Fellow Bahamians; Young People; Residents of Over-the-Hill; F-N-Ms:

Let me begin by congratulating our Carifta swimming team. They fought hard. They came from third place and passed Trinidad and Tobago to come in second.

Our young people are bursting with talent they make us all proud in athletics, academics and the arts. We have an obligation to help them to ignite their future and build an Opportunity Society where their gifts and talents can be nurtured.

Young Bahamians:

I am very proud that it was an FNM Government that worked with a generous corporate citizen to build the Betty Kelly-Kenning Aquatic Centre where the Carifta swimming competition was held. We built this so-called “thing” to develop the talents of young swimmers and divers.

In our next term we will complete the transformation of the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre. It will become the best athletic complex in this region. You can trust us to deliver for you young Bahamians, because in the FNM we do more delivering and less talking. Bahamians Everywhere:

We are three weeks away from making history. On May 7th, 2012, God willing with your support, 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 since independence. We were in Eleuthera last night. Eleuthera is going to born twins – Theo Neilly in the North and Howard Johnson in Central and South Eleuthera. The delivery date is May 7. On Saturday we will be in Bimini with Pakesia Parker Edgecombe and on Monday we will be in North Andros; Tuesday in Freeport; Wednesday in Mangrove Cay, the Bluff and Rock Sound. On Thursday, and on every Thursday until Election, we will be here at RM Bailey – our home. And on Saturday, 28th April we will be in Coopers Town, North Abaco.

Fellow Bahamians: This election is about leadership. It is about proven leadership versus failed leadership. The test of good leadership is action, not talk! In a National Address on the 1st of May 2002, on the eve of that year’s General Election, Perry Christie promised:

“All PLP ministers, including myself, will be held to the toughest Code of Ethics we have ever had in this country. And I solemnly promise you tonight that if any minister should violate this Code, he will be dismissed in disgrace from my cabinet and prevented from ever again standing for election as a candidate of my Party.” Ten years later he is running a disgraced former Minister who brought shame to this country in one of the worst scandals in modern Bahamian history. He’s running this same man again in a shocking contradiction of his solemn pledge.

Of course, this is the same man who said in that same National Address: “All people who know me will tell you that in my personal political creed there are absolutely three things I absolutely abhor: the first of these is corruption...” Then over five years he presided over a scandal-ridden cabinet filled with corruption and wheeling and dealing. Now, in 2012, he is again running most of the very same bunch that brought shame to the country.

Don’t listen to what he promises. Watch what he does or fails to do. He promised that his most solemn priority would be the introduction of National Health Insurance. Like most of his empty promises, he failed to introduce what he said was his most important promise.

Now, he says that he would be ready from day one. Yet more than nine days and counting, the PLP’s election platform is like Jerry Roker. You can’t find it in town, Grand Bahama or anywhere else.

Remember all that empty talk in their TV ad about an innovative jobs plan. That Jerry Roker plan is in the same place as the National Stadium they never built. It’s all in a certain Leader’s mind.

There is no jobs plan, just like there is no real crime plan, just as there was no plan for National Health Insurance. It is the FNM who will deliver you results on jobs and the economy, crime and National Security, education and health care. They say they are interested in combating crime. Yet they refused to condemn the simulated killing of an FNM by their supporters.

They say they believe in upholding parliamentary traditions, yet they allowed Frank Smith to assault Kwasi Thompson in the House. The man who now says he is committed to national security, allowed one of the most important national security posts, that of Attorney General, to remain vacant for a week. That’s reckless behaviour.

And, he failed over the course of nearly four years to appoint a Commodore of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.

On May 7th show your vote of no confidence in them; Vote FNM. From my mouth to your ear: From 2002 to 2007, they proved to be the most incompetent and unproductive Government ever in the history of The Bahamas.

Come May 7th there is a clear choice between Proven Leadership that you know will deliver for you and Failed Leadership that will be even worse the second time around. Instead of concerning themselves with who may become our next Deputy Leader, the PLP should be busy thinking about who’s going to be their next Leader after this election!

Speaking of deputies, what is truly amazing is that for a decade the Deputy Leader of the PLP shamefully neglected the good people of Cat Island. But now that Michael Pintard ‘gat his waters on, he calling the name of every settlement in Cat Island every chance he get. Fellow Bahamians; Young People; F-N-Ms:

Just like you can’t force-ripe a green dilly, unseasoned ambition will always cause indigestion.

