We agree with Cynthia \u201cMother\u201d Pratt\u2019s recent statement that crime should not be politicised because it \u201cknows no agenda; it doesn\u2019t care about being bipartisan; it has no respect for no one party\u201d.<\/p>\n
What a pity she didn\u2019t make this statement in 2012 when it was her party that put up large billboards stating: \u201cUnder the FNM government 490 plus murders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winning an election seemed more important to the Opposition PLP at that time than the consequences that such scare tactics could have on the nation\u2019s number one industry \u2014 tourism.<\/p>\n
The putting up of the placards in April 2012 \u2014 one month before a general election\u2014 seemed to be under the direction of Philip \u201cBrave\u201d Davis, our present deputy prime minister, who was then in opposition. When the Ministry of Environment under the Ingraham government ordered them down, it was Mr Davis who condemned their removal, calling it \u201cstrong arm tactics\u201d and declaring that \u201cwe cannot hide the truth\u201d.<\/p>\n
FNM supporters who started to tear the billboards down were referred to by Mr Davis as \u201cFNM goon squads\u201d. Mr Davis accused then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham of being a dictator, desperate for power and intent on concealing the truth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not know why they would take down the signs with the murder count on them. That\u2019s a fact,\u201d declared Mr Davis.<\/p>\n
At this point, it was \u201cMother\u201d Pratt\u2019s voice that should have been heard, calling for the country to come together because crime was no respecter of persons.<\/p>\n