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EDITOR, The Tribune.
Two PLP (Progressive Liberal Party) apologists have come to the rescue of their scandal-ridden party: Rodney Moncur and one Andrew Allen. Moncur is nursing a grudge against the FNM (Free National Movement) after it decided not to give him a nomination before the election. The former Workers Party leader, DNA (Democratic National Alliance) candidate and Loretta Butler-Turner Senate appointee appears to be suffering from political schizophrenia. He is a political opportunist and, in my opinion an impostor who will probably be begging the PLP for a nomination in 2022, life last.
As for Allen, his incredible claim that the Christie government of 2012-2017 was the most productive in recent Bahamian history in terms of advancing the long term development of The Bahamas must be taken by rational Bahamians as an hyperbole. The PLP was stellar at advancing the cause of a few mercenaries who raked in untold millions in government contracts to the detriment of the country.
They left the country saddled with a massive debt problem, despite having the advantage of VAT. Allen’s most productive government nearly wrecked the economy after squandering away hundreds of millions of dollars in inflated contracts to PLP hacks. Anyone who agrees with a government rewarding a $33,000 a month contract to one individual to act as a cultural adviser head is screwed on the wrong way.
The Ian Poitier revelation would have never been publicised had the PLP remained in office. The matter was kept under wraps because the PLP was fully aware that it would have angered tens of thousands of struggling Bahamians – many of whom do not even make $33,000 per annum.
As Allen said, Bahamians are not stupid. The $210 minimum wage in the private sector was only implemented by the PLP due to the advent of VAT. Whatever monetary benefits derived from the minimum wage increase was short lived, thanks to VAT.
Allen harped on the FNM’s handling of National Health Insurance as if the scheme was fully functional and well funded, when in fact the PLP had nothing in place to fund the scheme. This while NHI foreign consultants were paid a staggering $500,000 and $250,000 a month by Christie and co.
The PLP dumped $80m into BAMSI (The Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute), much to the benefit of a few PLP hacks. The FNM has substantiated this claim in recent weeks. The evidence is there for all and sundry to see. All Allen has to do is to take off his PLP blinders and look at it objectively. Allen also took exception to a Nassau Guardian editorial about former PLP Cabinet minister Jerome Fitzgerald titled “Hogs at the Trough”.
The write-up pointed out that despite the fact that Fitzgerald’s father already had a lucrative government contract worth nearly $1m per annum, the younger Fitzgerald still begged founder Baha Mar developer Sarkis Izmirlian for brokerage, trucking and limousine contracts as if his family was in dire straits financially.
The gist of the article is that the Fitzgeralds were eyeballing the whole hog, while ignoring the plight of thousands of low income families who depend on the taxi and trucking industries to eke out a living in a country that has become even more expensive to live in thanks to VAT. The Christie government did not give us the University of The Bahamas; the Pindling administration did that during the 1970s.
All Christie those did was changed the name of an already existing institution. The PLP may have doubled conviction rates for serious offences, but still presided over 600 plus murders. The economy never grew under Christie, hence four downgrades to go along with a jobless rate in the double digits. Allen’s flimsy attempt to defend the PLP is like a person attempting to make Mexican Chicken Quinoa salad out of chicken poop. The Christie government was the most corrupt government in the post colonial era.
THE WHISTLEBLOWER
Nassau,
July 23, 2017.
