The Tribune

Malcom J Strachan has a different take on Michael Halkitis’ ‘that’s where da VAT money gone’ mantra . . .

We are fresh off the passing of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) convention, and oh, what a glorious spectacle it was.

The lights, the staging, the camerawork: it was everything you could imagine “big money” could buy. After all, when you don’t have to pay for something, why not go for the whole hog, right?

We wonder, if only for the sake of transparency, the PLP would table how much their “lil convention” cost the taxpayers - and we will stand by that statement that we, the taxpayers paid for it, until we are proven otherwise.

Now on to the spectacle.

It short, it was a classic case of what the PLP is all about - all flash and no substance - pulling the longest running loom on the Bahamian people.

When we tuned in to the convention, we were expecting the Government to address a number of key issues that affect the Bahamian people - crime, unemployment, education, Baha Mar, and maybe, just maybe, an accounting for the Value Added Tax (VAT) money.

Naturally we didn’t expect this to actually happen - after all, this convention was more about the coronation of Perry Christie as Emperor in Chief than an accounting to the Bahamian people of the PLP’s term in office. Why should we imagine that our Government would be accountable to us? As US President Donald Trump so eloquently inferred last week, the people voted for me so they gave me the power to do what I want. Those who don’t like it, can lump it!

The Bahamian people deserve more than what the PLP gave them last week. We got a big production, but were left with a sense of hopelessness as more questions were raised than answered.

Minister of State for Finance, Michael Halkitis, in what he had assumed would have been a rousing speech explaining how the public’s finances had been spent, woke up the next morning to see that his speech had backfired on him spectacularly.

The public was not buying his chant of “that’s where the VAT money gone!” His examples of public expenditure were being ripped to shreds. In some of the cases he used, the Government actually borrowed monies to complete them, which begged the question, does the Minister even know where the VAT money gone?

What’s more damaging is that his speech came off more as patronising than informative, as he seemed bothered to have to explain to the Bahamian people what he was doing. Mr Halkitis would do well to remember that he is being paid from that same consolidated fund that he can’t seem to keep track of. He should do well to remember that he works for us, the Bahamian people. To obfuscate on something as important as taxpayers dollars is unacceptable in this day and age. The people want - and are owed - more than a poorly executed soundbite.

We should have had a proper accounting of every penny that has been collected by this government through VAT by the Minister – every, single, dollar.

Now, on to the Prime Minister, the Emperor in Chief.

Christie was in his glory as he started his procession from his stately abode, just minutes away from the Melia hotel. The cameras were rolling and footage being beamed into the convention hall of a victorious Christie, heading on his way to greet his adoring fans. The air was thick with anticipation.

One could have forgotten that, as this charade was taking place, thousands of Bahamian families were still huddled in their homes without electricity because they had been disconnected by Bahamas Power and Light. Thousands of other families were living with friends or relatives after losing their own homes. Thousands of families were about to put their children bed with nothing in their stomachs because their parents have been unemployed for months or years - despite the pledges of 32,000 new jobs being created during this term.

Hundreds of other families were sitting around and praying for justice for their loved ones who had been gunned down on our streets. You would have forgotten that this Bahamas existed if you tuned in to that PLP convention. Not a word was said to give comfort to them, or countless other Bahamians who wanted more than a song and a dance.

So as Christie paraded one “coming soon” project or development one after the other, we watched and waited for him to speak to us, the regular Bahamian people. We wanted him to address us the way he did in 2012, when he promised to have the solution on crime and unemployment.

We waited for the Christie of 2012 to reappear and tell us that he had corrected the woes of the last Ingraham administration and that our nation’s finances were now in good order. We strained to hear his ideas on how he would diversify our economy and bring about a new age of engagement with our youth.

We waited in vain.

The PLP convention, for all that it was made to be, was nothing more than a show. They brought their supporters out and rallied their base, but this country is larger than the PLP alone.

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