Remarks Ft. Charlotte Constituency Office Opening Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham Party Leader 1 March 2012

Ft. Charlotte; FNMs: I brought you Zhivargo Laing again and I want you to send him back to me as your MP!

I now live in Fort Charlotte. There are five of us in our house - we are voting FNM!

On Saturday night we will be in Exuma, on Monday the 5th we will be in Long Island, on Thursday the 8th we will be back in Nassau in Golden Gates and we are going to take Shane Gibson out!

On Saturday the 10th we will be in Central and South Eleuthera and I want you to know - South Eleuthera and Central Eleuthera is going to be FNM this time.

And on Thursday the 15th we are going to be in Marsh Harbour, Abaco. Abaco is FNM! On Saturday the 17th we will be in Grand Bahama in Russell Town and Martin Town, and you know Grand Bahama is FNM.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me be clear about something. I continue to seek out young people to involve in the political process in The Bahamas. That is why Zhivargo was selected in 1997 and I thank you for electing him.

He was the same age I was when Pindling selected me, 29 years of age. I saw in him that he had potential. I continue to see in him that he has potential.

When the FNM were defeated in 2002 Zhivargo returned to Freeport.

In 2007 the constituents of Marco City in Freeport convinced us that the one person who could win that seat for the FNM, in the face of a then popular MP from that other Party, was Zhivargo. We prevailed upon him to re-enter the political front line. He agreed. And we won!

We continue to want to bring into the FNM young people and those dedicated to the healthy formation of young people. That’s why have decided to make Norris Bain our man in Marco City. Norris is a devoted Christian, a school principal and sports coach who has made his life about developing the talents of young Bahamians.

It was not easy to tell Zhivargo that we wanted him to come back to Nassau you know. He was comfortable in Grand Bahama. He was doing well, he could win and he would win.

But we had to make some choices; we had to deploy our team. And I wanted Fort Charlotte back in the FNM fold and I wanted to kill two birds with one stone: keep Marco City, pick up Fort Charlotte and make Fort Charlotte turn away from yellow and make it RED!

So that you know, the FNM gonna win all five seats in Grand Bahama! You take that from me. Obie Wilchcombe is spending his last days in the House of Assembly right now.

Fellow Bahamians:

I’ve heard some whining and complaining about the opening of the National Stadium from that other side. And, here I thought that everyone was just ‘ga be happy for the Bahamian people’.

How many of y’all went to the opening and enjoyed yourself?

I told you before that what’s good for you ‘ain’t good for the PLP. They boycotted the opening of the Stadium because they weren’t the centre of attraction. They are very petty people you know.

I told you before that my friend Perry Christie is a Master of Ceremonies. He likes presiding at ceremonies. He’s vexed because he could not be Master of Ceremonies for the Stadium’s opening. And he doesn’t like hard work. If he liked hard work the Stadium would have been designed, built and opened long before now. But time and tide wait for no man or woman!

On Saturday past, the world marked the manner of our bearing at the grand opening of the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium.

We gathered in the tens of thousands in person and in front of our televisions to watch live the biggest national event since Independence.

I wish we had a song like Priscilla Rollins did for Independence. Remember, “Independence Mornin’, Like A Baby Bornin’?”

On Saturday it felt like a new baby was born in The Bahamas. It felt like the beginning of a new day for sports, a new day for our young people.

FNMs:

The Bahamas is on the map in terms of sports. Our record at the Olympics, at the World Championships, CAC games and Carifta speaks for itself.

With the opening of the new Stadium The Bahamas is now on the map in terms of sports tourism!

To make The Bahamas an even more world class sports tourism destination we will develop a Sports Tourism Encouragement Act in our next term.

And we are becoming increasingly confident that the Bahamian people are going to vote us back in office next time.

And the more sure FNMs become, the more desperate the PLP will become. And you watch them - they are going to be very desperate and they are going to get very nasty.

Well, tit for tat, butter for fat! I ain’t pickin no fight and I ain’t duckin no blows!

