16^th November 2005
Crystal Palace Hotel
Cable Beach, New Providence

May I begin by recognizing Miss PLP, Miss Fox Hill, and a Fox Hill girl. I wish to congratulate her and all who helped her including Mrs. Jan Davis and the Committee of workers of the Fox Hill Festival.

My brothers and sisters,

On 7^th November the Bahama Journal reported the following and I quote: " The former Prime Minister cursed at the reporter and said that there was no need to contact him for reaction to the motorcade and abruptly hung up the phone."

That it is the Hubert Ingraham that we know, and that is the man that the FNM wants us to make Prime Minister of the country again.

I say never in a million years. How can a man who has disrespected the institutions of the country, a former Prime Minister no less, who has disrespected the individuals with whom he serves as a legislator of the country, now expect that having come back to office as Leader of the Opposition that he will be treated with the respect and decorum that the position deserves.

I wish to say a word about salt and pepper. I say this in the context of the campaign of our Minister of Health Dr. Marcus Bethel for a healthy lifestyle. If you speak to Dr. Bethel, he will tell you that salt will give high blood pressure. Black pepper is bad for digestion. The message then is clear in life and in politics, if you want to live a happy and healthy life, stay way from salt and pepper.

But we all know that salt and pepper is just a ruse for some people who lost their country in 1967 to get their country back through the back door. The choice is as clear today as it was in 1967, when the UBP was vanquished by the rallying cry PLP all the way. Today, it is still PLP All the Way!

The Prime Minster has asked me to serve as the Minister responsible for the public service. In that connection, I am responsible for the pensions of public servants, members of parliament, including former Prime Ministers and former Governor Generals. I want to share some information with you tonight.

When the former Prime Minister formally assumes the position of Leader of the Opposition, he will be collecting from the Public Treasury the following sums: $100,000 as a retired Prime Minister; $28,000 as a Member of Parliament; $50,000 as the Leader of the Opposition; $18,000 as a Parliamentary Office allowance. The grand total of what he will collect from the Treasury will then be $196,000. Compare that $196,000 to a retired politician to the working Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie who receives the sum of $146,000 per year.

You should also know and the research shows that shortly before the election of 2002, Mr. Ingraham’s Cabinet met and agreed to provide for former Prime Ministers the following: the payment of a utility or housing allowance of $1500 per year; the provision of a diplomatic passport; access to the Government’s VIP lounge at the Nassau International Airport; Access to an official car for appropriate events in The Bahamas; Provision of Security by the Royal Bahamas Police Force when necessary; provision of one aide.

Further Mr. Ingraham’s cabinet agreed to provide for him when attending public functions to be in the order of precedence immediately after the Leader of the Opposition. It was also agreed that he is to be provided a police driver and an aide and the provision of appropriate security by the Royal Bahamas Police Force. He was to have the provision of one maid in a salary scale up to $16,300 per year; the provision of one senior personal assistant in a scale that goes up to $44,200 per year. This personal assistant now works with him in his law firm and is paid at the public’s expense.

Further, Mr. Ingraham’s Cabinet agreed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was to notify appropriate officials in foreign countries when he was traveling abroad; the Family Island administrators are to be notified when he is traveling in family islands; he was to get the same courtesies as a Cabinet Ministers when traveling to Grand Bahama or any family island.

And he accuses us of being interested in perks. Physician heal thyself!

The question must now be asked if he is to get $196,000 per year plus all of those perks, what more does he want? Is he now coming back for more? $196,000!

This act is unconscionable. It is greedy. It must be revisited. After all, this was the same man who stopped all pensioners re hired and working for the Government from receiving their pension and a salary too. Yet he will not now apply the same logic to himself. The PLP knew that the decision as it applied to public servants was unlawful and we have now reversed it, but perhaps we ought to apply the logic of the former Prime Minister now on himself. Perhaps his pension ought to be stopped until he is once again retired.

We are all aware of all the thousands of public servants who are retired tonight, and watching this broadcast, and some of whom are in this hall tonight who have been on small fixed pensions barely able to make ends meet. I wish to announce that the Government has decided to increase those pensions with effect from 1^st July 2005. Each pensioner in the Christmas pension packet will see an increase of $50 per month for all retired and re employed public servants and a $30 per month increase to war veterans and widows and orphans. The Ministry of Finance has made a commitment to review the pension every year so that the pensions can keep pace with the expected rises in the cost of living. I really wish we could have done more but I hope that this additional sum helps. It will be paid as a lump sum dating back to the 1^st July 2005 in time for Christmas.

I would like to thank the Rt. Honorable Perry Christie, the Minister of Finance and his Minister of State James Smith for acceding to the requests of the Ministry of Public Service to do something for pensioners.

