The fiscal crisis inherited by the PLP in 2012 was not of its own making but they were hired by the Bahamian people to clean up this fiscal mess. The PLP government continues to strike a delicate balance between honouring existing capital commitments and the execution of its own capital works program under very difficult fiscal circumstances. This is what reasonable governments do. The government’s fiscal consolidation plan has received the endorsements of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Credit Ratings Agency, Standard and Poors (S&P) – reputed international organizations with no political axe to grind. I publicly thank the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and his State Minister for making the tough, unpopular, but necessary decisions of behalf of the Bahamian people. On the issue of the recession, one cannot honestly cite the global recession as the reason for the dismal economic and fiscal performance of the country under the stewardship of the FNM without citing the recession for the current fiscal crisis and protracted economic recovery of The Bahamas under the stewardship of the PLP. On May 7th, 2012, the FNM went away, not the recession – the deleterious effects of the global recession on the Bahamian economy and its slow protracted recovery are with us today. To suggest otherwise is abject dishonesty. This current national state of affairs is not new or unchartered waters for us. I remind Bahamians that the PLP governed this country with prudence during the gasoline crisis of the 1970′s, the Iraq war of the 1980′s and after 911 in 2002. The record is there for all to see that in each instance, The Bahamas emerged stronger after each test and boast of having one of the strongest economies and successful democracies in the region. Some of our Caribbean neighbours were not so lucky. I make these points to raise the broader question of the motivation behind the doom and gloom, gainsaying, naysaying, nitpicking and second guessing of the policies of this government, especially from talk radio and social media. Everybody has an opinion on our current fiscal crisis. There is no nexus between the manufactured hysteria in the public domain, the PLP’s body of work during some thirty years of governance and its handling of the current fiscal challenges. It is disgraceful that some see fit to denounce a policy or proposed bill as a failure before it is drafted, let alone implemented. There are some who appear to be actively campaigning for the failure of our country; this is unpatriotic and unforgivable. (Bradley @ PLP 60th Anniversary banquet)
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 22:57:54 +0000
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