By Blox Content Management,Dr. Hubert Minnis

Copyright thenassauguardian

We have just passed the four-year mark for the Davis administration. The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) is now finishing up the last year of its term in office.

The PLP promised a “new day” if elected. They said they would ensure the cost of living was reasonable. They said they would fix infrastructure problems. They said they would deal with the crime problem. They said they would be good stewards of the people’s money.

They have not had to govern during a pandemic or after a major hurricane or series of hurricanes. Despite this, what we have four years later is a party with few achievements. Frustration among Bahamians has increased every year.

The people’s business is not getting done. What has happened is the governing party has acted for and on behalf of PLPs.

PLPs have gotten contracts. PLPs have gotten jobs. PLPs have received land grants. PLPs have gotten rich. Prime Minister Philip Davis has governed for his own and left ordinary Bahamians to fend for themselves in a cost of living and affordability crisis.

Prices have been elevated since the pandemic-related inflation shock. Bahamians watched on a monthly basis as prices increased for the items they require to live, as well as rent. Prices remain elevated.

What has made things worse in The Bahamas is that the Davis administration added a breadbasket and medicine tax of 10 percent value-added tax (VAT), and they discontinued a hedge at Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) that the last Free National Movement (FNM) administration left in place to protect the people. These decisions made things even more expensive for homes and businesses.

We in the opposition, along with members of the clergy and media, called on the PLP to cut the breadbasket tax for years. The hard-hearted administration would not listen.

It was not until this year that the Davis administration reduced from 10 percent to five percent certain items at the grocery store, medicines and other items we had at zero percent VAT. The people were left to suffer for years under the Davis breadbasket tax.

The prime minister has demonstrated an aloofness and indifference when it comes to his people. He does not feel what ordinary Bahamians feel. For example, the people have also been crying out for relief from high electricity bills, many of which have doubled.

No matter what policy the PLP announces or what new energy reform they say they are enacting, the bills have remained high. The prime minister has been unwilling to use the awesome powers of his office to meaningfully intervene and bring relief to struggling Bahamians who are traumatized each month by high BPL bills.

Mothers and fathers are having to cut back on expenditure in their households in order to be able to try to keep up with their electricity bills. Some people are using their savings to keep the lights on. This is not what voters expected when they signed up for a “new day”.

While Bahamians have been struggling with high costs, they have been getting poor services from utility providers. This has been especially the case in certain Family Islands.

The electricity goes out regularly. The water goes out. Sometimes it is both at the same time. The island of Eleuthera gave the PLP its two seats. It has been treated the worst when it comes to electricity and water services.

Here in New Providence the PLP can’t even patch the potholes in the streets. The roads are dangerous with all the holes all over the island.

Crime remains a concernThis will be one of the worst five year-periods for murders when the PLP’s term is done.

The killing numbers were high since the PLP’s first full year in office (2022) when we had 128 murders, the second most in our history.

High levels of killing continued throughout their term. This year there has been a decline. However, so many people were killed in the previous years that this five year term is still likely to be one of the bloodiest on record.

In their election Blueprint we were promised enhanced “crime fighting methodologies” in their “aggressive war against crime”. Instead, residents of New Providence have had to spend most of this term watching high levels of killing, many thefts and too many robberies.

There is a common connection between the failures of this administration in the cost of living and crime crises. In both cases we have a prime minister who has failed to act to make things meaningfully better for the people. Inequality has gotten worse under him.

This prime minister has had a different focus. He has traveled more around the world at the people’s expense than any prime minister in one term in office. He has visited nearly every continent. He has stayed in the finest luxury suites. He has taken expensive plane rides. He has eaten the most expensive foods and drank expensive wines.

Staying at his desk and doing the people’s work bores him. He is in power for the perks, not the people.

Consequently, things do not get done. After four years there is no new airport in Grand Bahama. After four years there is no hospital in New Providence. Refurbishments at the Accident and Emergency Department at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) are still not complete.

After four years the Grand Lucayan has not been redeveloped. After four years there is no new Parliament or prison. The list of what has not been done is long. It could fill a page in the newspapers.

Philip Davis wants another term in office. He wants to keep enjoying the good life paid for by the people’s taxes. He wants to keep jet setting. He wants to keep partying with rich foreigners.

The people have seen how he governs. He will not change. His government has failed to keep most of its promises. The Davis administration has been very secretive. It has refused to answer many questions on how they are spending the people’s money.

I have worked to improve opportunities for my constituents for nearly two decades. The residents of Killarney do not want more of the same old PLP.

The PLP is no good for The Bahamas. Philip Davis is no good as prime minister. Bahamians deserve better than what the governing party has offered these four years.

We must all continue to do our part to ensure that the Bahamian people have a voice to speak out for justice and fair play, for opportunity for all. This is what our people deserve.

• Dr. Hubert Minnis is the Killarney member of Parliament. He is a former prime minister of The Bahamas and former leader of the FNM.