It was my determination to place within the Cabinets I have led, and in the executive quarters of Government, men and women with leadership potential. I sought to provide them with opportunities to grow as leaders by participating at the highest level of national development.

I have no doubt that when I leave, the FNM will be in good and capable hands. I am here for but a season.

Fellow Bahamians; Young People; F-N-Ms:

You may remember that I warned you before to be on your guard because desperate people say and do desperate things.

The PLP are desperate people. They have been reading the writing on the wall. The handwriting is getting bigger and bigger the closer we get to Election Day. The people are not buying their lie that the FNM made the recession worse. The Bahamian people can plainly see the results of responsible, targeted spending by your FNM Government to ease the shock of the Great Recession while improving our standard of living.

They see the roads, they see the parks, they see the beaches, they see the Straw Market, they see the new and expanded schools, they see the hospitals expansions, they see the new LPIA, and they see the biggest ships in the world sailing into Nassau Harbour because we dredged the harbour.

Thousands of Bahamians know the benefit coming to thousands through the new prescription drug benefit and they know that they can depend on the new NIB unemployment insurance and increased social assistance benefits to tide them through difficult times. All can see the wisdom of the national skills training and jobs readiness programme which is now 4,000 strong. And, all know that not a single civil servant was laid-off during these tough times.

Had those others been in office none of this would have been done. They would still be studying the possible responses. They were and are never-ready. They are the party of Never-Ready. That’s what we must call them: Never-Ready! Why couldn’t the new Prime Minister appoint an Attorney General on day one of his appointment as Prime Minister in 2002? Never-Ready Why did he leave the Defence Force without a Commodore for nearly four years? Never-Ready!

Why couldn’t they build a new Straw Market? Never-Ready! Why couldn’t they get Baha Mar off the ground? Never-Ready! Why didn’t they introduce National Health Insurance? Never-Ready! The FNM is the party of Ever Ready. We are like the Energizer Bunny; we keep on delivering until the work is done. That other party gets funked after one day’s work. I’ll tell you what they are ready for on day one – ready to raid the cookie jar, that’s what!

It is plain to see and touch what we have delivered over the past five years. To see what those others delivered during their last 5 years in office, you have to close your mind and make-believe – Imagine! We are the Party that believes in deepening our democracy. It is the FNM that freed the broadcast media from 26 years of state control by the PLP.

It is the FNM that introduced elected Local Government in the Family islands. It is the FNM that made access to cable television and hence access to information from around the world available to Bahamians living even in our remote Family Islands. It is the FNM that caused the proceedings of Parliament to be broadcast so that all who wish to are able to hear and watch Government as it happens. It is also the FNM that computerised government offices and launched the e-portal to make access to government services easier. It is the FNM that proposed an Independent Boundaries Commission which they vigorously opposed and worked to defeat in 2002.

Fellow Bahamians: In an abuse of democracy, between 2002 and 2006 they kept many Heads of Agreement secret from the Bahamian people.

It is the FNM who tabled them in the House of Assembly for all to see after 2007. It is the FNM that amended the Parliamentary Elections Act to allow Bahamian students studying abroad and other Bahamians working on short-term overseas assignments to register and to vote in national elections. It is the FNM that amended that same Act to permit registered voters unable to vote on Election Day due to scheduled medical procedures or foreign travel to vote in General Elections on an Advance Poll.

It is the FNM that has invited international observers, for the first time in an independent Bahamas, to observe our elections. Just like everything else, they talk a good democratic game. But in reality they are not democrats; they cuts corners in order to secure their own self-interests. Now, suddenly they have become converts to believing in a fixed election date. Yet for 30 years they were in office, they never raised the issue; never suggested it was something they might pursue.

Let me explain something else to them. We have Cabinet Government in the Bahamas. This means that every important decision affecting the governance of this country is made by the Cabinet. We call that collective responsibility, and this is how the FNM Government operates. But the Prime Minister has special responsibilities. The Prime Minister is responsible for the co-ordination of the work of the Government.

