa sees another backlash on the horizon and politically he knows that 5,000 Chinese workers coming to WORK in the Bahamas in a time of recession wont sit good with the average man who struggling to find work. He knows if he approves it, he is handing the 2012 general election to the PLP with a nice pretty red bow. So he wants the Progressive Liberal Party to drink from the same poison cup by showing support for the 5,000 foreign workers stipulation in the Baha Mar agreement with the Chinese government, a stipulation that he already told the both investors he would grant.
Aint that some sh**? What Hubert Alexander Ingraham is attempting to do is called “trying to cover both sides of your a***.”
Papa say if he has to drink this poison, he want the PLP to drink it too. He wants the PLP to share in the inevitable backlash when an election is on the horizon. Its true what my grandma say, “some people only know ya when they need ya.”
Bahamas Press, dont mind the talk, PAPA know he knee deep in some funky sh** right now because he has already told Baha Mar and the Chinese that the 5,000 Chinese laborers is a done deal. He did the same think when the country was blacklisted. Remember how he gone foreign, talk to some people, and when he came back he had with him the laws the foreigners told him to pass. He put the cart before the horse then and he is doing it now but this time he needs help and bipartisan support in order to sell this decision to the people.
From the PLP’s stand point, there must be NO PLP yea votes when this vote comes to the floor. I urge the PLP to stand firm. Papa brought this mess on himself. He made his bed and like a little weavey head junglist, he is trying to get someone to lie in it with him.
Run Perry run. Dont let the junglist fool you!
Signed,
well if I dont have an undersanding of the Westminster system please excuse me. I’m probably alot younger than you think I am.
In any event where did you read that I was an FNM to begin with or that I even ever voted for them.
You did read where I said “Time and time agian the govt called for the Opposition’s alternatives…When the oppsiition finally does it, the government allows it to be voted on votes it down, then end the debate…Well…if you ask them to bring thier alternative budget and you allow the ammendments to be voted on, knowing that only a ‘govt minister’ can bring a money bill in the first place and knowing you should shut the debate down then WHY ASK FOR THIER ALTERNATIVES IN THE FIRST PLACE!!”
So us young folk out in the Bahamas are simply tryin to understand whats going on here. Doesnt mean we are willfully blind or an FNM voter or whatever other names you’d like to call me. I’m sure when you were collge aged you werent an expert in Westminster Governance…maybe you were but the average of us arent. I’m just going by what I had observed over the past few years. Now if its a matter of the executive and soley the executive then the PLP needs to simply abstain on those grounds as the leader of the Opposition has hinted.
Tired obviously you do not under the Westminster system nor the wutless government you voted for, or you have chosen to be wilfully blind. The FNM did not consult the PLP when they reviewed, stopped and canceled $80 million capital development projects that whad already been approved by the PLP government; they did not consult them on the budget or the cutting of their salaries. They did not consult them when they made the revised Heads of Government with the Baha Mar group or frustrated the contract with Harrahs.
Immigration matters are decided by the Cabinet of The Bahamas and carried out by the Minister of Immigration through the Immigration board. IT DOES NOT NEED PARLIAMENT’s approval. Name one case where Parliament approved a work permit?
Did the FNM government consult the PLP to award Sol Kerzner a royal title, something that is reserve as I understand it exclusively for Bahamians. Why didn’t he award the Commissioner of Police with a royal title?
For God’s sake stop from being stupid and try to think for yourselves instead of gobbling up all the crap that is being fed to you by your carless, heartless and wutless FNM government. Thank God it een long naw before we see the. last of them
In the case of BTC that is a government owned entity and its ownership is vested in the tre3asurer of The Bahamas in trust for the Bahamian people. To sell BTC would require a majority vote in Parliament
I think you guys missed my point. The same way you provide areas where the government made decisions without consulting the opposition, is the same way I provided examples where the government went to parliament on issues that previously are done by the executive and not the legislature.
In those cases no one kicked and scream at those decisions. Decisions regarding many of the projects were not tabled in parliament previously but were recently tabled and they went to vote. Of course it didnt make the news because it doesnt have the zazzle as 5k chinese workers.
