FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
J. Kwasi Thompson, M.P. for East Grand Bahama : The PLP’s Favorite Place to Govern? In the Dark.
The U.S. State Department’s latest report has put into black and white what Bahamians see every day: this PLP government loves to operate in the shadows. The facts are embarrassing.
A Freedom of Information Act passed eight years ago, still collecting dust. An Ombudsman law, still not working. Campaign finance reform, nowhere to be found. Even the Public Disclosures Act, something as basic as MPs and Senators filing what they own, ignored for more than a decade. And when asked why FOIA hasn’t been enacted, the PLP had the nerve to say it was too expensive.
It is painfully obvious that under this government, the people’s business is none of the people’s business. And while the laws sit idle, corruption festers. Investors are told to tread carefully because the rules of the game are unclear, contracts go to insiders, and disputes drag on for years.
For the Bahamian people: the difference is simple. Accountability is not a slogan for the FNM, it will be a standard. The FNM has shown that before. We passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act. We advanced the Public Procurement Act. We focused on making it easier for businesses to do business. And when the PLP inherited it, they tore it down, called it “unworkable,” then passed a watered-down copy and broke it again.
We will do what they refuse to do. An FNM government will set a clear timeline to fully enact FOIA, and while that’s being finalized, we will act right away: publishing key reports, giving the public easier access to information, and ensuring the press can hold leaders accountable.
Every state-owned company will have to publish quarterly financial statements and meet audit deadlines or face consequences. No more excuses, no more delays. Procurement will be clean and above board, with no backroom deals. Bahamians deserve sunlight, not shadows.
They deserve leaders who remember they work for the people, not for themselves. The U.S. report is a warning to the world, but it’s also a reminder at home: we can do better, and under the FNM, we will.