The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The editorial of The Nassau Guardian of December 18, 2019, has reaffirmed my belief that the editors of the newspaper have hijacked the operation to turn it into an opposition vehicle to remove Dr. Hubert Minnis as Prime Minister.

The only question is: have the editors gone rogue or is this biased approach with the blessing of The Nassau Guardian’s owners?

The editorial in question was filled with upset that the governing party won the recent confidence vote in the House of Assembly.

It went on to list a series of issues facing the Government. It referred to the two corruption cases in which the PLPs in question were found not guilty. It talked about high crime in the country. It talked about tension with labour unions. It talked about the VAT increase and impending BPL fee to pay for past debt and future investment.

Then it went to Hurricane Dorian and said not enough is being done, according to people in the disaster zone.

The editorial read like a post from the PLP on Facebook. It listed out-of-context criticisms, offering no positives of the Government’s performance. If you read the editorial you’d think the Government has not done one good thing in more than two years.

The editorial also reads as if possibly inspired by a disgruntled former FNM senior individual upset that he is no longer the big dog in the party or the country and incapable of reconciling himself to his new status.

A balanced paper trying to be objective would have listed accomplishments and failures. A balanced paper would have commended the Government for the things it did well in addition to criticising the Government for what it did wrong.

Here are a few facts I add to The Nassau Guardian’s editorial – which was filled with biased talking points – to present a more accurate picture of the Government’s performance.

Last year under the Minnis Administration there was the lowest murder count in a decade in the Bahamas. It was also the first time in a decade that murders were under 100. Overall crime also fell last year.

In all my long years I have never seen a tax increase welcomed anywhere in the world. This issue must be put in context, however.

The Christie Government ran large deficits. The country’s finances were in such bad shape that the Minnis Government had to increase VAT to stabilise the situation. Under the FNM we stopped getting downgraded by the ratings agencies.

Having a sound financial footing has allowed us to borrow to help rebuild after the devastation of Dorian. If the PLP super-deficits had continued, the creditworthiness of the Bahamas would be zero and borrowing would be very, very difficult.

When it comes to BPL, the Minnis Administration has built the largest single power plant in Bahamian history. Station A is now online.

There was a disaster with power in Nassau this summer. The Government made a plan. It has purchased new generators (with more to come). It is switching to natural gas and building solar in the Family Islands. There is investment in transmission. As is seen with Station A, this is a plan that is in the works – not just talk.

All of this has to be paid for. The $320 million of old BPL debt has to be paid. There is no magical way to pay for new equipment. If no one wants to pay then we could keep the same disastrous BPL we have.

Tensions with labour unions come with every Government. What we are experiencing here is nothing close to what they are facing in France at the moment, for example. Our situation is much, much better.

And as for the cases of the two PLPs who were exonerated, two other cases remain before the courts. Where there is a case of malfeasance to be answered, the relevant authorities have a duty to launch a prosecution. It is then up to the courts to do their duty: convict or acquit.

There are other accomplishments. There has been $8.6 billion in foreign direct investment lined up under the FNM. Unemployment was down except for the effects of Dorian. There have been consecutive years of economic growth. There is free tertiary, full-time education for all Bahamians at the University of The Bahamas and The Bahamas Technical & Vocational Institute. The Universal Preschool Programme has greatly expanded the number of children getting early education.

The Nassau Guardian should decide if it wants to be a paper of record or the propaganda instrument for certain individuals. It is free to be either.

If it chooses to be the opposition’s communications arm or is unduly influenced by others with certain biases and grievances, it should tell the Bahamian people. That way we would not have expectations of reason or fairness in the paper’s opinions.

ECM

Nassau,

December 19, 2019