The Tribune

THE reason that the Opposition was rejected at the polls after a single term cannot be clearer. There was no leadership. The Christie administration was the weakest, most incompetent and most unproductive government in an independent Bahamas. The scandals that rocked the Christie government, its late-again work ethic, its lack of significant accomplishments, and its endless list of broken promises all boiled down to a lack of vision, direction and strong leadership by Perry Christie. In 2009, a senior PLP who sat in Mr Christie's cabinet said of that government: "Many PLPs were dissatisfied with our work ethic: our inability to get things done on time, answer phone calls and get to work on time and to deal with requests to the government in a timely fashion." Nothing has changed. Mr Christie is incapable of being a strong and decisive leader. Again, the words of that same senior PLP: "The public expects to see a full-time Leader of the Opposition with regular and known office hours..." Whether in government or in opposition, Mr Christie is incapable of being a well-organised leader who can deal with matters in a timely fashion. Cassius Stuart, the FNM's standard bearer for Bamboo Town recently noted that when he was considering whether to join the FNM or PLP that it took eight months for Mr Christie to get back to him. Prime Minister Ingraham returned his call in an hour. Mr Christie is a talker, not a doer; a promise-maker, not a deliverer; a vacillator, not a leader. Weeks before the 2002 general election, Mr Christie proclaimed: "I see thousands of school children in overcrowded classrooms being taught by frustrated underpaid teachers." Yet in five years, he could not and did not build a single school. Mr Christie also proclaimed: "I see too many families who still have to fry fish and conch-fritters out on Montagu Bay to raise money for major surgery because there is no National Health Insurance System to help them out." Yet he did not deliver on what he boasted was his most urgent priority. It is a re-elected FNM Government that will deliver catastrophic health insurance, expand the prescription drug benefit to all workers and their families, and continue to transform health care facilities and technology. Mr Christie further proclaimed: "We must conduct ourselves in Government according to an uncompromising code of complete integrity and transparency. If we set the right example at the top, it will filter all the way down to the bottom, both in the public sector and in the wider society." Despite this pledge, he tolerated scandalous and unseemly behaviour in his cabinet and government. He also kept secret, agreements on Baha Mar; Park Ridge Securities Corp (Albany); Bluewater, the phantom company that sought to take control of BTC; and a number of others. Given another chance. Mr Christie will again prove to be a laid-back, indecisive, weak and disorganised figure head of the PLP, while his associates do whatever they want. Tough issues, like battling crime and boosting job-creation do not solve themselves. They require tough, focused, organized and strong leadership. A Christie administration that was drenched in scandal by many of the same people who are running again will not have the credibility or authority to deal with crime. It would be like hiring a known safe-breaker to guard your safe, and also giving him the combination for the safe. The Great Recession that struck the world and The Bahamas beginning in 2008 required quick, decisive and bold action. Such action, led by Prime Minister Ingraham prevented the collapse of the economy, saved the jobs of civil servants, advanced measures to assist those in need of emergency and public assistance, and helped to prepare The Bahamas for a recovery. Times of crisis demand leadership. The Christie administration, a failure in better global economic times, would have been a disaster during the Great Recession. Like scores of countries throughout the world, the acceleration of infrastructural projects at home prevented economic collapse by stimulating the economy and providing jobs and pay cheques. The Opposition has criticized these projects, the very things that employed Bahamian workers and has improved the lives of every single Bahamian. Clearly, they would have failed to do the many things that are now benefiting the Bahamian people because from 2002 to 2007 the Christie administration proved to be incapable and indifferent when it came to delivering for the Bahamian people.