Roberts responds to Ingraham from hospital bed

Friday, July 20, 2012

THE following statement was issued by PLP chairman Bradley Roberts from his hospital bed in response to yesterday’s speech by former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.

Mr Roberts is said to be recovering well after a minor operation on his thyroid.

“It is a crying shame that a former Prime Minister would attack the Commissioner of Police, who is not in a position in our system to defend himself against political attacks,” Mr Roberts said.

“Mr Ingraham should know better. Much more is expected of him.

“But we are not surprised. This is the Prime Minister who so politicised the police force that he took away the independence of the Commissioner of Police by subjecting the constitutionally-protected office to a contractual term. This is the same man whose government forcibly retired police officers they suspected were not their political supporters and sent them home without the dignity and respect they deserved in their office.

“This is the same man,” he said, “who did not allow my former cabinet colleague and Deputy Prime Minister, Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt and others, the dignity and grace to say farewell in the House of Assembly to her constituents.

He has a nerve.

“Instead of going quietly into the sunset, he is making of himself an embarrassing spectacle.

“Under this current administration the PLP has freed the Commissioner of Police to be the Commissioner of Police, to speak freely and to determine the priorities and actions of the force.

The government intends to go further and will seek by legislation as early as next week to remove the unconstitutional limitation on the Commissioner of Police’s term in office, as we said we would do during the campaign.

“We congratulate the commissioner on the work that he is doing in the force and in fighting crime and the stellar results he is achieving.

On the issue of gambling he said “the

PLP is not any more beholden to gambling interests than the FNM. The PLP is not in fact beholden at all.

“We said in our Charter for Governance that we would put the issue to the people. It was clear, concise and straightforward.

“The government is currently drafting legislation for Parliament to enable the carrying out of that promise. But I remind the public that it was Hubert Ingraham, who as Minister of Finance, caused the studies with the co-operation of the numbers houses to be done to determine the revenue streams, method of operating and possible tax potential of the sector. He did this to facilitate the drafting of legislation to facilitate legalising the sector.

“The FNM gave the sector the expectation that legalisation was coming, but Mr Ingraham got cold feet in the face of opposition by the church leaders.

“He too then promised a referendum to decide the issue.

“In that there is no difference in policy between the PLP and the FNM. So if the PLP is beholden for holding a referendum, then the FNM must accept that they are as well,” he said.

In commenting on BTC he said that “the Prime Minister made a statement that the PLP will fulfil the government’s promise to regain the majority share in BTC. There is no stepping back from that. There is no private understanding on the issue.

“As minister responsible for BTC, he met with the principals of Cable and Wireless and told them of the government’s intention.

Since then, he has received a letter in writing from Cable and Wireless constituting their negotiating team to settle the issue of regaining the majority of the shares.

“The Prime Minister has already secured three well known Bahamian personalities to negotiate from the government’s side. The issue is quite advanced.

“I need say no more save just watch as this government performs.

“Mr Ingraham is simply showing bad form, a bitter and angry individual who has lost touch with the political realities. He must move on and move on quietly and quickly, lest he embarrass himself further,” said Mr Roberts.

Comments

oracleoctavia says...

Mr Roberts....continues to show simply bad form, a bitter and angry individual who has lost touch with the political realities AND REFUSES to leave, move on and move on quietly and quickly, lest he embarrass himself further......

Posted 20 July 2012, 2:10 p.m. Suggest removal

Posted 20 July 2012, 2:11 p.m. Suggest removal

concernedcitizen says...

stellar job ,he maybe doing that or not but mr roberts nothing has changed to date ,we had 45 murders under the first four months with the fnm ,we have had 30 under the plp in 2 1/2 months ,please rest while your in the hospital and talk about crime when it decreases ....grennslade presented a report to the fnm of what he needed,he got what he asked for ,he did not ask for u/r 2.0 . the plp brought u/r 2.0 and i hope it has an impact ,but for the commish to infer he didn,t get what he asked for under the fnm is not true ,,plus the commish want that tenure you all talking bout ..

