Remarks Opening of Elizabeth Constituency Office Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham Party Leader 9 February 2012

Elizabeth:

I am back again; back with Duane Sands.

This time, we want the election settled on Election Day; No Court; just people’s votes!

Ryan Pinder is no Duane Sands. Like the FNM, Duane Sands will deliver for you!

Jerome Fitzgerald wasn’t the only one down at Saunders Beach talking fool about the beach disappearing. Ryan was there too.

Well what you expect. Fitzgerald wasn’t seeing straight because he was looking over at Arawak Cay with tears in his eyes about the missed deal he wanted to pull on the Bahamian people at Arawak Cay.

Ryan just didn’t know better. It was probably one of the few times he had ever been on Saunders Beach.

We have been busy working to create more and better recreational spaces for Bahamians. We are only weeks away from the completion of the restoration works at Montagu Beach. When all those new sandy beach parcels are ready in the weeks ahead we are going to invite all of you and all FNMs from every constituency on New Providence, to congregate at the new and improved Montagu Beach Sea Side Park to celebrate with music and other treats, what the FNM has delivered for you, the Bahamian people.

We will have new paved parking area, some eight or more sandy beach enclaves and new improved access to the Park created with the creation of a new traffic management circle at the intersection of Eastern Road, Shirley Street and Village Rd. We are acquiring the privately owned vacant land at that junction to make this possible. I assure Easterners we are preparing to deliver you from the traffic bottleneck that has afflicted you for too long.

We have felt the pain of all of you who live in the east; that’s why we are working to improve as many intersections along Eastern Road as possible – from Fox Hill extending down past Mt Vernon – you know down by where Ryan’s daddy’s old house is located.

And then, we’re improving the intersection at Johnson Road – the blind corner will be blind no more.

And, we are improving circulation at the intersection leading into Blair Estates.

In the west, we’re undertaking a similar exercise. They got excited about what we were doing when we created the sea side park at Saunders Beach. What do you think they will say when they see us extending Saunders Beach just as we have done at Montagu? More beaches for more Bahamians to enjoy! That is what we are about – working for you! Delivering for you! We don’t talk about it, we deliver!

Dr. Duane Sands has saved many lives in Accident & Emergency as a trauma specialist. He is in the business of protecting and saving lives.

Like the FNM, he will deliver for you!

Elizabeth: We need another doctor in the House! Send Duane Sands to the House of Assembly!

By the way Duane, you better be on duty on election night when all them PLP candidates start showing up at A&E. They’re going to need emergency care because Colour Red is going to cause them to experience Code Red.

I continue to be amazed at the number of parents who tell me how Duane helped to save their children’s lives. I hear the stories of grateful patients who tell me what a dedicated and caring and doctor he is. I hear testimonials about him from people from every station in life and of every political affiliation.

Duane Sands loves his country and he loves you, Elizabeth.

Roses are red Violets are blue. Duane Sands is the better man for you.

I gave Duane the task of cleaning up the mess left over by the PLP and one Shane Gibson at the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation. Oh what a mess they left. He is doing a fine job as there was so much left to clean up, if you know what I mean.

By the way, I hear Perry Christie defending some of his scandal-ridden colleagues.

I need to remind him that it isn’t just what the FNM is saying about his Government of shame and scandal. It was the Bahamian people who threw them out of office and brought us back to stop the rot and to stop the dragging down of the name of The Bahamas through the mud around the world.

We have delivered you clean and transparent government so much so that Transparency International, listed The Bahamas as having one of the cleanest governments in the world.

Elizabeth:

My Government will continue and indeed accelerate the war on crime. We need all hands on deck to defeat this menace. And the fight needs a leader.

This upcoming election is about leadership. In Elizabeth we offer Duane Sands!

Ryan Pinder likes to talk big about helping our young people and developing Bahamian entrepreneurs. But he was absent when it was time to vote on the bill to improve the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute. The Bill was designed to help thousands of our young people to gain skills and a trade or profession.

It is the FNM that is working for you with the Self-Starter programme giving some 600 Bahamians a helping hand to start their own business.

It is the FNM who is working for you in the Jump Start programme which before the end of March will help more than 250 Bahamians expand or start their own businesses.

It is the FNM that made the employment of 3,347 Bahamians under the national Skills Training and Job Readiness programme. Under this programme we have not only created jobs in these terrible economic times which afflict every country in the world; we have opened up opportunities for 3,347 Bahamians in New Providence, Grand Bahama, Abaco, Andros, the Berries, Bimini, Eleuthera, Exuma, Inagua and San Salvador to improve their skills and job readiness to meet the needs of our economy. Soon the programme will be launched in Cat Island and Long Island – until all of our Family of islands are participating and benefitting from the training and the employment opportunities.

