Remarks by Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham Prime Minister Cat Island Friday 14 April, 2012
Good Evening Cat Island, Colour Red has come to Cat Island! And we are very happy to be here, the cradle of Bahamian culture – rake n’scrape music, Quadrille dancing, Cuomo Hill/Mt. Alvernia, and the site of slave plantations ruins -- too many to mention. And home of some of the most productive, most educated and most artistically gifted people in The Bahamas.
I had very good and productive meetings up in New Bight last evening with some of our supporters and new additions to our cause. And, I am very encouraged by what they had to say to me. Having recently started to court Cat Island, we got engaged last night. We have the groom – Michael Pintard - he’s in very good shape. He is accompanied by his wife Berlice who has come to stand at his side as his witness as he marries Cat Island.
We brought some of the groomsmen - Me, and Tommy, Charlie and Vincent. My wife Delores is standing with Berlice and so is Loretta but we need for you to provide a few more bridesmaids for this wedding party to be complete and come off in great style – Cat Island style. Many of you know me and I know you. I am here to place my stamp of approval upon my Party’s candidate for your constituency in the soon-to be-General Election, Michael Pintard.
Many of you have been meeting with him and helping him on the ground over the past several weeks.
You will have learned that Michael is both a thinker and a doer. You know that he was especially active among you in the weeks and months following Hurricane Irene. He was especially concerned that many of you had no one looking out for your concerns and he did his best to fill in wherever he could. You will have also learned that Michael is a believer in and supporter of young people. I believe that young Cat Island knows that and supports him. I especially chose Michael for this constituency because I want to do more for you. I don’t think I did enough for you. You have been neglected and taken for granted for far too long by a self-interested representative who uses you to get elected and then forgets about delivering for you where it counts.
He comes here to party once or twice a year and to put a little cash in some people’s pockets when election time come round like Christie them of old. In short he takes you for granted. Not so visible when you need someone to tend to your schools, your clinics, your roads, your electricity, your water or any other needs. He believes they are “things” and he’s not interested in “things”!
A proud Cat Islander told me last night that your outgoing MP has been treating Cat Island like a man who keeps a sweetheart year after year. And year after year his faithful suffering wife stays at home watching and caring for the children. Then finally, one day, the wife decides that she has had enough; she packs up her children and she goes. When that sweethearting man comes home he finds wife and children gone; house empty. Well Brave; that’s exactly what Cat Island is going to do. They are picking up their children and finding a new home in the FNM!
Brave is not interested in you accessing Government programmes: Self Starter, Jump Start, College of the Bahamas scholarships, Crown Land. He was Chairman of NIB but he never built you a proper medical facility like the one they have in Coopers Town and in Grand Cay, Abaco; in San Salvador, Bimini, Eight Mile Rock, Harbour Island and Spanish Wells and in Mathew Town, Inagua. Your MP doesn’t seem to think you need or deserve a modern clinic.
I am here to tell you that we understand that to make life better for you and for your children in Cat Island you need some things done for you. And I have come to Cat Island to tell you that Michael Pintard is a focused and driven man; he will ensure that the things needed to benefit you and to improve your life and the lives of your children are attended to. He will do you proud as your MP. He has my full confidence, and he has the full confidence of our Party. Now it is up to you to make him the next Member of Parliament from this constituency.
Cat Island:
Michael’s experience makes him the ideal man to help frame new and additional programmes to help move the economy of Cat Island forward. He is a trained agriculturalist, with experience in the financial services. And he is a talented and celebrated playwright and a poet. Michael Pintard is truly what we might call a Renaissance man. A small businessman himself, Michael is committed to strengthening programmes in support of small business development.
He will speak up in support of your development here in Cat Island. He will make sure that Cat Island gets its fair share of each and every Government programme – in fact, he will make the case that since you are behind others you should get an Affirmative Action Programme.
The neglect of Cat Island by the out-going MP not only annoys and irritates Michael’s sensibilities, it angers and energizes him! I believe and Michael believes and the FNM believes that it’s time for you to have a representative who cares about you and who cares about people like you. And one who cares about your needs, your interest and your welfare.
Cat Island: As you know, we held our first Mass Rally in Nassau 2 nights ago. The crowd was wonderful. Colour Red is surging all over New Providence. Now that you have access to six off-air TV channels I know that many of you would have seen that wave of Red covering the RM Bailey Park.
Come join the surge. Colour Red is surging all over The Bahamas, from Inagua to Grand Bahama. MICAL is Red. San Salvador and Rum Cay are Red; Long Island is Red and so now are Exuma, Eleuthera and North Andros. Abaco and Grand Bahama staying Red. And Bimini turning Red. We are still courting Mangrove Cay and South Andros. In short, we are sweeping the Family Islands.
Cat Islanders: As a sailor I am lowering the sail and trimming the jib to accommodate you and the new additions to our team. You will be treated well; I promise you that! The reason that Colour Red is surging is because we have the record and we have the team that proves that we deliver on our promises.
Those other people are busy now going all over the place telling people how they believe in Bahamians. It’s a new conversion. They never believed in you before. Their actions in office speak louder, very much louder than their words. Cat Island is a good example of that.
The truth is that your out-going MP has taken you for granted for too long. He is a native Cat Islander, born and raised among you but he has failed you; badly. I wish I could take you to my Constituency so that you can see how, working with the residents we have tuned a small sleepy fishing village into a beautiful settlement with vibrant businesses, playing grounds sidewalks along our main streets and a wonderful beach park where we hosted Red Splash on Easter Monday.
That’s what your out-growing MP should have done for you Your out-going MP spent most of his time in the House as a back bencher with no national responsibility; he was never a Minister in the Government. So he had plenty time on his hands. Somehow he didn’t find time to come to see you, to attend to your needs, to your community’s needs and to see after your development? I guess he was busy looking after his own interests.
