The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) released a scorching critique of the plan to combat crime put forward by Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie in a nationally televised address on Monday.
The DNA labeled Christie’s proposals “simple political window dressing aimed at ‘bamboozling’ the public into believing that the PLP has a crime solution, when in fact it does not.”
Christie’s plan calls for the creation of new police strike force teams, the prosecution of high-powered gun possession cases in the Supreme Court, the creation of a special unit to speed up the processing of death penalty cases and the creation of additional criminal courts, among other things.
DNA candidate Wayne Munroe said Christie’s plan was “unimaginative, uninformed and a regurgitation of some of the same, old PLP sing-song.”
Munroe also said Christie’s idea of having the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) increase border patrols to prevent gun trafficking is “another unimaginative, uninformed sham.”
Munroe also said Christie’s proposal for legislation to permit cases involving high-powered weapons to be tried in the Supreme Court is “uninformed political fluff.”
Munroe said it was “highly unlikely” that Christie, who was in office when mandatory death sentences were ruled unconstitutional in 2006, and failed to produce or pass a Death Penalty Act, would do so if given another chance in office.
“It is vague and is coming from a man who is one of two prime ministers who presided over the educational system in The Bahamas in the past 15 years,” he said. “And because questions still remain as o the successfulness of the institution under both administrations… Christie’s unspecified promises will not do.”
The DNA concluded that with its plan, the PLP “proves that it is as uncreative and ill-equipped as the present administration, whose leader (Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham) is on vacation, leaving no adequate, sound leadership in his absence to combat crime and other national issues.”