The Prime Minister is the principal originator and communicator of government policy. The Prime Minister is responsible for the discipline of Cabinet Ministers. The Prime Minister is responsible for the ethical conduct of Cabinet Ministers. This Prime Minister, Hubert Alexander Ingraham, takes these responsibilities dead serious. I take ethical conduct seriously. So my Cabinet colleagues know that I will not tolerate anyone dipping his or her hand in the cookie jar!

They know that I will not allow any Minister of my Government to disrespect the conventions of keeping cabinet discussions and decisions confidential unless released through proper, approved channels. They know that no Minister of my Government can travel to a foreign country and enter into Agreements without the prior advice and consent of the Cabinet. Bahamians everywhere:

We in the FNM believe in standards of conduct for all Ministers of Government. That is why listed at the back of all our Manifestos you will find FNM “Standards in Public Life”, “The Seven Principles of Public Life” and “Standards of Conduct for Ministers of Government”. These are not printed there for show. We believe in them and we uphold them.

That is why political operatives, money bagmen and kick-back agents could not possibly sit in the room when a Minister of an FNM Government is conducting the business of The Bahamas with foreign contractors or investors. That other Party accommodated that level of behaviour.

It goes without saying that all Ministers in my Government know that holding tens of thousands of dollars in a foreign currency in bags in a bedroom closet, in contravention of our law, will not be tolerated.

And every Minister who has ever served in my Government knows that we do not permit political operatives to make deals on behalf of the Government. Most particularly no political operative can even pretend to engage with foreigners on behalf of an FNM Government and seek to conclude some shady business deals to exploit Bahamian fishing grounds or get 10% on labour contracts concluded with foreign contractors for work on Paradise Island. That other Party tolerated those things. Bahamians everywhere:

Those who oppose us have a record of incompetence, a record of providing privileges for cronies, a record of failure to deliver on promises and commitments to the Bahamian people.

On Election Day, the choice will be crystal clear. There is an unmistakeable choice between the leadership that I will give and the leadership of my opponents. Their style of leadership tolerates all manner of nonsense and foolishness. Remember how I told you that the PLP is the party of “Delivery Failed”. Last night they failed to deliver big time. They booked two ballrooms at the Wyndham Hotel in Cable Beach. They booked ZNS for a live Town Hall meeting to broadcast from the ballrooms.

It was a spectacular failure and bus-up.

The lights were there, the cameras were there. Perry was there, Brave was there, Bradley was there. Jerome Fitzgerald and Paulette Zonicle were there and so was Julian Reid making up a total audience and cast of less than 20. It was all about profiling for the cameras; but there was no action. It’s just that there were no people there. They had to scrap the event. Truth is there is never any action from the PLP.

I hear Christie was vex and cussing up a storm. He was all geared up to talk to the nation on crime and the economy. They were gonna have a big panel discussion on securing our borders - Town Hall style.

He asked what happened. I could tell him what happened. Everything was buss-up because nobody’s in charge. Too many cooks stirring the pot; no head cook. The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, or has done, because since “they all in charge” no one needs to check with the next one. The PLPs are simply following their Leader’s example. Since the Leader is disorganized and incompetent, so is the rest of the PLP.

How embarrassing it is to schedule a major event for TV and nobody showed up. It’s all a sign of things to come in their party. And they still have to pay ZNS and presumably the hotel.

The same incompetent PLP, whose election platform they now say they are going to release on the 23rd, two weeks before the General Election, couldn’t organize and put together a group to listen to Perry and his crew make even more empty promises. There was an empty ballroom last night which was the perfect match for the empty promises Christie was going to make.

Last night the PLP had to stop, review and cancel their own Town Hall televised Meeting. On May 7th, the country ‘gonna finally pull the plug on many of them. Lights out!

Fellow Bahamians:

On behalf of the Free National Movement, I ask you for five more years to finish the work we have begun. Just like its wasteland of broken promises last time the others will never deliver for you. You cannot trust their promises. You cannot trust them to lead this country. Followers they are, leaders they are not!

When a captain navigates a ship, especially during a storm, he needs steady hands to keep the ship afloat and hold things together. The Bahamas needs a decisive captain of our ship off state.

You don’t want a captain who is Never-Ready. You want someone who can look that storm in the eye and go through the rough water to lead our Bahamas, Steady Sunward. Fellow Bahamians: In Government, the FNM has always acted to put in place the arsenal or combination of manpower, programmes, facilities, tools and technology required to boost national security and the fight against crime. It is unbelievable that the leader of that other party took a calendar week to appoint an Attorney General.