FNMs:

The new Tourism Act will provide incentives for Bahamians and international persons in the further advancement of The Bahamas as a first class sports tourism destination.

I came away from the opening of the Stadium will all kinds of feelings. But maybe the two most powerful feelings I had was pride, and hope for the future.

Even amidst our national challenges, all of us were reminded that when Bahamians put their hearts and heads together that we can overcome many challenges.

And overcome, we will!

We are recovering from this global economic recession.

We will also meet and beat back the criminal elements who seek to destroy our way of life.

I looked in the faces of the thousands of young people at the opening of the Stadium and saw a bright future.

I could see the hope in their faces.

I felt the courage and determination in their spirit, not fear.

I could hear in their cheers, their pride in being Bahamian.

We must honour their hopes and determination, and be trustworthy of their pride and courage.

Some young people make poor choices but they are a very small minority. The majority of our young people are headed in the right direction. We want to ensure that that majority of young Bahamians have every opportunity our country can afford for them to realize their goals and ambitions and make a life for themselves.

Young Bahamians:

Let me talk directly with you. I wasn’t born into money and privilege. In fact, I grew up poor; poor in material wealth, but not poor in spirit.

In fact, what they call poor nowadays is a joke. I was a big boy 11 years of age before I went to school with a pair of tennis on my feet - I went barefoot.

I was a recipient and beneficiary of the Pauper’s Ration which the Red Cross used to give to the poor in the islands: Carnation milk and water - that was our breakfast in the morning. I was what hard time is.

But my grandmother believed in me very much, and she made me believe in myself. And, I was blessed to be born in The Bahamas, a country where if your father was a bum, you can become a Prime Minister.

I love my country for many reasons. One of the many reasons is that this country has been good to me. You, the Bahamian people, have given me every opportunity I could ever dream of as a boy.

In fact, as a boy - unlike Perry Christie who said that he always wanted to be Prime Minister - that thought never entered this head of mine. I couldn’t dare dream that high. That was a ladder I couldn’t dare climb - you made me what I am and I thank you very much for it.

I want every Bahamian child to have the opportunities I did and more. I believe it is our responsibility to make things better for the next generation.

That is why I and our Party are dedicated to creating an Opportunity Society beginning with growing opportunities for young Bahamians.

That is why we put and keep at the top of our agenda expanding and improving education facilities for Bahamian young people, hiring additional numbers of teachers, getting better tuition materials and training more Bahamians to become teachers.

This is why we, the FNM, have made it possible that any young Bahamian leaving high school, who meets the standard for entry into the College of The Bahamas to do so - free of charge.

And that is why, in our next term we will provide rental assistance payments to Family Island students who meet the standard and who cannot be accommodated in the College dorms and who are unable to attend COB because they cannot afford the cost of room and board.

I see a bunch of posters put up by the PLP saying they believe in young people. I certainly wish they had acted like they believed in the young people when they were in office. Had they believed in the young people they would have spent some of the $800 million they borrowed during their last term in office on you – improving your schools, improving skills training available to you and making way for more of you to attend COB.

When they were in office, the Christie Government granted – over their 5 year term - $ 5.1 million worth of scholarships for young Bahamians to attend COB.

Over the past four and a half years this FNM Government has granted $25.7 million in scholarships for young Bahamians to attend COB! That in a nut shell tells you the difference between them and us. That in a nutshell tells you who believes in and support Bahamian youths.

If they believe in young people so much, why didn’t they put the money where their mouth is?

We have also invested millions in our 52 week National Jobs Readiness and Skills Training Programme. I understand that some in that other Party are busy running to some Family Islands, like MICAL, and are busy telling lies about the Programme. They want to convince participants that the 52 week programme announced in the last Budget Communication will end with this fiscal year – in June 2012. That is a lie, an untruth; plain and simple propaganda.