Posted 20 July 2012, 3:20 p.m. Suggest removal

spoitier says...

Concernedcitizen the record looks identical now but I don't hear about murders every other day now, God forbid I jinx it by saying that. Most of the murders happened right after election so that could be because the new policies probably wasn't in full effects as yet, so let the next couple of months be a measuring stick to see if this is working out. The well being of the Bahamas will benefit all Bahamians so some of the politicians need to get a grip and pull for the crime rate to go down even if it will be benefical to the PLP.

Posted 20 July 2012, 3:44 p.m. Suggest removal

what will help lower crime is the bail act the fnm inacted ....U/R 2.0 is just more people on the gov payroll ,bigger civil service equals more debt ,higher taxes

Posted 21 July 2012, 2:27 a.m. Suggest removal

yeah they,ll give btc back on paper so they don,t get sabotaged again ,and then they will quit investing and over the years get their money out, and we will end up with stone age telecoms again ,,what did we do on may 7th ????????????????????????????

Posted 20 July 2012, 3:26 p.m. Suggest removal

maryann says...

MR, ROBERTS DID YOU RIDE OFF INTO THE SUNSET SOME YEARS AGO WHEN YOU RETIRED FROM BEING A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT? THE FORMER PRIME MINISTER LIKE YOURSELF IS A BAHAMIAN AND HAS THE SAME RIGHT AS YOU AND ANY TRUE BAHAMIAN TO EXPRESS HIMSELF ON ANY AND EVERY ISSUES THAT EFFECTS THE PEOPLE OF THIS LAND . THE HEVENLY FATHER DID GIVE THIS LAND TO YOU AND THE PLP PARTY. SO PLEASE STOP TRYING TO MUFFLE ANYONE MOUTH WHO DONOT AGREE ON WHATS GOING ON IN THIS COUNTRY. YOU AND YOUR PARTY MEMBERS NEVER EXCEPTED YOUR DEFEAT FROM 2002-2007 .THIS LAND BELONGS TO ALL BAHAMIANS OF ALL POLITICAL PARTIES.

Posted 21 July 2012, 1 a.m. Suggest removal

Arob says...

“It is a crying shame that a former Prime Minister would attack the Commissioner of Police, who is not in a position in our system to defend himself against political attacks,”
The Commissioner himself refers to scientific evidence—he cannot establish cause (removal abandoned and dilapidated buildings and police walkabouts) and effect (lowered murder rate) with the little data and short time frame.

“This is the same man …who did not allow my former cabinet colleague and Deputy Prime Minister, Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt and others, the dignity and grace to say farewell in the House of Assembly to her constituents”
Mr. Roberts, Ethics of Reciprocity: treat other people as we would wish to be treated ourselves. PM of a country (15 years) and Deputy PM are not equal.

“Instead of going quietly into the sunset, he is making of himself an embarrassing spectacle.”
Be truthful Mr. Roberts, didn’t you thank God that the former PM will not be in frontline politics. If his charisma, showmanship, leadership, and eloquence (which surprised many of us) were displayed in a brief 30 minutes, image the damage he can cause the PLP during a debate in the House.

“Under this current administration the PLP has freed the Commissioner of Police to be the Commissioner of Police, to speak freely and to determine the priorities and actions of the force”
Are you stating that the Commissioner did not give the Bahamian people his best? Are you stating that the Commissioner was under some type of censorship? Are you stating that the press releases from the RBPF, strategic plan etc. were not the product of the Commissioner and Assistant Commissioners of Police? What is the truth?

“The Prime Minister has already secured three well known Bahamian personalities to negotiate from the government’s side. The issue is quite advanced.”
I do hope that the three well-known Bahamian personalities are not the same well-known personalities who handled the original Baha Mar and I group negotiations.

http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2012…

Posted 22 July 2012, 7:02 a.m. Suggest removal