He spent his time looking after himself. And, he has done very well for himself. Brave straight; I want Cat Island straight!
Cat Island:
You need an MP who will work for you! And Michael is that man. It’s time that you had a Member of Parliament who puts your needs and your interests, your dreams and your aspiration in the forefront of his agenda. Michael will do that for you. Michael is a product of this constituency, descendant of both San Salvador and Cat Island. He is determined to make a difference in this constituency, and to leave a footprint behind.
Michael is fired up about programmes like SelfStarter and Jump Start, put in place by the FNM Government since 2007, to provide essential seed funding to independent entrepreneurs and small business owners. Michael wants residents of Cat Island to get in on the action.
I understand he has helped a number of young people to secure places on the 52 week National Skills Training and Jobs Readiness Programme. Here in Cat Island as many as 65 persons are or will become participants in this programme.
Already 4,000 Bahamians in Nassau, in Grand Bahama, and in Abaco, Eleuthera, Andros, Bimini, the Berries, Exuma and Long Island are participating in the programme receiving training and work experience which could land them permanent jobs and which will definitely better prepare them to find and qualify for jobs in the economy.
Michael is just as excited to encourage individuals up to age 30 to Use the Self Starter programme to access funding of up to $5,000 to start a business. And he wants to ensure that you access the Jump Start programme which targets business persons over 30 years of age who require funding to start or expand a small business; buy new equipment, or expand inventory in an existing enterprise. Under this programme you can access up to $7,000.
Some 15 Cat Islanders will become beneficiaries of the Jump Start Programme – no thanks to Brave but plenty thanks to Michael and the FNM. I want to encourage young people to take advantage of all the programmes the Government has developed to give talented Bahamians a “leg up” so to speak. Make the programmes work for you.
And we want to ensure that you take advantage of and benefit from all government programmes for the duty free importation of materials and for local manufacturing. Same goes for tourism and concessions available under the Hotels Encouragement Act. Someone needs to be looking after your interest; ensuring that you are aware of programmes from which you can benefit and ensuring that the appropriate applications are submitted on time and with all the necessary supporting documentation. I know who is willing and ready to do just that; Michael Pintard is biting at the bit to get to work on your behalf.
Michael is going to make it his business to ensure that any qualifying students in Cat Island are fully aware of any and all Government sponsored programmes to further education, facilitate skills training and smooth the development of business. He will be working for you – 24/7 as they say.
Cat Island We have a plan for the development of Cat Island and our Family Islands. We mean to do the necessary to begin the largest migration of Bahamians in our history back to the Family Islands.
Through our Back to the Island Initiative we want to encourage more Cat Islanders to come back home and invest their resources and talent in the great promise of Cat Island. This island is renowned for having some of the most beautiful beaches in our country.
That is why we will ensure that Cat Islanders are able to access Crown Land to facilitate the development of new businesses and to construct or expand homes.
And, the further extension of the Family Island Development Act, which we will do in our next term, (and which the PLP allowed to expire) will assist you by permitting duty free importation of building materials needed to construct your businesses. And, this time we will include provisions for islands like Cat Island to also receive customs duty concessions on furniture, appliances and other items needed to outfit their homes – both new construction and repairs and on existing homes.
Cat Island is also the cradle of so much of what makes us Bahamian.
Given this island’s rich history and heritage I can only imagine what wonderful result we will have here when we launch our Heritage Tourism Initiative here during our next term. You are already host to 2 very special cultural undertakings annually – the Rake’Scrape Festival and the Cat island Regatta.
The Heritage Tourism Initiative will not only boost these but create many additional opportunities for the heritage tourism sector. This will create jobs, increase economic activity and increase Bahamian ownership within the tourism industry. The Heritage Tourism Initiative will help to upgrade some of the infrastructure needed to enhance your various heritage sites and the heritage experience so that residents and tourists are able to enjoy visits to places like the Bourbon, Deveaux and Armbrister Plantations.
Our Heritage Tourism Initiative will help communities to create and facilitate heritage tours by utilizing a mixture of incentives, small grants and micro loans. Our plans to incentivize fast ferry service to the Family Island for example will make it possible for school children to travel to Cat Island, see for themselves these important historic and cultural sites and return to Nassau all within the next day or over a weekend school trip.
Being in Cat Island immediately brings to mind the important work that can be done here recording our history through the Oral History Project which will help to preserve the voice and folk wisdom of The Bahamas, including that of the traditions and older folks on islands like Cat Island.
I announced 2 nights ago in Nassau that we will be creating a new Craft Native Food Market Nassau to showcase authentically-made Bahamian goods to the world and serve as an outlet for certain processed and prepared foods like tamarind sauce, coconut ice cream, hot sauces. Cat Island, the produce of your lands, your tomatoes preserves and your famous flour cakes can all find a new market there.
We are creating a world of opportunities for the family islands better linking our islands in a chain of opportunity, prosperity and development. After all, we are one Family of Islands.
Cat Island Finally, Michael would be an inspiration for Cat Island’s young. He will challenge and support them in becoming all they can be as scholars, sportsmen, artists, artisans, business men and women, lawyers, doctors, manufacturers and all other worthwhile endeavours.
In short, Michael is my man; make him your man San Salvador. So, as Lil Brave has been ringing a bell, I remind that school is out for him. He has had his last opportunity to ring the bell. His time is finished. Come May 7th your marriage to Michael will be complete. May 7th is D Day for Cat Island. It is my privilege therefore, to give to give you Michael – energetic, energetic and devoted. I assure, he will work for you!
