North Eleuthera Mass Rally - Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham

Thu, Apr 19th 2012, 02:47 PM

Remarks Free National Movement North Eleuthera Mass Rally Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham Party Leader 17 April 2012

North Eleuthera; Young Eleutherans; Fellow Bahamians:

We are three weeks away from making history. On May 7th, 2012 the Free National Movement will be elected as the Government of The Bahamas for the fourth time in an independent Bahamas.

This will tie the record of the PLP in terms of the amount of times it has been elected as the Government in an independent Bahamas. The reason that the Bahamian people are going to let us make history is that they know that we are simply the best. We are simply the best in creating a greater Opportunity Society for all Bahamians including our young people.

We are simply the best in delivering the good things which improve your quality of life from a prescription drug benefit to schools to clean, fresh water to modern infrastructure.

We are simply the best in providing clean, competent, honest and caring government. This election is about leadership. It is about proven leadership versus failed leadership. You notice how the PLP playing hide-and-seek. They hiding Perry. Now you see him, now you don’t.

The frightening truth about Christie as Leader of The Government of The Bahamas is simple - he will be an even more indecisive and late-again leader given another chance. He will be the great follower and not the leader of the Government. What a sad day that would be. Can you imagine the same corrupt members of that crew doing exactly as they please with Christie not able to say a word to any of them? The headlines would no longer read, “Nation for Sale”. Instead, it would say, Nation Sold to the highest bidder.

Where there is no vision the people perish. Where there is no leadership, the nation would also perish. With the PLP in office the country would have no leadership and no vision.

At the end of the day, the question is this: Do you want Hubert Ingraham or Perry Christie to lead this country during these tough times? If you want proven, hard-working, honest leadership, vote FNM. Eleuthera: Much of our modern Bahamian history began here on the Isle of Freedom. It began not that far from where we are gathered. By voting FNM again you will The Bahamas we love moving Steady, Sunward.

Being a part of history means Eleuthera will born twins this time. You will be ensuring that Theo Neilly and Howard Johnson are a part of our Delivery Team. These are two vibrant, smart, talented men. They are going places. Launch them on their way. They will never forget you for it and I will never forget you. Priscilla Rollins liked to sing that Independence ‘mornin was like a new baby bornin. Well, come May 7th I want you singing, Election Day ‘mornin, Eleuthera twins bornin. Before I go on, I wish to thank your representative, the Hon. Alvin Smith who is presently representing The Bahamas in one of the Pacific States, for his many years of dedicated service to the people of North Eleuthera, the FNM, and The Bahamas. I thank him also for his loyalty and for always acquitting himself as a gentleman.

The Party is grateful to him for the time that he served as Leader of the Opposition. I thank him also for his service as Speaker of the House of Assembly, following in the tradition of other Eleutherans who served in that high office. I look forward to Alvin’s continuing contributions to the development of Eleuthera, to the FNM, and, as importantly, to the country.

I especially thank him for the decorum he so valiantly insisted upon notwithstanding the determination of some to mar our parliamentary traditions. He kept his cool and his head as that other side of “provokeful” people tried to run amuck in the House. Like me, Alvin is too experienced a “political cat” to be had by “political kittens” and those who sought to abuse our parliamentary traditions for selfish purposes. North Eleuthera, Harbour Island, Current Island and Spanish Wells, Bahamians everywhere:

Across the length and breadth of The Bahamas, FNMs are fired up and ready to go. I understand that you had a very successful Red Splash event here in North Eleuthera. All of the splashes across the country flowed together into one giant Wave of Colour Red that is going to sweep the Family Islands as it is sweeping Nassau. Today we went in the heart of the PLP - Bains and Grants Town. Take it from me: Over the Hill is turning and the PLP dead scared!

Monday, God willing, I will be back over there. I will be back, in Englerston and in Centreville. I am going to cause them to go back to their base because the PLP has been most neglectful of Over the Hill. We want to transform Over the Hill. We are the sincere people. We are the people with the vision, know-how and desire to do so. And believe you me, Over the Hill is responding, responding very well. Eleuthera is a part of the Wave and you’ll be a part of the winning team. Eleuthera is delivering twins to our Delivery Team. You heard it here: This Wave of Colour Red is going to sweep plenty crabs out to sea.

