By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

PLANS by the Minnis administration to convert Ragged Island to a “green island” were nothing more than “fanciful speech to get likes on social media.”

This according to Exuma and Ragged Island MP Chester Cooper, who told the press on Friday that there were never any plans to support the former government’s repeated pronouncements.

Mr Cooper, the deputy prime minister, was on Ragged Island to officially open the new airport terminal there.

“There’s never been a plan for a green island and the former prime minister made a fanciful speech to get likes on social media, but it has never really been a plan made,” Mr Cooper said. “The solar forays just came into operation and has finally been connected to the grid. There’s no real tangible benefit yet to the people of Ragged Island.

“I hope that we may be able to see some reduction in the rates that the people of Ragged Island enjoy. The reality of it is that we really have to develop a master plan for Ragged Island.

“There are some people who are working on one already. The descendants of Ragged Island. We are going to continue to work on an orderly, sustainable master plan for Ragged Island.”

In 2017, months after the country’s general elections, Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 storm, devastated Ragged Island, destroying everything in its path except a small edifice – Holy Innocence Anglican Church – which somehow was unscathed.

MP Cooper, who is also the Minister of Tourism, Aviation and Investments, reminded his constituents of the storm’s devastation and his government’s commitment to restore the island, once deemed uninhabitable by the Minnis administration, to what it was.

“Hurricane Irma struck Ragged Island in my early days as a member of Parliament for Exumas and Ragged Island,” he said. “It was heartbreaking.

“I connected with the people here in Ragged Island. I felt their pain and still feel their pain and as their member of Parliament, I’ve raised hell in Parliament to get attention for the people of Ragged Island. Now I have the opportunity to do something about it.

“In the past eight weeks we went swiftly ahead to build the airport terminal building. This momentum is going to continue. We are going to continue all the works that started with the school and clinic.”

He pointed out the plans for Ragged Island, some of which are already in motion.

“The dock needs work,” he said. “All of the infrastructure here has been damaged. We are going to be opening a makeshift clinic. We can no longer wait, while people risk their lives.

“This is a fishing community. It’s a construction site and the reality is that we need to have a nurse on this island and come January we will have one.

“It’s not completely adequate as a clinic, but we can’t wait any longer. So, the nurse is coming. We are going to look to do something similar with the school house. The children are here and they are ready to go back to school.”

He said the reality is that the Ragged Islanders will see an expediting of the restoration of their island. We are not going to give up on Ragged Island.

“I made it a priority to tell my Cabinet colleagues that we cannot fail Ragged Island, the way the previous government did,” he said. “I made it a priority to say that small communities like this one around the country require us to look after them.

“It is written that what you do for the least of our brothers, you do unto Christ. And, this is why we will look out for communities across the country, small ones like Ragged Island.

“The Ministry of Health has secured a nurse for Ragged Island and she will be arriving next month. A decision that took them four years to make, we made in four weeks. Her living quarters is secured and almost renovated and just like we delivered in a short time here, I know we will deliver on those quarters as well.”

He said the economy of Ragged Island also deserves a “new day”. He also added a call for them to grow their businesses.

“We have to reignite the economy,” Mr Cooper said. “You can be the commercial fishing capital of the south. You can have boutique resorts here. You can be the boutique salt capital of The Bahamas for table salt and salt spas.

“No longer will the people of Ragged Island have to catch a plane for basic medical service. You will get that right here. Construction on the school is well on the way and I am thankful to the Minister of Works past and present for moving this project along.”

“We’ve had many great, big names that have come from Ragged Island. Mr Wayne Munroe, for example, is a descendant from Ragged Island - the Maycocks, the Lockharts, the Wallaces. Ragged Island has made a lot of great professionals and I am calling on them to return to Ragged Island and help with the restoration.”

Mr Cooper said people will begin to return to Ragged Island when they know they can get education and healthcare. He said he is very optimistic about the future of Ragged Island.

He said he hopes to accomplish the restoration projects in the shortest possible time and indicated that there will be a monument erected in Ragged Island in memory of the four Royal Bahamas Defence Force soldiers who lost their lives in 1980.