PM: The Bahamas is for Bahamians | News

The Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) first major rally of the election season climaxed on Saturday night with Prime Minister Philip Davis charging that the only way the Free National Movement (FNM) can win the May 12 general election is to try to make Bahamians hate the PLP.

Davis accused the opposition party of using people’s concerns about immigration to do just that, and declared that The Bahamas is for Bahamians.

“They’re trying to rewrite history and ignore our record on immigration,” he told the crowd gathered at R. M. Bailey Park in New Providence.

The FNM has targeted illegal immigration as a key issue in its campaign amid widespread worries many Bahamians have over the issue.

It has accused the governing party of failing to do enough to protect the country’s patrimony — a claim the Davis administration has repeatedly rejected.

“It is outrageous that the FNM, the party that weakened our passport legislation, is now using it as an election campaign issue, while we are left dealing with the mess they created,” Davis said.

“While they did nothing and left this country wide open to illegal immigration, we got to work and fixed what they broke.

“Since 2021, this government has carried out over 15,000 repatriations and intercepted nearly 12,000 migrants at sea.

“We hired 300 new immigration officers. We commissioned new patrol vessels. We expanded coastal radar to Ragged Island and Inagua.

“We did not just talk about immigration. We acted on it.”

Davis said his administration would go further in a next term.

He pledged, “We will introduce a national biometric immigration system, so that for the first time in our history, we know not just who arrived, but who left. We will crack down on employers who exploit undocumented labor to undercut Bahamian workers.

“We will fully digitize the immigration system: online, transparent, trackable.

“The full details are set out in our plans, our ‘Blueprint for Progress’. Read it for yourselves.”

However, days after the PLP’s launch event for its new “Blueprint”, and notwithstanding the prime minister’s encouragement to voters to read it, no such document has been released as yet.

Davis said at the Saturday night rally, “The Bahamas belongs to Bahamians. Our waters, our borders, our jobs, our future. We will protect all of it.”

He also claimed the PLP is ahead in its reelection bid and accused the FNM of having no concise plan.

The prime minister charged that FNM Leader Michael Pintard is unprepared to lead the country.

“When you want to get things done, you need good leadership,” he added.

“When you want to get big things done, you need experienced leadership, tested leadership.

“In 31 days’ time, on May 13, what kind of leader do you want to wake up to?

“Our Progressive Liberal Party is united behind a strong vision, with detailed plans and proven teamwork.

“The FNM cannot say the same. Poor Pintard, he does not lead his party, his party leads him. He takes instructions from the people who put him there and keep him there. He is not his own man.

“We cannot risk having a prime minister who is controlled by someone else.”

He added, “They fight each other in parking lots, sue each other in the courts, and even their former leader, a former prime minister, said he was the victim of skullduggery.

“You know things bad when you start to feel a little sorry for (Dr. Hubert) Minnis.”

In 2021 after Minnis called an election eight months before it was constitutionally due, Davis led the PLP to a landslide victory against Minnis and the FNM.

Minnis plans to run as an independent in Killarney, a seat he won with 51 percent of the votes in the last election.

The PLP won the 2021 general election with the support of 34 percent of registered voters as voter turnout was 65 percent, significantly lower than previous elections.

On Saturday night, Davis described the FNM as desperate for power and called on Bahamians to end the practice of switching administrations each election season. He argued that this is not conducive for national development.

“The FNM are praying that the country continues on the path of changing administrations every five years,” he said.

“They don’t care that that’s not good for national development, to constantly start over again. They have no genuine plan for The Bahamas. They have no genuine vision for the Bahamian people.

“If this election is about the economy, they lose. If it is about education, they lose. If it is about energy, they lose. If it is about workers, they lose. If it is about opportunity, they lose.”

No party has been elected for a second consecutive term since the Hubert Ingraham-led FNM in 1997.

The prime minister also accused the FNM of running a dirty campaign.

“The FNM must learn that fighting a dirty campaign which attacks our national institutions and public officers, harms the country,” Davis said.

“It is sad that there are those so hungry for power that they would leave a country wounded, bitter, and broken, so long as they get to sit on top of the rubble.

“Politics is a not a license for cruelty. Politics must never become a reason to despise one another. Politics must never persuade us that winning matters more than who we become in the process.”