So take it from me, the author of the programme – each person engaged in the programme is engaged for 52 weeks. If you commenced work in October, 2011 you will complete your 52 week in October 2012. Those of you who started in February 2012, will complete your engagement in February, 2013 – 52 weeks is what you would get because that is the deal.

We’re proud of our record in delivering for young Bahamians.

We are also the party that looks to the future. In our next term we want to make even more opportunities available to young Bahamians. That is why we will launch the Bahamas Youth Corps.

In our next term in office The Bahamas Youth Corps will provide 18 to 25-year olds with the opportunity to earn funds for further schooling, college, or to start a business venture.

And when we promise you something, you can take that to the bank because as our record shows – WE DELIVER!

Ft. Charlotte; FNMs; Fellow Bahamians: CRIME My greatest priority at the moment is the safety and security of the Bahamian people. We in the FNM are tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. Over the ensuing weeks, we will identify for you a number of reasons why you can’t trust the PLP to deal with the question of crime.

We will also identify and enumerate for you many of the reasons why some of the problems we have today are known to the PLP, because many of our problems started a long time ago. They didn’t just spring up yesterday, it’s not a problem that we can eliminate today. It is going to take time because it took time for it to happen and it is going to take time to be rid of it.

We are improving road safety through new and refurbished roads. We are doing so through new traffic lights, modern traffic laws and vigorous enforcement of these laws. The police are out in full force nowadays enforcing our traffic laws. We have far more policeman on the streets than we had before. One of the things that the PLP did that was very wrong for The Bahamas was that when we left office in May 2002, there were 1,540 Constables. Constables are the ones who walk the beat, because cuz the khaki officers do not walk the beat. Constables are the ones who help prevent crime because they are the ones with the presence in the community.

I left 1,540. When I came back I met 1,037. Where did they go? They put billet on all their shoulders. And as you get billet you stay in the office, you don’t want to go on the street anymore. It is going to take us a long time to get the Police back to where it is supposed to be. I told Tommy Turnquest and the Commissioner of Police that there has been no promotion other than a few at the Asst. Superintendent and Superintendent level, and that the number of promotions they are doing now is very high, but there have been none in five years.

But I also told them that we have to systematically stand firm and re-structure the Force to return the Police Force back to where it is supposed to be.

You cannot have too few Indians and a gang of chiefs. And so, at the feet of Mr. Christie they had 10 or 11 Asst. Commissioners of Police. We spent thousands of your dollars to do a report and a new structure for the Police Force in 1999. We now have five. Bell (Keith) is one of them who gone - I understand his concern - but we didn’t need no bell, I’m going to ring a bell soon. Talking about the bell, I saw little Brave Davis the other night with a bell. Only one man can ring the bell! I don’t know why these people don’t stop pretending to be what they ain’t. Keep your hands off that bell little Brave, we’ve got the bell! We are seeking to undo much of what was done (negatively) in the five years the PLP was in office. Believe you me, we went backwards in many, many ways. It is not in the interest of The Bahamas for them to come back to office. It is in the public interest of The Bahamas for them to stay out. Keep them out. Ladies and Gentlemen, We are beginning to enforce our traffic laws. First of all it saves lives and prevents serious injury.

Second, you may be surprised how enforcing traffic laws also help to fight crime in terms of things like guns, illegal drugs, and locating people with outstanding warrants. The third point is this: ‘We have to fight against lawlessness and breaking the law at every level’. Fighting crime requires the comprehensive approach that we are following. Reversing the tolerance for other crimes includes less tolerance for small things. This includes things like running the traffic light, driving with a back light out, or ignoring the speed limit.

I still am trying to understand, why we are happy to abide by the traffic laws in US, but at home so many of us ignore our own traffic laws – act as if they don’t exist. We can do better. We are spending plenty of your money building the best roads in this region. So, if you throw garbage in the road, you ‘ga get fine. Same goes for rubbish falling off the back of trucks. And, let me put them cement trucks on notice. Stop ‘spilling cement on our roads please.

