GUEST COMMENTARY: BY BRIAN SEYMOUR
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Brian Seymour writes on the FNM’s failures in Grand Bahama. This commentary was published on Sunday, September 12, in bahamasuncensored.com.)
FREEPORT, Grand Bahama — History will judge the five former sitting Members of Parliament for Grand Bahama harshly for the part they played in this dispensation. The failure of this FNM administration is a direct result of the inattention given to the biblical admonition of “looking out for the least of these amongst us!!
Instead, the MPs have pandered to and concentrated on serving the rich and well connected as priority number one. They then cruelly exclaimed that it was the “people’s time.” Public policy failures and visionless leadership is what has taken its toll on Grand Bahama.
Today, the economy stands at its lowest ebb since the 1955 signing of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, which gave birth to the city of Freeport.
Today, the Island is almost back to where we first began — stagnated and strangled because of bad policy decisions.
The Island does not have a fully functional hospital.
The Island lacks a fully functional airport, international or domestic; Hutchinson walked away with the insurance money.
The Grand Bahama Lucayan Hotel purchase — again Hutchinson was allowed to walk away with the insurance money, while the Island has less than 1,000 hotel rooms.
Port Lucaya and the Lucayan strip is in decline.
The Oban signing for East Grand Bahama was nothing more than a fool’s errand and a public embarrassment.
The outcome of the oil spilt investigation in East Grand Bahama –the findings have not been reported and made public by the Government.
Construction of the Government’s Administrative Complex project in Eight Mile Rock has been abandoned for the last four years, as is the almost completed school in Holmes’ Rock.
Colossal public policy failure is how the five members of Parliament should be held to account for and judged on Election Day, September 16, 2021, for the last four-and-a-half years of dereliction of duty and gross incompetence.
The legacy that will follow Dr. Hubert Minnis and these FNM members is the example of “visionless leadership.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Here’s a link to a video of an on-site press conference on July 20, 2021, with PLP Chairman Fred Mitchell and the PLP’s Grand Bahama candidates calling for work on the Eight Mile Rock Administration Building to be completed. Among those participating were Obie Wilchcombe, West Grand Bahama and Bimini; Ginger Moxey, Pineridge; Kurt Hollingsworth, Marco City; James Rolle Turner, East Grand Bahama; and Kirk Russell, Central Grand Bahama. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1888211631353778
