The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Although they repeatedly demanded that the Prime Minister “ring the bell”, it is now clear that the Progressive Liberal Party was not even close to ready to contest a general election. Dr Minnis called their bluff and now the PLP’s campaign is quickly falling apart.

The PLP’s supposed “big deal” with the unions was clearly intended to be the cornerstone of the campaign, but it fell very flat almost immediately when nine unions, including many of the biggest in the country, said they didn’t know what Brave Davis was talking about. The union deal was all the rage just a week ago, yet the PLP don’t even talk about it anymore.

Then they tried to host an Economic Forum, but this also fell flat because of boring, recycled ideas, especially after the thin little document they released was blown out of the water by the FNM’s detailed and professional manifesto.

Their next move was to try and paint the governing FNM with the same corruption brush that has been drenching the PLP since the 1960s.

In true Donald Trump style, they figured that if the public could be convinced that everyone in politics was as corrupt, dishonest and untrustworthy as the PLP....then, hey, why not give the PLP a try?! But the FNMs they have targeted with this smear campaign have strongly dismissed the claims.

In any case, even if they were all true, it would not scratch the surface of the PLP’s 50-year Empire of Corruption.

The tiny rent-a-crowd outside the Water & Sewerage Corporation on Friday, intended to intimidate Long Island MP Adrian Gibson, was a resurrection of a classic PLP tactic from the early 1990s, showing just how totally bankrupt of new ideas this current crew is.

The public has suffered terribly because of Hurricane Dorian and the COVID-19 pandemic.

So the PLP’s next big idea was to blame it all on the FNM, and claim that the strongest and most devastating hurricane to ever hit The Bahamas in recorded history, and the worst global health crisis in anyone’s living memory, were no excuse.

Nothing should have changed at home, even though tourism dried up, businesses closed and workers were laid off, all due to circumstances beyond our control in The Bahamas.

Economies and healthcare systems around the world have been placed under huge strain and came to the brink of collapse thanks to the pandemic, but our tiny little island nation, with its limited financial resources, was supposed to just handle the situation, without any impact on the public and without borrowing any money.

Because, of course, that is the PLP’s other complaint: that borrowing skyrocketed.

Well, what do they think happens in an emergency?

A good government does what it can to take care of its people and if the funds are not available at home to do so, they look abroad. Would the PLP have just let the people starve?

Their other line of attack is that the FNM couldn’t keep the public safe in the pandemic, even though the PLP leadership failed to tell its followers to take the vaccine until the 11th hour, fielded candidates and generals who raised bogus fears about the vaccine, complained constantly about the life-saving Emergency Orders restrictions, violated social distancing, and sent out agents on social media to encourage the public to distrust vaccines and safety protocols.

The simple fact is that Dr Minnis’ plan to deal with the pandemic was the right one and if more people had listened to him (no thanks to the PLP) far fewer Bahamians would have got sick and died.

The PLP is responsible for a large part of that breakdown in cooperation from the public.

All of the above is just aimless mudslinging in a last ditch attempt to gain ground on the FNM. From what I can see, it ain’t working.

So, what do the PLP have left?

The truth is, very little. In the final days of the campaign, we can expect more and more wild and crazy accusations from an opposition party desperate for power, but out of ideas.

The Bahamian people will not fall for any of it. We have been here with the PLP too many times before.

ANITA SWAIN-JOHNSON

Nassau,

September 3, 2021.