Let me say some things to the fishermen and people of Spanish Wells. Just as I have met with you, I have met with the fishermen in Long Island about the issue of poaching.

I confess that we need to do more to combat poaching in our waters. We will therefore boost our arsenal of prevention and quicker response to the threat of poaching. We are beginning by strengthening our national and southern defences by completing a new Royal Bahamas Defence Force base in Ragged Island. It will serve as “a constant presence in the Great Bahama Bank area, one of the country’s ‘richest fishing grounds’”.

We will dredge the harbour at the Inagua Defence Force base to allow for larger vessels. We also plan to develop a base in Grand Bahama, and sub-bases in Abaco and Exuma.

At a cost of $20 million we will deepen Coral Harbour to 15 feet and reconfigure the dock to accommodate an expanded Defence Force fleet. We will maintain a continuous presence at strategic choke-points throughout the length and breadth of our island-chain in order to combat poaching as well as gun-, drug- and human trafficking.

These bases are intended to act as a “deterrent and enhance our capacity to apprehend those who seek to violate our laws and diminish our prospects for peace and prosperity.”

To create an effective dragnet and defence posture across the country we will acquire an additional 11 vessels to increase the capacity for patrol of our waters by the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.

These new vessels include:

4 - 70 foot vessels at a cost of $21 million

4 - 108 foot vessels at a cost of $46 million

2 – 140 foot vessels at a cost of $27 million

1- 170 foot supply vessels at a cost of $12 million

That’s for a total of some $120 million to be expended on increasing the patrol capacity of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force. And, in addition to the two patrol aircraft acquired during this term in office, we will acquire two additional patrol aircraft.

The vessels are being manufactured by Damen a ship building company in the Netherlands that has a record of successfully producing patrol craft for the naval and defence forces of the United States, Canada, Jamaica and Barbados.

The first of the four new 70 foot vessels will be delivered next year. This craft will have a crew of 10 marines and the capacity to be on patrol at sea covering between 700 and 1,000 nautical miles for a period of 7 days. The 108 foot vessels will have crews of 16 and have the capacity to patrol up to 2,000 nautical miles for up to 14 days.

The 140 foot vessels will have crews of 22 marines and the capacity to remain at sea and on patrol of up to 2,000 nautical miles for up to 21 days. And, the Landing Craft, with a range of 1,700 nautical miles and a crew of 16, will be capable of transporting marines around our islands, delivering supplies at sea, and serving as a buoy tender and as a emergency relief supply transport as and when required such as in times of hurricanes.

This will be the largest upgrade to the Defence Force in its history. These upgrades of vessels, bases and technology are critical to a variety of national security threats beyond poaching including the drugs and guns which help to fuel violent crime. These upgrades are also critical in combating illegal migration and preserving and protecting our fisheries and marine resources such as the treasures from ancient shipwrecks which may be found in our oceans. We, the FNM, will also deliver a new and strengthened Defence Force posture in terms of more personnel.

We will strengthen the Defence Force by the engagement of another 235 marine men and women during our next term in office. And, we will introduce a new Defence Force Reserve which will eventually comprise 180 reservists. The first group of reservists will be trained and deployed next year.

Now Spanish Wells, while the Defence Force received new vessels on my watch and on Sir Lynden’s watch, Perry Christie purchased not a single new vessel for the Defence Force. Indeed, the Defence Force fleet now comprises 2 old and out of commission vessels – the Yellow Elder and the Inagua, purchased in the 1970s and 1980s and vessels acquired by my administrations between 1992 and 2002. Perry Christie talks about national security. He just never did anything about securing our national security on the seas.

The PLP are not serious about protecting our fishermen from poachers. It’s easy to remember how many vessels Christie’s Government purchased between 2002 and 2007 to enhance patrol of our waters. It’s the same number as the number of new schools they built: zero, nada, zilch. This also happens to be the same number of Bahamians who benefitted from their promise of National Health Insurance, zero, because they never delivered on that promise either.

