In response to statements made by former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham at his various rallies on Saturday, Progressive Liberal Party Chairman Raynard Rigby on Sunday asked Mr. Ingraham to declare what he received from “the special interest group” of the FNM to return as leader of that “fringe party”.
While Mr. Ingraham called the PLP government scandal-plagued, Mr. Rigby said, “Mr. Ingraham could not have forgotten the serious allegations of corruption and impropriety that were levied against his team of Tommy Turnquest and Dion Foulkes.”
He added, “It must also be clear to the public at large that Hubert Ingraham will stoop to any low, nasty wickedness to attempt to get his sweating paws on the reins of the government. He would even stoop to criticize the church and the churchﾒs involvement in national affairs.”
The PLP chairman was referring to Mr. Ingrahamﾒs criticism of the government over allowing Full Gospel Baptist Bishop Neil Ellis to mediate various industrial disputes.
The FNM leader ﾖ who held rallies in Eleuthera, New Providence and Grand Bahama to mark the 14th anniversary of his partyﾒs first victory at the polls ﾖ even went as far as questioning whether Bishop Ellis was in fact acting as prime minister and calling the shots.
Responding to Mr. Ingrahamﾒs criticism, Mr. Rigby said the Christie government has shown that the Bahamian people have a right to participate in the affairs of the government and the commissions appointed by the prime minister are a testament to the skill, intellectual and national good that can be generated when Bahamians from all walks of life put their heads together to solve and assist in the framing of national policies.
“We are not going back to the dark days of Hubert Ingraham when he single-handedly rammed down the throats of the financial services sector eleven pieces of legislation without any form of consultation and when he tried to bamboozle the Bahamian people into accepting his views on constitutional reform. He was a dictator then and remains a dictator today,” Mr. Rigby said.
“This is the same Hubert Ingraham who publicly threatened, pledged and promised to reduce the ranks of the civil service if his party wins the next general elections. That means Mr. Ingraham would find it appropriate to displace hundreds of hard working Bahamians and take bread out of the mouths of their hundreds of Bahamian families.”
During his rallies, the FNM leader urged FNMs to take a page out of the book of PLPs who are able to unite during times of crises, and during elections.
Mr. Rigby viewed this as a compliment.
“That is a clear indication that Hubert Ingraham now recognizes and has fully accepted that there is no future in the FNM and that he nor Brent Symonette has the support of that party,” he said.
“In fact, if Hubert Ingraham would just speak the truth he would say to his party that the PLP has been accepting former and disgruntled FNM supporters in large mass since his return to the leadership of the FNM.
“Many of them say that Hubert Ingraham is the same old dictator and that he believes and acts as if only he has all of the answers. It is no surprise therefore that he is struggling to gain acceptance and has found it necessary to publicly chastise and rebuke his supporters for their infighting. Perhaps, if Hubert Ingraham understood what democracy was all about he would truly appreciate why his own party is so opposed to his single-handed selection of all of the candidates.”
He said that under the PLP government there have been significant accomplishments. Mr. Rigby said in his statement:
The Bahamian economy is performing far better than it did in May 2002 and is projected to reach a positive growth of nearly 6 percent before the next general election.
The national reserves are at the healthiest than they have ever been before in our history.
The Christie government has put more Bahamians in their own homes than the FNM did in almost 10 years in office.
The Christie government has taken positive steps to reform the educational system and to improve the grade averages; and Bahamians everywhere, in Bimini, in Eleuthera, in Inagua, in Grand Bahama and in Rum Cay, all over The Bahamas, have the confidence in the future because this PLP government has brought real sustainable economic growth right to their homes and settlements. All Bahamians know that they are better off today than they were in 2002.
The Bahama Journal
