FNM Fresh Creek Rally - Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham

Thu, May 3rd 2012, 12:43 PM

Remarks by Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham FNM Rally in Central Andros South Andros & Mangrove Cay Constituency 1 May, 2012

Central Andros: I was happy to join Mangrove Cay and South Andros at their Grill n’ Chill festivities last week. I enjoyed it very much and now I have come to Central Andros today. Colour Red is happy to be Central Andros! I am happy to be back in Fresh Creek I’ve come again to ask Fresh Creek and Central Andros where I have spent many a day, to come with me this time. I’m known to you and you to me

It seems that this time, the election contest will be between the FNM candidate, Mr. Ronald Bosfield and the Independent candidate, Mr. Whitney Bastian. The PLP candidate, Mr. Picewell Forbes appears to be out of the race. He is coming dead last in Mangrove Cay and he will not come first in Central Andros.

I am asking you to do it again and send Ronald to the House of Assembly as you MP. He will be your proud voice in the House and in the Government because come Monday, God willing, the FNM will become the Government of The Bahamas again.

We want to make sure that come Monday Fresh Creek chooses a candidate it can be proud of – Ron Bosfield is such a candidate.

We want to make sure that Central Andros does not support any candidate that will cause it to hang its heads in shame for the next 5 years.

You want an MP who can travel freely anywhere in The Bahamas or abroad; an MP who can enter AUTEC; an MP who can visit you if you are hospitalized in Miami and an MP who can transit the USA if he is requested to attend an international Conference to represent The Bahamas. MP’s are selected to attend the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Meetings annually.

You want to be able to respond proudly whenever the question, “Who is your MP?” is put to you. Ronald Bosfield is a man that you can proudly identify with; you can be proud to respond to such a question by saying Ron Bosfield is my MP!

And you want an MP who will talk sense when he speaks on your behalf in Parliament, not a chair leader, not a butt of jokes by other MPs and the public. You want a representative who will make you proud. You want a representative who visits with you, look at your concerns and look at the needs of your community and then seek to address them - not run away and hide in fear that you are seeking assistance and he has nothing to give you!


Central Andros:

I am asking you to support me, to vote for Ron Bosfield and to help my party, the FNM to make history in winning a fourth term in office.

I have come to ask you to join the Wave of Colour Red and become a part of what is sweeping across The Bahamas. You can count on us to deliver for you. The FNM is the Party of proven and tested leadership. The mission of the FNM is to continue building the Opportunity Society. It is a society in which Bahamians can realize their potential and their dreams in one of the most blessed and beautiful countries on God’s Earth.

Talking about opportunity; you recall that the PLP whom you have supported loyally for all these years, could not give 2 hoots about the level of pay you earned working at AUTEC? It was the FNM that caused you to begin to be paid at a wage level approximate to what you ought to receive. The PLP ignored you notwithstanding that you have been represented in the House of Assembly by them for 51 of the last 56 years. You are the cradle of the PLP. Against great odds you led the way in The Bahamas when you elected Clarence Bain; then it was Darrel Rolle, Charles Thompson and now Picewell Forbes. You have been shamefully neglected. If for no other reason than that, vote for me and my party!

Remember the apology for a terminal at the airport they left you with? That’s another example of shameful neglect! If for no other reason vote for me, support the FNM and make Ron Bosfield your MP.

Make us the Government again and give us the opportunity to finish the good work we began in 1992, and continued in 2007.

Fresh Creek:

You will notice that at PLP Rallies they only rally against me; they are not rallying in support of you. I stand in their way; they can’t have their way when my FNM team is in the way to protect your interests from their self-interested hands.

Like I told North Andros, the PLP take you for granted. Look at what they did for you; as little as possible. Look at where you are. They stood by wringing their hands as your young population drained away to look for opportunities in the capital or in Grand Bahama, Abaco or San Salvador. And, they failed to act to cause your economy to grow and prosper. Between 1970 and now the population of Andros decreased by more than 15%- from 8,889 people in 1970 to 7,490 in 2010! Andros – rich in resources, the largest land mass in The Bahamas, abundant water, fertile soil, beautiful beaches – a treasure trove for small environmentally friendly resorts; farming and food processing enterprises, ground and sea tours, has spent 40 years losing population.

Compare yourselves to other similarly resourced islands and compare how they have faired. Between those same dates the population on my home island of Abaco grew by 164% - from 6,507 persons in 1970 to 17,224 in 2010

Your near neighbour with whom you share a constituency – the Berries – experienced a population growth of 82% - from 443 in 1970 to 807 in 2010. Grand Bahama grew by 98% - from 25,943 in 1970 to 51,368 in 2010; Exuma grew by 83% from 3,777 in 1970 to 6,928 in 2010 and San Salvador grew by 21% from 857 to 1,039.

You, like Cat Island lost population; Cat Island by almost half – nearly 43% fewer people live and work on that island today than did so in 1970. In 1970 there were 2,658 people in Cat Island. In 2010 that number had dwindled to 1,522. The Leader of the Opposition and his Deputy who represents Cat Island in the House, claim that they care. I am sure that they do care about something but it certainly is not the interests of the people Over-the-Hill and in Cat Island whom they represent in the House. They could not care less about their own constituents’ needs much less your needs and your interests here in Central Andros. The record is clear on that score.