Perry Gladstone Christie is the same man who tells you that he is ready to govern from day one. He ain’t ready with an election platform going on seven days into the Election except for calling my name. As I told the people in Nassau and Grand Bahama, Perry Christie took seven days to appoint an Attorney General when he was elected. To leave the country without an Attorney General for seven days is frightening and reckless - unthinkable. It is a constitutional duty and obligation of the incoming prime minister to appoint the Attorney General immediately, on day one. Do you believe he could ever be ready on day one?

I tell you now that it took him nearly 4 years to appoint a Commodore of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.

Indeed, one of the great derelictions of duty by Perry Gladstone Christie as Prime Minister of The Bahamas is that he neglected and failed to appoint as required by law, a Commodore of the Defence Force when his contract expired in June, 2002. For nearly 4 years thereafter there was not a Commodore of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force. While someone sat in the Chair, he had no legal power or authority. To leave the Defence Force without a Commodore is not only unbelievable but rather magnifies the fact that Perry Gladstone Christie is unfit to hold the office of Prime Minister of our country. And they have the gumption, the nerve, to tell us they are serious about national security.

Eleuthera: I also advise you that we have already engaged the Government of the Dominican Republic on the matter of their nationals poaching resources from our territorial waters. Because they, like us, are involved in an election season, we have agreed that more substantive discussions will take place following both our election periods.

I can advise you now however, that my Government has taken a decision that any vessel detained for poaching in our waters will be confiscated and destroyed upon conviction of the captain in our Courts. And we will also create a new Customs & Border Control Agency to better coordinate our national security efforts in the areas of immigration and customs. Because we are the party that delivers you can trust us to modernize and strengthen our Defence Force.

I want to commend the Defence Force, which notwithstanding the limitation of patrol craft, successfully detained and brought to justice 10 foreign fishing vessels found illegally fishing in our waters. Additionally, 14 Bahamian vessels were charged for a variety of fishing regulation violations. The Defence Force is giving dedicated and faithful service and I thank and commend them for their service.

Eleuthera: My Government is pleased to have delivered overwhelmingly on our 2007 Manifesto commitments. If you want to see our 2012 Manifesto, go on-line and read through our comprehensive agenda for the next five years. We will begin distributing hard copies next week for those who want to keep a copy and mark our progress through the next 5 years.

Our Manifesto is filled with bold, creative ideas that will help us to build a First World 21st century Bahamas. By the way, today is exactly one week since the Election was announced. Yesterday was Nomination Day.

The whole election campaign is only four weeks. With a quarter of the campaign behind us the late-again PLP has yet to inform the Bahamian electorate on the details of his election platform. His campaign speeches and those of his candidates up to now have been filled with just one thing: “Ingraham, Ingraham, Ingraham”! It’s like they have an obsession. I know I’ve got their waters on. They haven’t seen anything yet. They keep talking about their new plan to address crime. Have you heard anyone in the PLP condemn the symbolic killing of an FNM supporter yesterday? They plastered the effigy of an FNM supporter being rolled over by PLP adorned vehicles in Golden Gates. Now that is an invitation to violence; not a call for peace and respect of the law.

Eleuthera: The very same man who failed to fulfil his first duty as Prime Minister in 2002 can’t condemn violence by his supporters and even get out his party election platform in 2012. Doesn’t that sound like nothing has changed. This is the same disorganization and dysfunction he will bring back to government.

North Eleuthera, Harbour Island and Spanish Wells:

You have a rising star in Theo Neilly. Theo has been all-embracing in his politics trying on others for size. He didn’t like the fit and came home where we welcomed him with open arms. We are a large tent.

Theo is the son of Roslyn and Terry Neilly. He is one of you. He is a graduate of Preston Albury High School in Rock Sound. He distinguished himself early as the first Family Island recipient of the Duke of Edinburgh’s silver award. He is an educated man with a bachelor’s degree in biology, and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Liverpool.

