Just recently I was surprised to learn that the mortgage relief plan laid out by the PLP is not helping much – if any persons – for not one person qualified for the plan through the mortgage corporation or Scotiabank; and few, if any, from the other financial institutions.
Now another PLP promise has fallen through, making its record for campaign promises zero-to-plenty, as Prime Minister Perry Christie has announced that they are not able to afford to buy back the two percent of BTC’s shares as promised to give the government controlling interest.
It was clear to the government from the start that buying back these shares was next to impossible. These are hard financial times globally and the PLP constantly talked about the so-called “mess” the FNM left the country in.
They were aware that it would be very costly for them to purchase the shares; so unless they thought Cable & Wireless was going to be different from all other businesses and just give the shares back to them, the constant talk of the purchase was simply that, just talk. It was similar to the pie-in- the-sky idea when they said they would relocate the port – something that is no longer discussed.
The prime minister looked less than stellar throughout this process appearing once again as one who does not know what is going on around him. A few months ago he said the negotiations had ceased. This was immediately followed by Franklyn Wilson speaking on the negotiating team’s behalf, saying that the negotiations were still ongoing. A little later down the road, the prime minister said that he was not aware if the negotiations were still going on. He was the one who put the team together and they were negotiating on his and the government’s behalf. Therefore, how could he not know? Like many questions that were asked to Christie at this time, he claimed to not know the answer. The team that was put together for the sole purpose of negotiating the buy-back was a waste of time and resources.
The gold that rushed in on May 7 appears to only be fool’s gold. The BTC shares purchase promise is just the latest of many broken campaign promises by the PLP. In order to get elected the PLP promised much and now much has not been fulfilled. Pick your issue, crime, gambling, jobs, mortgage relief or BTC shares, all were campaigned on and all are failed promises. Some of these issues the government is still working on and is still telling the public to expect better; but as for BTC, based on what the prime minister has said, this one has definitely bitten the dust.
By: T. Bullard