In 51 years of representation they did little except talk about your potential. Talk and supposedly plan but never deliver. Talkers they are; DELIVERERS they are NOT!

They pretend to care for you but in reality they “diss” you. Andros has been represented in the House by no one less than the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and Ministers in the Cabinet. Consider how they left you. Consider what Picewell Forbes has done since you elected him. Today Central Andros is worse off than you were 40 years ago.

Now they want you to give them your seat again. They must take you for fools. Show them better than you can tell them – vote them out. Come with me and Ronald; vote FNM.

You are not alone in being neglected. Ask Over-the-Hill, Nassau. And, their pattern of neglect extends to every island, cay and community in this country.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt -- the Christie Government was the weakest, most incompetent and unproductive government since independence.

Our opponents are very neglectful people.

From 2002 to 2007 the Christie Government neglected the Bahamian people on health care. They neglected the Police and the Defence Force. They neglected your roads. They left you with leaky water pipes and run down schools. They neglected our school children by not building a single school in five years.

What they did not neglect to do was to put their hands in that cookie jar.

They talk a good game. Talkers they are. Deliverers they are not. Followers they are, LEADERS they are not! For me, Putting Bahamians First is a solemn duty. It is not a slogan I throw around in order to win votes.

Putting Bahamians First is a duty I have sworn to uphold each time I placed my hand on the Bible and promised to abide by the constitution and protect the interests of Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The leaders of that other Party have campaigned about putting Bahamians First. It’s only a slogan.

Central Andros: We have been working for you. Since 2007 we have completed minor repairs in all your schools, replacing windows, doors, screens, painting, fencing, paving, and undertaking required electrical work. We have already delivered some of your needed infrastructural upgrades. We are repaving roads in Andros. Already we have spent some $2.5 million in Staniard Creek. We will soon move to Mastic Point.

We will cause the reconstruction and upgrade of all settlement roads here in Central Andros. Regrettably, when some of these roads were reconstructed during our earlier administrations the work was not up to the standard required. We must now repair those works and provide you with the quality roads you deserve. As you know, we are constructing, at a cost of $1.7 million, the Fresh Creek Dock and building two new bridges down in South Andros at a cost of $1.7 million at Deep Creek and Little Creek.

We made progress significant progress on the long outstanding regularization of occupation of Crown Land by residents in Andros during this term in office. Some 242 persons have been approved for the Grant of Crown Land in North and Central Andros; some 100 of whom reside in settlements of Central Andros. This process is regular and continuing so additional families will be regularized as we move forward in the months and years ahead. We have taken the opportunity of the 52 week jobs readiness and skills training programme to satisfy staff shortages required for regular maintenance in your schools and community. I want to encourage all persons engaged in this programme to perform well so that as many as possible of these training positions may turn into permanent jobs. Keep that in mind; perform well; impress your supervisors; ensure that their report on you says motivated, interested, hard worker, and always on time!

Very soon the National Jump Start Programme will create more opportunities for you. North Andros, The Leader of the Opposition claims that he created 22,000 jobs between 2002 and 2007. How come Central Andros didn’t get any of them? I have to ask you, like I asked North Andros: What did you do them so bad that they would not send any of those 22,000 jobs to Central, South Andros and Mangrove Cay between 2002 and 2007? Andros come with me; we in the FNM have your interests at heart.

I need to say that I have had very troubling reports about some unethical attempts to influence the vote in this election. I do not want to believe what I am hearing – that money is being thrown around; that money is being paid up front with a requirement that individuals photograph how they vote on cell phones to enable them to get the balance of the promised money after they have voted. That’s despicable and insulting; so I do not want to believe it.

What is most shameful and disgraceful about any such effort is that individuals seeking to perpetuate this fraud are seeking to do so in Andros; the island where brave democratic loving citizens stood up to the power and wealth and influence of Bay St turning down offers of bribes in 1956 and again in 1962; instead they voted their conscience and sent Clarence Bain to the House of Assembly on both occasions. That anyone would seek to taint the memory of those brave soldiers; would seek to exploit difficult economic times to tarnish the legacy of democracy in Andros is unbelievable; unthinkable! And so I ask that if these reports have any semblance of truth, that the offers be treated with the contempt they deserve. Andros, vote your conscience; vote for what you believe is right and in so doing honour your forefathers and achieve better for yourselves and for your children.

Central Andros; All of Andros: The PLP of today is not the PLP of your fathers. And it is not the PLP I once belonged to. Out of their belly I came. I now ask you to come with me. I am still the Hubert Ingraham you knew Central Andros. And I will take care of you.

This is my last time seeking public office in The Bahamas. And I would like us to go together as we once were when I first got elected to the House of Assembly. Colour Red is moving; picking up ready and willing passengers in every constituency. Don’t waste your vote on an Independent candidate who cannot do anything for you. And even the PLP knows Picewell is not the man. Weather permitting and God willing we will be in Crooked Island, Acklins, Mayaguana and Inagua tomorrow.

As we depart tonight FNMs, I ask you, come go with me Fresh Creek, come with me South Andros, come with me Mangrove Cay; come with the FNM; make us the Government once again. Let us together, build a better Bahamas. Thank you, God bless The Bahamas, and good night.

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