He has worked in Eleuthera in tourism and civil aviation. He is community-minded and committed to protecting the environment and preserving the rich heritage of Eleuthera, Harbour Island and Spanish Wells. He has served you well in local government for a number of years.

This is a very talented young man. He knows your needs and your aspirations. Theo has a bright future. He is going places. When he gets up to speak in the House of Assembly the whole country will listen. Theo, like many thousands of young Bahamians realize that the FNM is the party that delivers; the FNM is the party of the Opportunity Society.

Eleuthera, Harbour Island and Spanish Wells: To help you build a greater Opportunity Society we have an all Eleuthera strategic plan.

First, we are upgrading your infrastructure in order to improve your daily quality of life and to build your capacity to attract greater domestic and foreign direct investment.

We have and are improving access to water throughout Eleuthera. We will complete these water projects in our next term and improve the quality of water in Spanish Wells and Harbour Island. We have improved the reliability of electricity on the mainland of Eleuthera and on Harbour Island which has been a problem for some time. We have improved roads in Harbour Island, Current Island as well as in South Eleuthera. Three Mile Island Dock is being transformed before your very eyes! We are constructing a new six classroom block and renovating existing classrooms at the Spanish Wells All-Age School.

Next term Eleuthera will get a new community hospital, a Government Administrative Centre, including the offices of the Public Treasury the Registrar General. We will enlarge and improve the dock on Harbour Island in our next term. I understand that you would like to have a Welcome Center located at the dock which makes eminent good sense.

Further, we will upgrade the North Eleuthera Airport and build a new terminal befitting your status in our economy. And, in our next term we will create a new subdivision to meet the needs of residents in Lower Bogue, Upper Bogue and the Bluff area. We are taking Eleuthera to new heights.

Eleuthera:

You have suffered over the years with boom and bust. It is time for new thinking for Eleuthera. You need sustainable development for sustainable communities. I understand that you have gotten into the swing of things and that there are a number of planning initiatives underway.

We want to support you and to collaborate with you in the process of building a sustainable future for all of Eleuthera from the Bannerman Town to North Eleuthera and including Harbour Island and Spanish Wells. Some of the “green development” ideas being promoted by The Island School up in south Eleuthera fit together very well with our vision for environmental sustainable development in our Family Islands like Eleuthera.

We have already announced in Manifesto 2012 that we will:

• Promote and support substantial expansion of Bahamian-owned tourism facilities in the Family Islands, providing promotion and marketing support, duty waivers and concessions.

• Provide incentives for the development of small, environmentally friendly boutique hotels, bonefish lodges and other small quality resorts through marketing and promotional support.

• Conduct strategic overseas investment promotions targeting developers of environmentally-friendly hotels and resorts, marinas, golf courses and other amenities. We have a different philosophy of development than the PLP. Their failed idea was to promise anchor projects all over the country and give away huge amounts of land to foreigners.

That’s what they tried to do in Mayaguana. They basically gave away 10,000 acres of prime land including beachfront property at a fire sale price of about $600 an acre. Your FNM gat back 6,000 acres of that land.

You know, if you out in the boat and you just drop an anchor anywhere it could do plenty damage. We have a different idea. This term we re-started the process of promoting the Islands of The Bahamas, each with its own distinct identity. We had begun this strategy in the 1990s but those other fellas dumped it and replaced with a plan to give large acreage of our Crown Land to private developers to build luxury homes tax-free to sell to other foreigners.

Now don’t get me wrong, we support second home development in our country; we believe this to be an important part of our tourism sector. It’s just that we don’t believe like they do - that second home construction should benefit from duty concessions that Bahamians can’t get.

If foreign investors in the tourism sector want to access concessions they can invest in and build hotels and employ Bahamians – in the construction and in the operation of the resorts. If they want to build a private home, by all means come and build one and enjoy our lifestyle – but do so under the same terms as Bahamians.

In keeping with this, next term, instead of the failed idea of promised and undelivered massive anchor projects we will place even greater emphasis on promoting the development of boutique tourism experiences throughout the Bahamas. We believe that The Bahamas can be a leader in creating a sustainable model of development for small states which are urbanizing rapidly. Our focus on environmentally sustainable projects can become a signature model in international development.

