STATEMENT FROM THE FNM:
The Opposition and its Leader are caught in a cleft stick, a classic catch-22 situation in which the party is floundering and Perry Christie is flailing about as if his political life is in jeopardy – which it is.
The party’s prospects for winning the next election are quite slim and there is little the leadership can do to change things. The Opposition is in desperate need of reform and house-cleaning.
Those in the higher echelons know that they cannot win with Mr. Christie (most of them did not support him for leader in the first place) but they realize that any attempt to get rid of him at this late hour will run the risk of ripping the party apart.
In fact, the Opposition may have arrived at the stage where it is impossible to have a democratic vote on the leadership in convention. This is because Mr. Christie has stacked the deck by appointing hundreds of stalwart councillors who can easily out-vote elected delegates and councillors.
The Opposition’s dilemma is exacerbated by the fact that the FNM Government, under the capable leadership of Hubert Ingraham, is doing a remarkable job in keeping the country afloat during the worst global economic storm in generations.
Not only that, Prime Minister Ingraham and his colleagues are carrying out the greatest infrastructure renewal in generations. New road corridors are being opened up, new utility lines are being laid, a new airport is well on the way to completion, the new airport gateway project has begun and a new Straw Market sits proudly on Bay Street.
The Baha Mar project and the new stadium and transformation of the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre — which Mr. Christie could not get off the ground – are both underway. Furthermore, Mr. Ingraham and his colleagues have launched innovative initiatives such as unemployment benefits, and training and placement programmes in collaboration with the private sector.
In the face of all this, Mr. Christie does what he does best – talk – and the closer the day of reckoning gets, the more reckless and outrageous he becomes in his public statements. But there is method in his madness. He knows that he is not convincing the majority of his colleagues, or the majority of Bahamian voters. His strategy is to impress those hundreds of stalwarts who keep him in office.
From the very beginning of the global economic downturn, Mr. Christie and his colleagues sought to convince the Bahamian people that the FNM Government was to blame by stopping, reviewing and cancelling all those wonderful projects they said they had on the drawing board. That line failed to gain resonance as the straw market was in fact built — and at a nearly half the cost the Christie administration had planned.
In winning the last election and cancelling the Opposition’s plans for the straw market and a $3-million school in a small Family Island settlement, the FNM in fact saved the PLP from more embarrassing scandals that were clearly in the making. In the process, Mr. Ingraham has enraged some PLP “special interests” who would have benefitted handsomely at the public’s expense.
So Mr. Christie has simply changed his tack and is looking somewhere else for “resonance”. Now he has done an about-face and is in essence complaining about all projects that the FNM has undertaken which has added to the national debt.
But the country’s affairs are being well-managed and the country is not “insolvent” as was foolishly and irresponsibly proclaimed by Mr. Christie’s Finance-Minister-in-waiting Ryan Pinder.
Prime Minister Ingraham and his Government have done exactly the right thing in taking advantage of the country’s good credit to borrow money to improve the infrastructure and provide jobs during the economic recession.
The Opposition is in a sad state. As Minister of State for Finance Zhivargo Laing noted, the Opposition continues to praise themselves for what they did not do, while criticizing the Ingraham administration for all the good things it has and continues to do to improve the quality of life of every Bahamian.
? Hold on, I know it’s first thing in the morning and I haven’t had my coffee yet. Straight in from traffic jam. Let me read this entire article again because I know I didn’t just read what I thought I saw just now.
What in the world is this? lol seriously???
I have no comments. All I can say at this point is this FNM government’s management of this country has got to be science fiction. This has to be one of those Sunday Marathon specials aired on SciFi, because this foolishness is ongoing.
What a pathetic pack of lies. Not even the most ardent of FNMs, and this must include the author of the blog, believes that this is indeed the position.It is the FNMs who are in disarray and the PLP, under the leadership of Perry Christie, is poised and confident of rescuing the Bahamas from this nightmare… before it is too late. Sit down and shutup.
Her we go again, this foolish talk bout what Ingraham did and what Christie didn’t do…………
somebody, anybody, please turn on the light and open the eyes of my people.
This Christie and Ingraham ting has played itself out, they are both spent politicians, whose time has pass.
these gentlemen are marking time. they are only doing things in five year intervals to get themselves re-elected.
we need, statesmen that would uplift the people and speak to the long term of this country,
I want a leader, of any political stripe, who would see this counrty and its people beyond a five year period.
this thing about just doing enough to get re-elected is sickening to me, I view my leaders as parasites……..
Sad but true!
You got that right, Wizard and Corine. Those idiots so embarrassed, they talking SHIT bout Christie.
Go solve crime and une,mployment problems suckers!
It amazes me that one the same day when the S&P has downgraded the Bahamian economy yet again for the third(3) time under this present FNM Government they have the time to talk about Perry Christie and the PLP. 1) The PLP is not the government you are! 2) If you focused just some of your energy, time and interest on what is going on in the country and not the PLP party your government may actually be able to solve some of the problems facing the country (i.e Crime & Job Creation) 3) If you are taking credit for the ‘road corridors’ as an accomplishment! You got to be joking! The mis-management of this project by the FNM government is astounding! That why signs are up apologizing for the ‘inconvenience’ when it’s more like ‘incompetence’! By the way, Where is Ms. Charlene Collie ‘a qualified Bahamian’ engineer! 4)The Airport project was already started by the PLP and Vancouver Airport Services 5) Baha-Mar would have been started also if the PM did not scare away ‘Harrahs!’ 6) The Straw Market ‘cost less’! In what world? When you take into account the ‘cost overruns’ of the ‘New Straw Market’ and the government having to settle a lawsuit for millions of dollars with the original architect. How did the government ‘save money?’ Are you serious? Dead serious? The new generation of Bahamians can read are college educated and will not be bamboozled by ‘fancy talk’ and diversions! This election in 2012 will be about issues and which political party is best suited to solve these problems! Not about political propaganda and scandals! Not this time, my Bruuuuudddahh!! It’s all about the issues!!
ingrum say they do the work mr.christie left in place. so they want the credit. so this simply manes christie is the man with the vision, b/c the FNM did not bring one single new project in almost five yrs, mr. christie is sitting back and letting the FNM them used his vision and ideas to gain grounds and political points. now i see why they never bring forward one new project b/c they don’t have any vision, my’my’ talk about lost losers!!! like i say anyone vote FNM OR DNA HAS TO BE A SUCKER FOR BAD TREATMENT’
The FNM is delusional. They are also liars. How can you inflict such injustice on your people for four and a half years, and continue today. Now they try to muddy the waters by attempting to shift the focus from themselves, and onto Mr. Christie and the PLP. Not one of their so called accomplishments was initiated by them. This debacle that they call road improvement sorely lacks any sense of organization. If the FNM’s plan is to frustrate, and disgust the Bahamian people, then they have been successful.
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