Sir Roland national honors nomination saga continues

Sir Roland national honors nomination saga continues
Opposition Leader, Philip Davis.

Opposition Leader Philip Davis on Monday accused Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis of choosing former premier Sir Roland Symonette for the national hero’s award because of his contributions to his party: the Free National Movement (FNM).

The accusations came during a press conference at Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) headquarters yesterday.

“I’ve mentioned in my statement that perhaps that may have been one of the reasons,” Davis said.

“I’ve put that out there and I’ll wait to see their responses to it.

“So, what else would inform a decision to give him that award?”

PM use of Haitian riots as reason for VAT pure “ignorance”

The nomination is not the only issue that has Dr. Minnis in hot water with the PLP.

On Saturday, the prime minister used the recent riots in Haiti as an example of why his administration had no choice but to raise value-added tax (VAT) to 12 per cent.

The remarks prompted PLP Chairman Senator Fred Mitchell to call the prime minister’s reasoning “ignorant”.

“The problem with Haiti is exactly the opposite lesson that he is using,” Mitchell stated.

“Haiti is there because they listen to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). And that’s precisely why the PLP is warning him not to listen to the IMF.

“The Haitian government accepted, in order to get some loan from the IMF, went and raised these subsidies, which caused a riot [and] caused ten times the damage they were gonna get.

“That is the point were making. You cannot make decisions taking advice from the IMF, if it’s going to lead to social disorder in your country.”

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This article was written by GINELLE LONGLEY, Eyewitness News intern.