But I want everyone at the same time to think as they try to get by on their pensions, that some one who wants once again to be our overlord, is going to collect $196,000 per year. And do not be fooled by the story that the former Prime Minster is not accepting his salary and is writing cheques back to the Treasury to repay the $28,000 salary to the Government because he does not want it. It is not possible in law to refuse to accept your salary, and whether he claims it or not, the money is his, it is being paid to him. If he does not collect it, his estate can claim it when he passes away.

My brothers and sisters, I am pleased to announce this evening that the negotiators for the Government concluded on Sunday evening last and initialed a draft agreement between the Bahamas Public Service Union and the Government of The Bahamas. As we speak, the BPSU is putting the case for an agreement to its members. Once ratified by them we are prepared to sign such an agreement tomorrow morning, which will allow for raises to be paid by the Government to all public servants in time for Christmas. I will leave the details to the formal signing tomorrow which should take place in the morning if all goes well, but the Cabinet agreed on Tuesday afternoon that we can sign the agreement. I look forward to it.

I wish to thank the officers and members of the Bahamas Public Service Union for their work and diligence together with our team of negotiators as follows: Jan McCartney and Simon Wilson of the Ministry of Finance, Peter Deveaux Isaacs of the Ministry of National Security; Renae Glinton of the Ministry of Education; Hyacinth Pratt of the Ministry of Public Service. Working with me on the ministerial subcommittee were the Honourable gentlemen Alfred Sears, Bradley Roberts, Shane Gibson and James Smith. We think we have negotiated a good agreement. But special thanks must be given to Messrs. Keith Archer and Frank Carter who are doing a tremendous service to their country by the work in developing industrial relations harmony in The Bahamas.

I wish to announce also that we have agreed to provide with effect from 1^st July 2005 the uniform allowance for prison officers at the same level as those of the police and defence force officers. This too will be paid in the Christmas pay packet this December.

I believe that there can be no more profound legacy for this Government than that of reforming the public service. This pact, which we initialed, sees for the first time both the Union and Management and Government joined together to bring about potentially fundamental changes in the way the public service operates in this country.

The Opposition is against change, not because they believe that change is wrong but because they find it politically convenient.

The major complaint of both public servants and citizens is that things in The Bahamas take too long. The politicians get the blame but the system of public administration is so old fashioned, paper intensive and counter productive in its work practices that it simply cannot deliver the goods and services demanded of the modern Bahamas.

My colleagues are aware of the great impatience, which I personally have for the long ceremonies in our country that not only last too long but don’t start on time. It is like we are content to live in time warp where this country was a village sixty years ago, and we had nothing better to do than to sit at public ceremonies. But the changes that I caused to come about for example in our Remembrance Service which has been cut down to 45 minutes were done not because there is simply impatience with long ceremonies but to send out a signal of the need for a larger shift in our national life, toward more efficient and effective actions.

In this regard the former Prime Minister fell down badly on the job. He left a broken system in place that neither satisfies the workers in the public service or the citizens of the country.

During this next year, the Ministry will work assiduously at ensuring that those who deserve promotions get them, and that those who should be put on the permanent and pensionable establishment are so established.

When the last negotiations for the public service took place the former Prime Minister took care of them himself. This year he scoffed at and was derisive of this Government's approach this year to allow professionals to do the negotiations. The result of his personally intervening in the Public Service negotiations last time meant that a system that was already broken got worse under his administration. So when we came to office, he had for example agreed to pay $24 million dollars in increases to the public service five years away from the time when they were due, without any clause that would allow the country to postpone the payment if an economic catastrophe occurred which did not allow the Government to pay.

If all goes well with tomorrow's agreement, we are on the path to true public sector reform. I hope that managers in the service particularly those within the Establishment office will know that a new day has dawned and there is a responsibility to execute the changes with dispatch. There are too many complaints about not being promoted, not hearing from transfers, not hearing from in service awards. No public service Minister, none, this one included can respond and investigate every complaint and rectify it. The system must change.

The public servants should under these new provisions know what the rules are, have a right of access to them, and have clear and transparent rules for appeals. It imposes a compensating duty on all public servants to know their rights, and work with management to improve their productivity, and their image with the public at large.

In our effort to compete in the international arena, our systems must be transparent, and objectively transparent. If they are not, no one will want to do business with us.

There is a need in the country at the most basic level to understand processes. We have a country that should not rely on individual whims and caprices for our decisions. The former Prime Minister knows all about whims and public servants should remember how he caused to be dismissed summarily two senior, distinguished public servants in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs without due process. Those in the service who want to welcome him back should think about that.

