Christie accuses PM of attempting to derail Baha Mar
By STAFF WRITER ~ Guardian News Desk:
Opposition Leader Perry Christie yesterday accused Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham of attempting to sink the Baha Mar deal.
Christie's statement came a day after Ingraham said his administration would not have approved the multibillion-dollar Cable Beach project under the terms agreed to by the former administration.
"The question that must be asked is whether or not the prime minister is seeking deliberately to scuttle the Baha Mar project," Christie said in a statement.
"We are astonished that the prime minister says that he would not have supported the Baha Mar project without answering the question of what he would have done to produce the 10,000 jobs for Bahamians, which this project promises to create.
"When we approved it, there was no question then of 5,000 or any other number of Chinese laborers. Indeed at that point in time there was no Chinese involvement at all. The PLP agreed to the project to enhance our tourism industry, diversify the tourism plant so as to create a strategic counterbalance to the dominance of Kerzner and Atlantis, and to create jobs. Mr. Ingraham, in talking down this project, has no answer to any of these points."
During a news conference on Sunday, Ingraham said the approval of the extraordinary number of Chinese workers required to help construct the Cable Beach resort development would not be given without opposition support.
It is estimated that between 5,000 and 7,000 Chinese workers would be required as a result of an arrangement between Baha Mar and its new Chinese partners for the $2.6 billion deal, which is still subject to both Bahamian and Chinese government approval.
"In this case we are not going to born this PLP baby by ourselves," Ingraham said.
"We will ask Parliament by resolution to approve the labor ratio between Bahamian workers and foreign workers for that project. If the PLP votes no, it'll be no. After all this is a baby conceived by them. We are seeking to deliver this baby but we don't have sufficient gynecological ability or qualifications to do so on our own."
But yesterday Christie repeated that Ingraham would have to carry the burden of whether the Baha Mar deal gets the green light all on his own.
While pointing out that Ingraham is fond of saying that he does not pay attention to anything the PLP has to say, Christie charged that with the full power in law to make an immigration decision, he (Ingraham) now wants to share the decision of whether 5,000 Chinese workers should come to build the new Cable Beach hotels.
"As the prime minister is always so anxious to show how decisive he is, he should have no hesitation in exercising his authority and deciding the matter in the same way that he decides everything else: entirely on his own, without any help from his own colleagues, much less the Opposition," Christie said.
But Christie said that irrespective of whether the Baha Mar deal is approved, thousands of students are leaving school this month, joining thousands more who are unable to find decent jobs.
"He (Ingraham) must find an answer to the 30,000 jobs that are needed in this economy," the Opposition leader said. "That is his job, not the PLP's job."
He charged that Ingraham's statement on the Opposition's performance during the recent budget debate and the Baha Mar project are a "profound embarrassment", and a "sorry attempt" to deflect attention from the real issue.
"The real issue is the abject failure of the Ingraham government," Christie claimed.
"The issue is not Perry Christie and the PLP. Instead the issue is the government of the Free National Movement that has driven our country dangerously into debt and dramatically increased the burdens on the poor, the working class, and the middle class in our country. No amount of rhetoric or grandstanding on Mr. Ingraham's part can change those unchangeable facts."
June 15, 2010
thenassauguardian
A political blog about Bahamian politics in The Bahamas, Bahamian Politicans - and the entire Bahamas political lot. Bahamian Blogger Dennis Dames keeps you updated on the political news and views throughout the islands of The Bahamas without fear or favor. Bahamian Politicians and the Bahamian Political Arena: Updates one Post at a time on Bahamas Politics and Bahamas Politicans; and their local, regional and international policies and perspectives.