I’m not saying that they should or they shouldnt. My thing is that previously the Opposition had ZERO problems on issues that are on the executive level (or where done at the executive level) being brought to parliament.
The way I understood it initially, the reports were that they were simply going to table it in the house for a vote as they did with the other aspects of the project. My only problem is that the way the govt is talking is that they seem to say if the PLP doesnt vote yes, they wont proceed. I’m not sure where this decision is even legal as if its in parliament it only requires majority vote by the govt. Unless the resolution they move states that it requires a full vote of the house, which again I dont know if its even constitutional. If they want thier consent then they can give him a call or something.
It now up to the leadership of the Opposition to take a wise and smart stand on the matter. I’m sure they will as this will be a very important to them in the run-up to 2012.
Truth, there are those who seek to muddy this issue when it is quite clear. As you stated and as i tried to convey in my post, this issue is not about the PLP, its an immigration matter.
Patrice and Tired dont see that when Baha Mar approached Papa with this new term from the Chinese, Papa should have said no, but he didnt. He had to have told Baha Mar that he can get it done or else there would be no deal at all between Baha Mar and the Chinese government.
Papa made promises to Baha Mar that he is now trying to keep that is why he cant back out because he done promise Baha Mar he would get it done 5,000 permits needed.
To Tired and Patrice, if this deal is causing the country to give up too much, why wont Papa cancel it? If Papa says its a bad deal why wont he tell the Chinese and Baha Mar there will be no 5,000 foreign workers? He cant tell then anything because he already promised them he would!
To keep that promise means there will be hell to pay and he wants the PLP to catch some hell as well with him.
This has nothing to do with the PLP. Papa dont have the balls to tell Baha Mar and the Chinese no!
Patrice and Tired, you both are such fools; this decision has nothing to do with the opposition PL. Why are you so stupid? This is about work permit approvals, a job that Branville McCartney was responsible for before he got disgusted with the damn dictator and resigned. This is an ordinary immigration department daily function, it is nothing that needs to be brought to parliament. Ingraham just want to be able to say that the government and the opposition agreed for the 5000 to get their work permits; but like Forrester Carroll said in his letter on bahamasuncensored.com, hell will freeze over before that happens. Besides the PLP is adamantly opposed to those chinese coming here in those numbers while 15000 Bahamian men are out of work; Do you think the PLP fool like Ingraham? Ingraham made the decision to increase customs duties in 2008 across the board and never aske for the PLP’s vote; he incrteased the customs duties again this year and didn’t ask the PLP if they agreed or not and he cut their pay by 5% and didn’t even have the decency to ask them if they agreed and when the PLP said no let us cut the pay by 10% the FNM said no. Ingraham told Perry that that was his decision to make not the opposition; that that was his FNM government’s decision to make not the PLP’s. well the chinese work permit problem is his problem, not the PLP’S. The bad economic problem we have in the country is mostly Ingraham’s fault not the world recession, so asses stay out of intelligent people conversation.
Why does the opposition find it convienient to bring up the fact that its a decision of the government, when time and time again decisions of the government are brought to the house and voted on.
Various facets of this Bahamar deal were brought to parliament to voteby the government. They authorized various land transfers, and marketing deals with Bahamar and other things under the 08 Supplemental Heads of Agreement. They did not object to this. Never did they mention that its the decision of the government solely.
The government said that it will bring the final bidder for BTC to parliament as well. The opposition did not object to this at all either. Never did they mention that its the decision of the government solely.
If the govt said that they were gonna bring the Arawak Cay deal or the Jose Cartellone deal to parliament they would not object it. They would simply vote against it and say we had better plans in place.
NOW when its a hard decision for them to go onthe record on, its suddenly a problem? Politics as usual in the Bahamas.
Just like the FNM did with this whole budget debate issue. Time and time agian the govt called for the Opposition’s alternatives. Govt ministers made call after call for the oppositions alternative budget, for what they would do blah blah. When the oppsiition finally does it, the government allows it to be voted on votes it down, then end the debate.
