NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis yesterday dismissed accusations of the Free National Movement (FNM) campaigning on the public’s purse, insisting opponents can simply “check my history”.
In an interview with Eyewitness News, the prime minister said: “Go and check my history. Check my history. From day one, I have said and I have demonstrated that every time anything new or I visit the UN (United Nations) or some international meeting or after the budget or important legislation, I will go through the Family Islands and explain it to them because they, too, are entitled to know when I travel, how their money was spent.
“When we discuss the budget, they must understand how their money is spent and they must know how their money is generated.
“My records are there to show that this is nothing new.”
The prime minister was responding to Exumas and Ragged Island MP Chester Cooper, the deputy leader of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP).
Last week, Cooper again lamented what he said was the government’s use of public funds to travel to the Family Islands to advance the FNM’s advance political campaign.
It is an assertion the PLP deputy leader also made in March 2020, shortly after the prime minister announced he will embark on another tour of the nation to gauge the public’s input on the national budget.
The prime minister made a similar tour of the country to explain the 2018/2019 budget and the reasoning for the government’s increase in value-added tax (VAT).
In 2018, the opposition made similar comments, insisting at the time that the prime minister’s travels were a waste of money and only served a political agenda.
In December 2020, the prime minister again defended delegation trips to the Family Islands, insisting the travel was part of his commitment to keep residents of those communities updated on national matters.
At the time, cases of the coronavirus continued to climb on New Providence, but had tapered off on a number of Family Islands.
Other islands such as San Salvador had zero cases.
The opposition criticized the prime minister for campaigning at the cost of exposing those communities to the virus.
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