Yet Perry left this critically essential post vacant for seven whole days. We know that the drug and gun trafficking fuel much of our violent crime. They come together in a perfect storm with deadly results. This is why we must fight crime on the streets and on the high seas.

On the matter of guns, it is this Government that set up a gun court and introduced mandatory sentences for the possession of illegal firearms. The PLP did none of these. They are tough on crime in talk, but not in real time. The resources of money and willpower that we have poured into increasing the number of Courts, judges and prosecutors are unprecedented for a single term. They are showing results. They are working. I ask for your support so that we can continue our fight.

We have invested heavily in Closed Circuit Television and sophisticated crime-prevention and crime-fighting technology such as is deployed by police departments in major cities around the world like London and New York City. And, in our next term we will increase the strength of the Police Force by 250 new police recruits. In addition to combating crime we are combating its causes including through broad-scale social intervention. Building on what we are already doing, during our next term we will introduce the most sweeping social intervention measures in the history of The Bahamas.

Those others like to talk about Urban Renewal 2.0. Well, even Microsoft is up to Windows 8. But that’s those fellas for you...always behind. Our vision is that of urban redevelopment. We intend to advance the transformation of Over-the-Hill through economic and social empowerment. The support I felt in my visit with residents in Bain and Grants Town yesterday was extraordinary. Many of them told me the same thing: They are tired of the PLP taking them for granted. The PLP are so desperate and afraid that they tried to get in the way of our campaigning Over-the-Hill. They even bussed in people from other constituencies. They could not muster enough residents from Bains Town and Grant’s Town to take part in their orchestrated demonstration so they bussed people in just like they buss people in to make-up the crowds at their rallies.

Can you imagine? In The Bahamas they seek to control who can enter a constituency? They seem not to know that I frequent those neighbourhoods on a regular basis. The fellas on the blocks, the mothers and grandmothers on the porch and the children playing in the yards are never surprised to see me pass by – driving myself. Did BJ Nottage really believe that I would be afraid to be amongst the people in Bains Town and Grants Town? Chil please!

If the philosophy of those who oppose us is to keep traditional neighbourhoods poor and in disrepair so that they can continue to feed false promises of a better tomorrow, that is NOT our philosophy.

We believe that Over-the-Hill neighbourhoods deserve better. Residents in those neighbourhoods need a leg up not a hand-out and we in the FNM intend to ensure that all those residents know that with the FNM they will get the leg up necessary to improve their conditions and make better futures for themselves and their families. If those who oppose us have given good representation, why are they so scared of our visiting those constituencies?

I can report to you that many residents from Grants Town and Bains Town were offended by their out-going MP’s behaviour. As one resident told me, “The PLP don’t own Over-the-Hill. We are Bahamians first...so the PLP better stop thinking we belong to them.” Bain Town & Grants Town; Centreville & Farm Road; Englerston, Marathon; Nassau Village:

The PLP has taken you for granted to long. They only know you when it’s Election time. I ask you to come go with me and the FNM.

We have big dreams and plans for you. Just like we built the Nassau Straw Market and created Fish Fry, we will build the Native Food Market Over-the-Hill; it will bring new life to your neighbourhoods.

The Native Food Market will mean jobs and economic opportunity for many residents Over-the-Hill. Just like the PLP kept our straw vendors under that hot sun and that old tent for years, they will continue to neglect you.

But don’t listen to what they say...watch what they do, or rather, don’t do. Hubert Ingraham and the FNM will build you a Native Food Market that will attract thousands of Bahamians and tourists to spend money Over-the-Hill.

In the FNM we want all boats to rise. In the PLP they only concerned about their own boats rising. When they get theirs, they forget you until next election. When we made available $100,000 to each MP to spend to improve their constituency, most MPs got to work for their people. In Centreville and Farm Road, during the height of the Global Recession, their MP couldn’t get around to spending his full allocation of money. He left more than one half of the money unspent. His sad excuse is that he was still planning a whole year after the money was made available. The message he sent to the people of Centreville, Farm Road and Over-the-Hill communities was very clear: Vote for me every five years, but for God’s sake, don’t bother me in between.