Then finally decide to read the constitution about who can bring money bills to parliment. Well…if you ask them to bring thier alternative budget and you allow the ammendments to be voted on, knowing that only a ‘govt minister’ can bring a money bill in the first place and knowing you should shut the debate down then WHY ASK FOR THIER ALTERNATIVES IN THE FIRST PLACE!!
Gosh this political back and forth is so silly its beyond me.
Don’t continue to be an FNM jackass, Felix; this has nothing to do with the official opposition or parliament. It is a government decision and whether the country is split, like you said, down the middle politically matters not. THE FNM is the government and it is their decision to make not the PLP’s so stop your foolishness. Hubert wants company when the Bahamian people kick him in his Behind, cpme the next election.
If certain people would take the time to read and understand world economy, they would not be blaming the Government as these conditions are beyond the control of the PM. The Heads of Agreement that Christie signed in 2005 gave away the Bahamian people’s land without even telling us! PM Ingraham has never done this and get this folks, the Prime Minister continues to look out for the welfare of the Bahamian people. This blogger need to get the facts and stop speading misinformation. The people still trust Ingraham over Christie.
I beg to differ: Our country is split 40/40 fnm/plp , on matters of national importance it is important that our elected leaders FNM & PLP come together to formulate decisions of national importance!THE MATTER OF IMMIGRATION IS OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE AND ALL LEADERS MUST TAKE TIME OFF FROM THE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN & STEP UP TO THE PLATE!
ALTEC, you are so right; Ingraham never displayed any respect for the opposition PLP, in parliament nor anywhere else, but now that he needs them to be blamed, along with the FNM, for a decision that he has already made he is now talking about getting the parliament to approve it. Forrester said it as well, in his Sunday contribution on http://www.bahamasuncensored.com, which is worth reading. This in not a decision for parliament to make, it is an immigration matter that should either be approved or denied based on the policies of the government of the day; it’s a policy matter. I’ll tell you, the standing Policies of the Progressive Liberal Party dictates that they would never agree to something like that being approved. Just take a look at all the Heads of Agreement signed by the PLP during their tenure; all of them protected the interest of the Bahamian people and as a matter of fact the terms in them all are very generous in favour of the Bahamian people; no question about that. Ingraham has already promised both Bah Mar and China’s government that they will get their 5000 work permits, but misery likes company so all of a sudden he now needs the PLP? Well he never needed them before so let him get out of this one by his dictatorial self, the coward. I saw BP’s account of Ingraham’s news conference where the dictator said that there will be no approval for the project without the PLP’s support; well then I guess there will be no Bah Mar then. You have the majority of members in the house so why do you need the PLP you sucker? Do you think for one minute that the PLP can’t see the trick you are trying to play on them? JACKASS?
We been through a lot this lap with Hubert, if he sign the agreement or don’t sign it, it really don’t make a difference at this point. Either way he gone. I know he was trying to do some things and he did some good, but he did more damage than anything. It was like he didn’t care about the poor and the middle class people. When I look at the monies, I had on my bank accounts before Hubert when into office and the monies, I have on my account now it is upsetting. I wouldn’t have mind if I was squandering the monies or doing foolishness with it, then perhaps, I wouldn’t have felt so bad. From this recession started, he told us to buckle down and he warned us that we were in for a rough ride, but how the hell you could buckle down, when he kept carrying up the price on everything? Charging us all kind unnecessary taxes, so we could take care of these illegal immigrants. Borrowing all kind of monies and looking for us to pay it back, He refuse to tax the number houses who has the monies, but he want tax the poor people. I could go on and on, one long list of foolishness he was doing. Sometimes, I wander what we do this man, because he look like he isn’t feeling us. I surprise he haven’t signed that agreement already for all those Chinese to come here, because this man seems to prefer foreigners. Don’t get me wrong nah, there isn’t anything wrong with the Chinese government sending some of their people here to work, once the majority of the workers on the construction site is Bahamians. I know the hotel will create jobs for Bahamians once it is completed, but tell me how we suppose to feel watching them working on this hotel and we have plenty people here who could do the work and they don’t want to hire them? If these people had any respect for our government or country, they shouldn’t even want us to do something like this.
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