The Tribune

By CELESTE NIXON

Tribune Staff Reporter

cnixon@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Perry Christie slightly backed off from his party’s pledge to create 10,000 jobs this year.

Speaking after FNM leader Dr Hubert Minnis questioned the feasibility of the plan, Mr Christie said although he could not give an exact number, the government intends to create many thousands of jobs by the end of its first term in office.

“I am not going to put a figure to how many jobs we are going to create,” he said, “but I will tell you this, the last time we were in office we created 22,000 jobs – arguably some people say 18,000 – but we created thousands of jobs and we are going to do the same this time and we are going to be starting this year. How many this year I can’t say because it has to happen.

“The two handicap challenges my administration faced and faces is crime and unemployment and we are aggressively seeking to solve both of those issues or at least minimise the negative impacts – I am encouraged by what I have seen so far and I am optimistic as what the future holds.”

Earlier this week Dr Minnis responded to Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, who said the government still plans to make good on the 10,000 job promise, which was a major cog in the PLP’s 2012 campaign message.

While admitting that he would “be more than happy to see the goal materialise,” Dr Minnis said the PLP has chosen to make this major promise based on hopes of foreign investments that are only in the primary stages of discussion.

“The difference between the FNM and the PLP is that we are results-oriented. When we’ve made announcements, it’s because we know things will come to fruition. The announcement they made about jobs is only based on the initial discussions they’ve had regarding foreign investments,” Dr Minnis said.

While Mr Christie could not speak to Mr Davis’ comments, he said having already announced projects for Bimini, the government has engaged in talks about other potential investments.

“I understand my mandate; my mandate happens to be to recognise the country is afflicted with a real problem of joblessness.”

“I am not going to pin myself to how many (jobs will be created) this year,” said Mr Christie. “Mr Davis might be the supreme optimist in that regard, he happens to know the type of things we are doing and he shares in what we are doing but at the end of the day, my job is to say to the Bahamian people I have reason to be optimistic about our future.”