Ditto for BJ Nottage; he couldn’t figure out what to spend his constituency allowance on either, so he left more than one half of his money unspent. Seems he believes that that Bains Town and Grants Towns do not need any small capital works projects. My message to those of you living in these communities is that we seek to create opportunities for you and your children in the Opportunity Society we are building. We intend to leave no Bahamians behind as we build a 21st century Bahamas. This is a new day in The Bahamas.

Fellow Bahamians: If we are to be successful in our crime-fight we must give the Police the tools they need and give the Defence Force the tools they need. We have to reduce the amount of drugs and guns coming into this country. So the Defence Force, like the Police Force, is critical in the fight we are waging against crime. You may have noticed that for all their talk about crime, that the PLP has said precious little about the Defence Force.

I already tell you...they only have a crime brochure. They don’t have a crime plan. The FNM has a comprehensive National Security Agenda. It is an agenda that is my top priority along with our plans for Economic Recovery & Growth. Our plans for the Defence Force will be the most comprehensive upgrade of our national defence in the country’s history.

In the South-western Bahamas, a new Defence Force base is nearing completion in Ragged Island. The harbour at our South-eastern base in Inagua will be dredged to allow for larger vessels.

In the Central Bahamas, at a cost of $20 million dollars, we will deepen the Coral Harbour base and reconfigure the dock to accommodate an expanded Defence Force fleet. Exuma will get a sub-base. In the Northern Bahamas, we plan to develop a base in Grand Bahama, and a sub-base in Abaco. Grand Bahama will also get a remand centre to hold its prisoners on remand. Only sentenced criminals will be brought to Nassau. 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 cause to be built-to-order 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. In addition to the two patrol aircraft acquired during this term in office, we will acquire two additional patrol aircraft. We will engage another 235 marines during our next term in office. We will also introduce a new Defence Force Reserve which will eventually comprise 180 reservists. The first group of 60 reservists will be trained and deployed next year.

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. Perry Christie talks about national security. He just never did anything about securing our national security.

I can also advise you, 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 have taken the decision that only Bahamian citizens may be licensed as bone-fishing guides or employed on fishing boats in The Bahamas. We will also create a new Customs & Border Control Agency to better coordinate our national security efforts in the areas of immigration and customs. Fellow Bahamians:

During our terms in office, the FNM has sought to make government more accountable and transparent as well as more efficient, effective, responsive and accessible. As a part of this effort we have launched a major new e-Government effort. We seek to do more.

The mission of the Post Office has changed around the world. With the internet and email, courier services and private post boxes state-run post offices must innovate. They must rethink their mission.

Because we are the party of reform and modernization we intend to upgrade and transform the mission of the traditional post office. We must stop living in the last century and embrace the demands of the 21st century. Government must always seek to provide better public and client service. Our fundamental mission is that of service. Our task is to revitalize the concept of service and service delivery.

As you know, beginning in our last term in office we commenced the development of Town Centres where post offices and public libraries were constructed alongside or near police stations, community health clinics and schools – notably along Carmichael Road, in South Beach and on Prince Charles Drive in the east near Elizabeth Estates. An important part of those Town Centres was the establishment within our post offices of pay stations for a number of government services.

I advise that in keeping with our commitments to promote and support liveable neighbourhoods we will expand such services during our next term in office so that in addition to the usual postal services more of our post offices will become pay centres for the payment of utility bills.

This will mean greater convenience for thousands as many Bahamians still pay their bills in person and not online. We also intend for these Post Office Government Service Centres to become information centres. Many of our people have no or limited access to the internet. Many others rely on public transport to get to various Government offices to conduct their business. This can be time consuming, and especially difficult for mothers with young children, older citizens, and some disabled individuals.

We propose to make a broad-range of Government forms available ay these Centres such as passport applications, birth certificates, business licence, building permits applications; Customs Clearance and Customs Duty-free and exemption forms for small businesses who qualify under Item8, Immigration applications forms, and sign-up forms for Volunteer Bahamas.

This is in addition to the many such forms available online. And, because some Government forms can be difficult to fill out, we propose to post Information Specialists from amongst existing public officers to help people to understand and fill out various forms.