Another example of the need for reform can be seen in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the issuance of visas. The complaints about the issuance of visas from people living abroad and Bahamian citizens seeking to have visitors come to The Bahamas are numerous. The criticism is that the procedures again are not open and transparent and there may even be issues of training. In order to address these issues, I have requested a management audit of the department by the Public Service Commission and I thank the Acting Chair Bishop Sam Greene for agreeing to undertake this work. These recommendations, which will also include the recommendations of the Auditor General, should lead to comprehensive changes in the delivery of that service to Bahamians and foreigners alike, and should result in the enhancement and protection of the government's revenue and the security of our country.

I hasten to assure the public that no scandal of any kind has been found in the visa section. That which you heard (if you have heard it) has been FNM propaganda and we have invited them time and again to go to the police if they have any information, which rises to the level of the reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, which the constitution demands. They are unable to do so. Indeed they have provided nothing by way of a complaint to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry. But if there is any wrongdoing, I say let the chips fall where they may.

I ask both friend and foe alike not to seek to put me in a position to make personal choices about visas. I have sought within existing procedures to put in place a transparent system where there is an initial finding by the officer; if that is refused then it may be reviewed again or appealed to the Permanent Secretary. That is generally the last level of appeal.

Those wishing to apply to come from China will have to in the ordinary course apply through the British embassy or consulate in the city closest to them.

We are seeking to put an embassy in Beijing by late January 2006. When that happens, the complaints from that quarter should disappear.

As you know, we also plan the opening of an embassy in Cuba. A reception will be held for the Embassy, and we invite all Bahamians who can to come to join us for the opening in early December. I congratulate Ambassador Carlton Wright and his wife Audrey for agreeing to be the pioneers in Havana.

I want to thank Ambassador to Haiti Eugene Newry who started off in this party as a member of the famous National Committee for Positive Action with our Prime Minister and this wife Francoise, for their work in Haiti at a difficult time. Mrs. Newry was injured in an attempted robbery in Haiti. I wish them both well and the Prime Minister will be announcing a new assignment for them shortly as he announces the changes in the diplomatic corp near the start of the next year.

There are no adverse implications for our relationship with the United States of America because of the relationship with Cuba and I expect that the continued good relations with the United States will continue. I am indeed appreciative to John Rood their present Ambassador whose coming to The Bahamas was almost as good as the fresh wind that blew here in 2002. I look forward to the official visit of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to The Bahamas in February 2006. I have developed a good working relationship with her in my capacity as the Chair of the Foreign Ministers of CARICOM.

And so this evening I am happy to be here in convention. Next week I join the Prime Minister as he travels to the Heads of Government meeting of the Commonwealth in Malta.

It has been too long since we got together like this. We should do this every year, get a chance to have these happy times and this happy conversation. I have the honour to represent a fine constituency, and despite the misguided soul who spoke at the FNM's convention last week, much is being done in Fox Hill. The Urban Renewal office will open shortly just south of Freedom Park. It will continue the work on the homes that are already under repair in the Fox Hill Village. Some homes are being built from scratch for those who cannot afford to do so. I thank my colleague Shane Gibson who actually walked the streets of Fox Hill with me. The parks are better maintained, the Sandilands Primary school is the pride and joy of Fox Hill and get all of the support I can give it. Congratulations to Mrs. Norma Dean, the daughter of former MP and headmaster Frank Edgecombe who is now the principal of Sandilands Primary School. My thanks to the principals Mullings of L.W. Young and McPhee of Dame Doris. Through my international contacts, there have been donations to the churches in the area, to the schools in the area. The community centre will be finished this time next year. The road, the parks, the sense of well being, the connection with the representative, I think on all scores things are good, and soon there will be jobs for the who cannot find work.

The Prime Minister has asked me to work with the Urban Renewal project to design a public works scheme that will help those who are unqualified to qualify themselves as for the public service. I hope within the next year there will be up to 200 entry level jobs available in the public service. The scheme will require those who are unqualified to the Public Service standards to bring themselves up to scratch within a specified period of time in order to join the service permanently.

Tonight then, I salute the people of Fox Hill for their support. I will becoming back soon to ask you to renew my mandate. The second time around will be better than the first time. I say hello this evening to Stalwart Councilor Clarence Moss and his wife Seva, to Mr. Samuel Ferguson and his dear wife Essie, and all the others. My thoughts and thanks go out to former representative and my friend George Mackey who is watching this tonight from hospital. I pay my respects to the late Fox Hill stalwart councilor Bishop Austin Saunders.

This is done for all of you in Fox Hill and your children, and it is to you that I owe my thanks for allowing me to have this useful job.

Thank you colleagues in the Cabinet and the backbench, Prime Minister and Madam Deputy, Mr. Chairman fellow delegates and good night. God bless the Commonwealth of The Bahamas!

End