The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIANS will have a “bleak Christmas” this year because of the weak leadership of Prime Minister Perry Christie, the Free National Movement said in a statement yesterday.

In a statement, the FNM said while more than 2,000 Bahamians remain unemployed at Baha Mar, Mr Christie – the “king of shuffling” – continues to sell pipe dreams about the completion and opening of the Cable Beach resort.

The FNM also said the implementation of value added tax (VAT) this year has turned the middle class into the “working poor.”

“Former board members of Baha Mar provided us with the true facts regarding the government’s missteps in the Baha Mar negotiations,” the FNM’s statement said. “While the prime minister sells fantasies and promises of relief on the horizon, thousands of Bahamians will not be merry and will have no Christmas. Throughout the length and breath of our nation the unemployed will experience the bleak Christmas caused by Christie.

“Since its implementation on January 1, 2015, VAT has burdened poor Bahamians by decimating their disposable incomes. Undoubtedly, VAT has forced Bahamians to cut back on their usual discretionary spending. This altered consumer behaviour is producing a devastating impact on the Bahamian economy. Even further, VAT is beginning to turn the middle class into the working poor. Despite the negative effects to the finances of many Bahamians, Mr Christie celebrates the hundreds of millions collected from VAT by arrogantly refusing to account to the Bahamian people on how those millions are being spent.”

The FNM also said under Mr Christie’s poor leadership and governance, this Christmas, Bahamians are literally living in fear and misery.

“They are fearful of crime and violence in the face of a record breaking year of murders. Incidentally, and most disgracefully, Christie continues to announce upcoming strategies and initiatives to combat the increased levels of crime,” the statement said.

“Nearly two months after his first announcement, we have yet to see the implementation of any such initiatives. Sadly, Cabinet ministers are also publicly attacking the leadership of the Royal Bahamas Police Force and blaming them for crime. In the meantime, blood continues to pour on our streets and fear continues to paralyse our population.”

The opposition said the party anxiously awaits the day when the PLP is voted out of office and the FNM can get the country back on the right track.