By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement chairman Darron Cash said yesterday that Prime Minister Perry Christie will not listen to Bahamians about whether he should seek re-election in 2017. This was a pointed comment on Mr Christie’s decision to ignore the results of last year’s gaming referendum as “proof” that he does not care about public opinion.

His statement came after Mr Christie told the press that he might decide whether to seek re-election based on public opinion.

Said Mr Cash: “Even as he fails at his job and insists that the Bahamian people will tell him when or whether it is time to go, we should not be fooled by that statement. Prime Minister Christie will not listen to the people and if they speak to him he will not abide by what they say. Mr. Christie has only recently demonstrated this in a huge way by asking the Bahamian people to speak to him in a referendum and then immediately ignoring what they have said. With behaviour like that, Bahamians should harbour no illusions that (he) will hear or listen to them when they say to him ‘go now’.”

Because Mr Christie is losing “his grip on reality of what life is really like for the vast majority of people,” he said, “it is unsurprising that he refuses to loosen his grip on power.”

Mr Cash also dared the prime minister to call an early election.

His comments were in reference to remarks Mr Christie had made on Wednesday. Mr Christie had criticised FNM leader Dr Hubert Minnis over his inability to contest an early general election. Mr Christie described Dr Minnis’ recent calls for Cabinet to resign as “silly little interventions”, adding that the entire country knew that the opposition leader was not ready for an election.

“Never ask for something in politics that you can’t handle,” Mr Christie had said. “(Dr Minnis) does not have the capacity at this stage to even dream of something like that – that’s the first thing, that’s just a political response by me.”

However, Mr Cash said the Opposition is ready for an early election.

“If the prime minister thinks the FNM and Bahamian people are not ready to get rid of him and send him into retirement and a long period of rest he should go ahead and call that election,” he said. “We dare him.”

He also criticised Mr Christie’s assertion that he is working hard to move the government’s agenda forward.

“Prime Minister Perry Christie brought a smile to the face of many Bahamians when they read in today’s newspapers that he claims to be ‘running full speed ahead all the time’ and that he ‘has not taken a day off since the election,’” Mr Cash said. “Firstly, the only time Bahamians see the prime minister at full speed is when he is blazing a trail through traffic with his out riders (police escorts).”

“Mr Christie’s slowness and backwards movement is delaying efforts by major hotel operators to revitalise the Bahamas’ brand and competitiveness as world class casino destinations. This failure to act is certainly not something the prime minister should be proud of,” he said, referring to the government’s stalled Gaming Bill.