As you are aware, the Government Printing Department has available many Government Publications. Instead of members of the public having to go to downtown to the Government Printing office to get copies of whatever documents they may require, we think that you should be able to request such documents from your local post office at the Government Service Centre. When your documents arrive the information specialists would then call or email you to come and collect the documents at you neighbourhood post office.

We also intend to utilize these GSCs to significantly boost getting out public health information including on healthy eating, fitness and reducing stress. This may include providing information on diabetes, high blood pressure, HIV-Aids, cancer screening, autism, drug and alcohol abuse and other issues of health and well-being.

With 9 post offices across New Providence and Paradise Island alone, we can provide greater access to Government information and services by decentralizing access to such information.

Just as we are making Government more accessible to you online, we will make Government more accessible to you in your neighbourhoods. This will also include being able to renew your driving licenses and other road traffic requirements. In the words of that commercial, it is your FNM that brings good things to life. Fellow Bahamians; Young People; Residents of Over-the-Hill; F-N-Ms:

In transforming our country we cannot go with the smallness of vision and the weakness of leadership of the PLP. Not only will they take the country backwards; they lack the vision and the quality of leadership needed to move The Bahamas forward.

The FNM is the Party of Opportunity. You can believe what I pledge to do on your behalf. You can believe the FNM. We are the Party that delivers. We are the Party of Proven Leadership. We are Ever-Ready to work for you.

But, this is not a fight any of us can go alone, we must band together. So tonight, sign up to be a volunteer, take a poster, tell your friends to go FNM.

This fight for our future must be waged heart-to-heart, door-to-door, constituency by constituency. So, I need more people going house-to-house. Our general campaign is doing well. But this campaign will be won on the ground. So, we need more ground troops to enlist.

Don’t just keep talking about what the FNM needs to do. That is what Volunteer Bahamas is meant to stimulate. Get involved and stay involved in making our country better. Get up and do it. If you feel that I’m talking about you...that’s exactly who I’m appealing to. Help us make history as we begin a new chapter in Bahamian history.

I encourage you to read our manifesto 2012. It has been posted on our party website FNM 2012.org for a full week now. We will begin distribution of hard copies beginning next week.

Our Manifesto is the product of wide consultation among my Cabinet colleagues, our new candidates and many interested members of our party and of the general public who have written to me or to one of my Ministers over the past months and years, suggesting and recommending action by the Government. Some will recognize their ideas as they read our commitments and promises in manifesto 2012, I am proud to say that this is a document that reflects the views of many. We listened, we considered and we determined what we believe we can accomplish in our next term.

When you go to our website tonight, we’d be grateful if you would click the donate button to help us keep printing posters, making t-shirts and holding rallies, advertising, and travelling to our Family Islands.

We want you to take even greater ownership of our party. When you support us financially you help broaden the base of our financial support. The FNM is the party of “We the People”, it is the Party “For the People”, and so it is right that it should be funded “By the People”.

In so doing we are creating genuine reform of how election campaigns are financed. It is the FNM that is once again leading the way in deepening our democracy in tangible ways. If you can only make a $10 or $20 dollar contribution, please do so. If you do not use credit cards and want to donate by cheque, please make your cheques payable to the Free National Movement Pledge Account. You can even take small cash donations to the Royal bank of Canada for deposit into our Pledge Account. Those deposits can be accepted at any branch of the Royal bank.

If you can give more, or wish to give in instalments, that too is welcomed. Whatever support you give will remain strictly confidential.

I thank all those who have already contributed to our cause. I am heartened and encouraged by the response to our appeal. In due course each of you will receive a formal acknowledgement and thank you for your contribution.

Contributions add up, and in my heart the widow’s mite means so very much. I seek not just your support on Election Day; I ask for your help in making even brighter the torch of freedom and opportunity that is the FNM.

If the FNM wins, everybody wins. Don’t gamble with your future. Vote for and support the FNM.

I ask all voters to pick up their cards as soon as possible and have information corrected on it if this is necessary. Those who need to vote early should also make arrangements as soon as possible.

As we depart tonight FNMs, I ask you to come go with me and the FNM. I make a special appeal to residents in Over-the-Hill communities. Like you, I know well the struggles of daily life. I will never take you for granted. Let us, all together, build a better Bahamas. Thank you. Stay safe. God bless The Bahamas...Good night.