Now you know someone ‘ga say something like, “Instead of dealing with people who break traffic laws, the police should deal with serious criminals.” Stop talking foolishness. We have to do both at the same time. This is why even in tough times when other countries were laying-off police we hired over 200 police officers. This Government has a comprehensive and strategic plan to combat crime as well as the conditions which give rise to crime.

Christie and the PLP have a plan that they call a crime plan. But what they do have in fact is a crime brochure. They have TV commercials about crime - that’s all they’ve got. We know that the PLP do not have the kind of tough and decisive leadership or clean hands needed to fight crime. And, you really believe that the party of late-again, can do anything quickly, much less something they like to call, Swift Justice. Let’s talk seriously about crime.

To turn around serious crime several things must be done at the same time. First, you start to address the small things that made our city less livable. You crack-down on people breaking traffic laws. You fine more people for littering. A small thing like a sign with the name of your street reduces the time it may take an ambulance to get to your house. A small thing like a number on your house can speed up the response time by the police or BEC in case of an emergency.

We deliver small and big things for you. We continue joint operations with police forces around our region and particularly with agencies of the United States Government on tackling the big transnational criminal issues. We are targeting crime hotspots through targeted manpower. We are also deploying advanced technology including sophisticated computer systems and software to track and strike at hotspots. We are expanding the CCTV network. This will be the most comprehensive expansion of crime-fighting technology in our nation’s history. Our two state-of-the-art RBPF mobile strike force vehicles are on call - 24/7. They are fully equipped mobile police stations each with the capacity for video recording, flat screen viewing screens, specialized recording equipment and high-tech police lighting/siren/public address systems.

We know that it takes more than crime-fighting tools and technology to fight crime. But we also know that the fight against crime will not succeed without them. Yes, we will do everything in our power to provide alternatives to those who may be minded to criminal behaviour.

We are working through our schools and in our communities to promote peaceful settlements of disputes; to encourage and support greater involvement and volunteerism in our community and to discourage and seek to correct bad behaviours. But, let me clear; anyone who ‘gat a mind to ‘tief’ and kill and do serious crime, you ‘ga’ feel the full weight of the law. Papa ‘gat a soft heart for those who looking for opportunity and a chance in life, but, I ‘gat some hard hands’ when dealing with them who ‘gat hard heads’ and criminal minds. If they can’t hear, they ‘ga feel! So mothers, don’t bother to call me and complain. Train the child while he is young so that they will not depart from the way. You can’t fight crime and a culture of criminality if you turn a blind eye to a culture of corruption in your party. You can’t fight crime if you taking money from sources who made that money it illegally.

Ft. Charlotte: Our goal is to improve the quality of life for our people. That’s why we are improving our public infrastructure and beautifying our surrounding. These contribute to the creation of peace-loving communities. You are set to be near some of the best recreational spaces in New Providence. There’s the new Saunders Beach Park which includes a play area for children. Some of the beach washed away over the years. We are going to restore it and make it better than it has ever been. Saunders Beach will now extend into the entrance of the Grove Avenue dual carriageway straight up to Renal House; the pink building.

The project is for the physical enhancement and enlargement of Saunders Beach. It will include better protection of the coastline at Saunders and the installation of sand fencing to protect the refurbished beaches.

EASTER MONDAY On Easter Monday, we are inviting all FNMs to come to Montague Beach. All day, bring your children, we are going to have a wonderful time and wear that color RED! Even get some red bathing suits! We want to paint this town red! So come out Easter Monday. Thereafter, ANY number can play! CONCLUSION

Ft. Charlotte:

Zhivargo knows you. I have asked him to return to Fort Charlotte. I want to live in an FNM constituency, I’ve always lived in Delaporte. We always voted FNM down here. I am now in your constituency. Come with me - RED!

Zhirvago is now an experienced young man. He is now 44. He was 29 when you elected him the first time. He is also a young man who leads by example. He is an excellent role model for the young people of Fort Charlotte.

I need him Fort Charlotte. I ask you to give me Zhivargo. He is my man, make him your man!

Thank you and goodnight.