THE PLP has ratified its second pair of 2017 general election candidates – Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald and State Minister of Finance Michael Halkitis – as senior party officials declaring that the “new generation” leaders’ mantra was alive and well.
The incumbent MPs were ratified in their current constituencies of Marathon and Golden Isles respectively.
The announcement came during the monthly meeting of the National General Council at the party’s Farrington Road headquarters last night. PLP Party Chairman Bradley Roberts praised the selection of both men, noting that he was proud to have worked with them in Parliament and at the party and constituency levels.
“They have represented themselves, the Bahamas government and the Bahamians people well,” Mr. Roberts said.
The selections come on the heels of the ratification of incumbent Yamacraw MP Melanie Griffin and former Education Minister Alfred Sears in the Fort Charlotte constituency.
The ratification of Mr. Fitzgerald comes as the Marathon constituency continues to work its way through the protracted Rubis fuel spill debacle. In the wake of the 2013 incident, the government refused the make the findings of a independent Black and Veatch International report into the spill public for more than a year. The report found that Marathon residents were possibly exposed to harmful chemicals, including cancer-causing benzene.
Mr. Fitzgerald said the delay in making the Black and Veatch report public was due to the Attorney General not authorising its release.
Mr. Fitzgerald is going to be challenged by Democratic National Alliance (DNA) candidate Emily Williams and Free National Movement (FNM) candidate Romauld Ferreira, an environmental lawyer and advocate for the residents of Marathon.
Mr. Halkitis, while not caught in such controversy as Mr. Fitzgerald, has come under fire for his handling of a number of national economic matters. Most recently he criticised media outlets for writing “doom and gloom” articles about the government’s finances during his contribution to the mid-year budget debate in the House of Assembly.
The government has faced staunch opposition on the implementation of Value Added Tax, with some detractors blaming the country’s sluggish economic growth on the tax – all of that coming on the watch of Mr. Halkitis.
In the upcoming general elections, Mr. Halkitis is expected to be challenged by DNA candidate Stephen Greenslade and the FNM’s Kenyatta Gibson.
By Ricardo Wells, Tribune Staff Reporter
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