The Editor
Bahamas Press
21 August 2021
Dear BP,
One of the benefits of observing persons over a long period is that you get to know them; their habits, likes and dislikes, how they see the world and their place in it. So, over the years whether it was at Lil Murph’s or the South Beach Cabana I witnessed the evolution of an FNM party of avarice, venality and self -centeredness, users of dirty tricks and political intimidation. Persons who took no responsibility for the consequences of trying to overthrow the leader of the PLP. This narcissistic, narrow thinking is now in full flow under the leadership of Hubert Minnis.
Like all narcissists the FNM is a party of projection. To them everyone is crooked or corrupt. But as we have seen, there are so many allegations of corruption against them both nationally and internationally that we are hard pressed to keep up with them. As the old Bahamian saying goes “if you want to know who tiefen look at who is saying everyone tiefen”. Not since the FNM, s predecessors and role model the UBP has Bahamians seen this level of economic exploitation and financial predation by a political party.
So, on 21 st May 2021 when I wrote “from 2017 to Hurricane Dorian in 2019 the FNM did absolutely nothing to benefit Bahamians and instead heaped indignity upon insult on us in other words it was business as usual. The FNM in its twisted logic did not see Hurricane Dorian which made landfall on Abaco on September 6 th , 2019, as one of the most destructive hurricanes to ever hit the Bahamas which required a measured, planned, forward looking and competent response. Rather they saw it as an opportunity for cronies, friends, lovers, supporters and their wealthy benefactors to benefit financially from this disaster; and benefit from it they did”.
This assessment was based on my intimate knowledge of FNM followers and observations of their actions over the years, so I know these people. Unfortunately, their greed, incompetence, hunger to get rich quick and avarice have exceeded anything I ever expected.
We can expect them to lash out at their political enemies, smear them and engage in mudsling and character assassination during the upcoming political campaign and insert their old tropes of PLP corruption at every opportunity as instructed by their foreign handlers.
But this time it will be different. The FNM have no accomplishments to herald other than a badly mismanaged response to the Covid-19 pandemic which has led to the hospitalization and deaths of Bahamians many of whom died, alone in tents despite a PHA budget of nearly $300 million per annum.; rampant unemployment; Bahamian despair; decimation of Family Island communities through unwarranted lockdowns and restrictions; the unsound reopening of the economy despite expert medical advice not to; no bid contracts to friends, lovers and benefactors; imposition of a health travel visa regime run by a company intimately known to the FNM hierarchy; incomplete projects for which all funds have apparently been disbursed; demoralization and marginalization of the public service especially our medical professionals. There is a growing realisation by Bahamians that this government is callous, incompetent and just does not know what it is doing. Indeed, these incompetents could not even progue the House properly.
It is always useful to reflect on where we went wrong, what made us go on a particular course and what lessons we learned. So, when Hubert Minnis said “it’s the people’s time” like lemming’s we followed a pied piper who led us over a financial, social and medical cliff. Why, because we misunderstood which “people” he was referring to. We thought it was us; after all some persons needed help. But the “people” he was referring to is the former UBP oligarchs who finance his lies and deceptions; friends, lovers, crony’s and party hangers on who, to this day cannot complete a contract on time or budget if at all. “People” associated with the FNM’s mismanagement who have yet to account for the hundreds of millions in contracts, international donations and loans and the scandalous behaviour of his ministers.
In fact, everyone but the Bahamian taxpayers who sacrificed to make our country the vibrant, prosperous all-inclusive democracy that was once the envy of the Caribbean. Now, Minnis has promised that his second term will be for the “people” again we think it’s us, but bitter experience tells us otherwise.
It truly takes an eye watering amount of gall and hubris for the FNM to come into an election period as though they have clean hands after accumulating nearly $10 billion in national debt; not accounting for millions in secret contracts to cronies, widespread despair and an out-of-control pandemic which was mismanaged from the beginning. Indeed, the FNM mismanagement of the Hurricane Dorian disaster
and Covid-19 pandemic is so deplorable that they have fulfilled the prophecy in Jeremiah 16:4 “They will not be able to mourn their dead. They will not be able to bury their dead”.
Now the FNM is pushing another lie claiming that its “about your future” and their highly paid foreign political propagandists and agents is amplifying the lie and begging us to forget all their past insults, lies and misdeeds. The FNM has turned our Bahamas into a financial and social basket case and want another chance to complete our destruction. Bahamians know that once is more than enough of these
miscreants.
So, bulla that lie will not work like the demonic and demonstrable false promise of “it’s the peoples time”. We know based on their past behaviour that if we re-elect the FNM Bahamians will have no future.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Brown