Rather than seeking or facilitating scores of mega tourism projects we will cultivate an extraordinary variety of sustainable medium and small scale projects or investments owned by a dynamic mixture of Bahamians and foreign investors which will increase Bahamian ownership of the economy, boost our foreign reserves, and better protect our environment.

Can you imagine a major corporation up north in the US in the middle of winter wanting a boutique resort experience here in Eleuthera to bring their executives for a week with a small-scale entire resort just for them? They can spend part of that week bone-fishing or deep-sea fishing, going on nature and heritage tours, eating fresh snapper and whatever fruits are in season like the native Eleuthera pineapple.

If we get this right, we can target a market that is lucrative, will provide us with repeat business and is more sustainable. And, if such facilities are as environmentally sustainable and carbon-neutral as possible, The Bahamas will be on the map for a new model of tourism for the 21st century.

The Bahamas must continue to be the leader in tourism in the Caribbean. This is a part of our FNM vision to create a new and unique tourism experience in The Bahamas. We mean not only to revitalize our tourism product. We also mean to deepen local value-added, expand Bahamian-ownership in the tourism sector and create new services and products.

In this spirit, and as a key part of our Recovery and Growth Agenda, a few weeks ago I came to Eleuthera to announce a major Heritage Tourism Initiative. Given this island’s rich history and heritage I can only imagine what wonderful result we will have here when we launch this groundbreaking initiative.

The Heritage Tourism Initiative will create jobs, increase economic activity and increase Bahamian ownership within the tourism sector.

The Heritage Tourism Initiative will help to upgrade some of the infrastructure needed to enhance your various heritage sites and the heritage experience that residents and tourists are able to enjoy visits to places from JC to Hatchet Bay to Lower and Upper Bogue to Current and Current Island to the Bluff and Spanish Wells and Harbour Island.

As I told Central & South Eleuthera last month heritage tours to Big Ben Slave Plantations near Bannerman Town, to Ocean Hole Park in Rock Sound, the banyan trees near Rock Sound, historic Cupids Cay with its old jail house, the Hynes Institute, the Leon Levy Botanical Plant Preserve, the Hatchet Bay Cave and the old grain storage silos and historic Preacher’s Cave – shelter, church and burial ground for the Eleutheran Adventurers – all hold great promise for growth and development of Eleuthera’s tourism sector.

We also want to make it easier for school children from the Capital to travel by fast ferry to Eleuthera and other Family Islands to see for themselves important historic and cultural sites and return to Nassau all within the next day or over a weekend school trip. This will help build national pride and respect for all things Bahamian. Already plans are in place to build a new, safer bridge at Glass Windows. And, the new paved road, put in place by the FNM Government, has made Preacher’s cave more accessible to all.

Similar to Abaco and Long Island, Eleuthera should create small museums to showcase your rich heritage and place in the history of the New World. We will incentivize such privately-operated venues.

Eleuthera: As a part of our plan for the development of 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 Eleutherans to come back home and invest their resources and talent in the great promise of Eleuthera.

We will ensure that Eleutherans are able to access Crown Land to facilitate the development of new businesses and to construct or expand homes.

And we fully expect that the produce of Eleuthera will have a prominent place in the proposed native Food market to be created in the Over-the-Hill area of New Providence. This will be another valuable opportunity for local value added to our economy as we create more opportunities for independent entrepreneurs to succeed in business.

Eleuthera: We have many exciting plans for you. You have experienced many false dawns. But, we believe that a new day is on the horizon for the island named for freedom. We believe that the party named for freedom, is the one that will help you to ignite your future. You need these two smart, young men, filled with energy and promise to help deliver a new day for Eleuthera. Send Theo Neilly and Howard Johnson to the House. They will make Eleuthera proud. Tomorrow night we will be in Nassau at RM Bailey Park. Saturday we will be in Bimini.

I want to express my thanks and appreciation to Eleuthera. I look forward to you giving us these two men.

And on Election night, sit back and wait because the FNM will be the government again.

Thank you and goodnight.

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