It is the FNM that massively increased scholarship funding for young Bahamians from $400,000 in 2006 under the PLP to $8 million in 2011 on our watch.

In our next term we will continue to work for young Bahamians like the young people in Elizabeth. We will start the Bahamas Youth Development Corps for young people ages 18 to 25 who will be able to volunteer their time while earning money towards higher education or entrepreneurial ventures. The FNM doesn’t talk about helping young people. We deliver for young Bahamians.

Elizabeth:

We are aware that a number of homes here in Elizabeth and elsewhere here on New Providence and in our Family Islands are currently without electricity. Twice before during this long great recession we have put special programmes in place to assist families to have their electricity supply reconnected. The Department of Social Service continues to help many Bahamian families in this area every day

We have now advised BEC to begin a new round of consultations with you to find a means to get your lights back on.

You will be asked to pay your monthly electrical bill and be required to pay something on the overdue portion of your bill. BEC will give you time to pay.

I invite all disconnected households who are without power to go in and have a chat with BEC about getting their lights back on and keeping the meter running. Reconnection fees will be waived!

I know what it’s like to live without light. I grew up without electricity. It’s not comfortable at all! That is why I am of the school that believes that it is the duty of every generation to make conditions better for the next generation. I am committed to that. The FNM is committed to that. That is why we are working for you every day, not just at election time.

I am so pleased to be able to say to you that the Remand Court in Fox Hill is in place. All that whaling of police sirens taking bus loads of prisons to Town is a thing of the past. The FNM delivered that.

And, it is the FNM that installed CCTV in especially crime prone areas and it is the FNM that is expanding that coverage – another of the tools in our arsenal against criminals in our society.

Elizabeth:

I ask that you bear with me on Prince Charles Drive. The work we are undertaking there is important and it is necessary. There is pain now; their will be great gains soon. When the work is completed you will have better water – quality and quantity; you will have a safer road with sidewalks and turning lanes; you will have less traffic congestion! Alleluia! Less time in traffic taking children to school; less time spent getting to work and more time being productive on the job; less time needed to run your errands. And, this means less gas usage; more money saved!

Elizabeth, Bahamas:

Duane Sands is one from among a treasury of new talent in the FNM who will be committed to the quality of vision and the quality of governance you expect from the FNM. He has a progressive and modern vision for the Bahamas including in the area of delivering better health care for you and your family.

One of the best ways to see the great difference in the quality of vision and governance between the FNM and the PLP is in the area of health care.

Among the Christie administration’s extraordinary failures and wasteland of broken promises, was the abandonment of the Bahamian people on health care. On April 4th, 2002, Opposition Leader Perry Gladstone Christie declared: “I want to create a system of National Health Insurance so that poor people will stop dying simply because they are too poor to pay for medical attention. This is the greatest national disgrace of all1” He went on to say:

“How can we call ourselves a caring, compassionate society when the difference between whether a young child lives or dies depends on whether he or she is covered by private health insurance or not; or whether the parents have money to pay for the operation or not.” Perry also said:

“That such a situation still exists in our country is a stain on the social conscience that must be removed. And it will be removed under my administration because the PLP will treat the introduction of National Health Insurance as a matter of the most urgent priority.” And then as usual, Perry Christie did not deliver!

A promiser he is; a deliverer on promises he is not!

Elizabeth:

I pledge to you and the Bahamian people that Hubert Ingraham and the FNM will deliver to you and your family catastrophic health insurance. We will also expand the prescription drug programme introduced by the FNM for every Bahamian worker and their families. We will transform PMH into a new general hospital that will be the best in our region. We have already begun this work. We will deliver for you.

Elizabeth:

The FNM needs Duane Sands in the House as a part of our delivery team. Duane is a leader, a pioneer. This election is about leadership!

The election is about who will deliver for you!

I need Duane to help to do the heavy lifting to defeat the scourge of crime, to continue to prepare the country for recovery and to build a modern Bahamas. As a doctor he knows about delivering and recovery and beating back challenges. He is a tough but caring man. We need him and the likes of him going forward.

Just as you trust these hands in tough times, I ask you to put your trust in the hands of a skilled surgeon and good doctor like Duane Sands. Together, we will deliver for you!

Elizabeth,

We are here tonight. We will be in North Andros on Saturday. Next week we will be in South Beach and in Marco City. Stay tunes. Red is coming to your neighbourhood soon. _________