We are back here at Freedom Park, Fox Hill again. Our job this time is to further prepare you for the General Election that is to come. Remember that the mandate of this Government runs out on 8 April 2002. The PLP must win this election and it can be done. Victory is within our grasp. But what must happen is that we must all register.

I have been to the Sandilands Primary School on several evenings over the last week to get people registered to vote. I cannot stress how important this is. If you have not yet registered please go and do so. It is of the utmost importance to the future of this country and to the future of the PLP for this to be done. I hope that you will, if you have not already done so, get registered this week.

Tonight I want to thank the Leader of the Opposition for holding this meeting here this evening. This is the second time that he has been to Fox Hill in as many weeks, and I am grateful that he has taken time out of his busy schedule to be here this evening. I want to say that he is an extremely hard working and busy man. There are many calls on his time, so I consider it indeed fortunate that he is able to be with us here this evening.

One of our friends pointed out to me that they read something in The Punch the other day that Mr. Christie had said that the other newspapers never carried. And it made him appreciate for the first time what I have been saying about how, apart from Love 97 and The Tribune, the press has virtually shut out the PLP. Now I want to be clear here that I make a distinction between the reporters and the management and owners of the establishments. It is the management and owners that are to blame.

And so when people say they can not hear anything from the Leader of the Opposition they must know why. We do not get a fair press.

But that is not by way of complaint. It is only to say that that is the way it is. Political prostitution at the Nassau Guardian is at its height today. We have learned only recently that in Freeport, the persons who are opposed to the construction of the conveyor belt across the Queens Highway in Grand Bahama can no longer be published in the Freeport News by order of Oswald Brown the Managing Editor of the Nassau Guardian.

We have been informed that Mr. Brown was called in by his bosses the owners of both papers, following a complaint by one of the owners of the Grand Bahama Port Authority who told them that he did not want the opposition to the conveyor belt covered in the Freeport News. Not only did the bosses in the U.S. comply with the request but Mr. Brown issued an edict on pain of the jobs of the reporters. That is the so-called free press in The Bahamas.

Of course you all know of his prejudice first against me and then the PLP. Mr. Brown has been named Jackass of the Week in my column more than any other person. And for good reason. He is the epitome of what a journalist should not be.

While on the subject of journalism, I wish to say that it was recently confirmed in the press that Darrold Miller has been named Deputy General Manager of the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas, responsible for News and Public Affairs. This is a proud accomplishment for Mr. Miller. I congratulate him on reaching the heights of his career.

Many people have expressed surprise at the size of his salary at $80,000. Mr. Miller is a talented man and he is in my view worth all that and more. It is about time that the value of journalists and their craft is reflected in the salaries that they make. He has been at it for a long time, and it is a great pity that he was not enticed to stay with Love 97 that he helped to build up into a powerful radio presence.

I have known Mr. Miller for a long time. His brother and I are close friends. I know his family well. When I was Director of News and Public Affairs at the Corporation in 1979, I asked him to come and work with me as a reporter at the Corporation so I am particularly proud of what he has accomplished. But I want to say this: the proof is in the pudding, however.

Under Arthur Foulkes, a new team of reporters is being as assembled at the Corporation. In marketing, a new team has been hired: we have Dwayne Wallace and Earl Thompson. But I say again, the proof is in the pudding. I expect these new persons and in particular Mr. Miller to exercise his responsibilities without fear or favour. We expect that the Opposition will be treated with the courtesy and the importance that it deserves in the country. All of us will be watching to see if this new team is going to be like the old team.

For example in the radio programming division, in the Speak Up talk show: when was the last time that you ever heard any Opposition leader on that radio talk show? It’s like the Opposition to the FNM does not exist.

All employees should know that ZNS is a public institution and as such all taxpayers are expecting equal and fair treatment.

This leads me to another matter of concern, the air traffic controllers' dispute. You know that the Government is in flagrant and blatant violation of a ruling by Emmanuel Osadebay that the air traffic controllers ought to be allowed to return to their duties. Last week, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport in what was a most unusual statement attacked me, a political leader for statements made in connection with this dispute. The Tribune said that Archie Nairn the Permanent Secretary named me and said that I was as persisting in saying something that I knew not to be true.

I will not respond to that. Any such suggestion is contemptuous. The whole country knows that the Government has flouted the ruling of the judge. That is plain for all to see.

But what is important at this time is to remind all public servants that they are just that public servants. It is not the role of the Permanent Secretary or any other officer of the public service to attack politicians. That is the job for the Minister, not the Permanent Secretary. Our system says that politicians are responsible to the electorate, not public servants. I say this because it appears to me that many permanent secretaries seem to forget that fact. They are supposed to be politically neutral. They risk discrediting themselves when they violate that basic tenet of civil service behavior.

I expect and my colleagues of the PLP expect that in future, all Permanent Secretaries and all public servants will guide themselves accordingly. I do not then expect to see in the future any public servant attacking me in the name of a Minister, unless I have attacked that Permanent Secretary in his personal capacity. Let C.A. Smith fend for himself.

You know I saw C.A. Smith in the airport in Freeport last week. And he said something that is remarkable that speaks volumes about this Government’s behavior. I asked him how someone who was elected to office to bring his own particular moral conscience to government could cut the pay of the air traffic controllers on the grounds that they were not returning to work. Mind you, it is the Government who is preventing them from going back to work. He said to me that morals had nothing to do with it and I quote: " If we ran the Government on morality, there wouldn’t be any work for you as lawyer to do." This is a Minister of the Government talking now!

May I turn my attention to the Commissioner of Police Paul Farqhuarson? Bernard K. Bonamy is now the substantive Commissioner of Police. He happens to be on study leave that by my calculations is to come to any end in August 2001. Mr. Bonamy’s legal studies will be finished but for his pupilage. You will have seen that in the 18 months since Mr. Bonamy has been gone, there has been a huge change in the way the Force has been managed. The Government has said nothing about Mr. Bonamy’s return and how that will impact Mr. Farqhuarson’s ability to survive in the Force. We need an explanation from the Governments as to what is to happen.

At the time of Mr. Bonamy’s departure for study leave, the Government’s back channel chat was that Mr. Bonamy would never return to the Force. But the time is drawing nigh. What is going to happen? When will the Leader of the Opposition be consulted?

Remember that Mr. Bonamy has a position protected by the Constitution from which he can to be lawfully ousted unless he has done something criminal. And that certainly does not apply to Mr. Bonamy.

But as for the Acting Commissioner, I have expressed the concern to my Leader that perhaps Mr. Farqhuarson is promising to do too much. I read the latest announcement about reducing crime by 20 per cent and giving figures about reductions in numbers and increases in detection rates. But while all of this is admirable, I am afraid for the Commissioner to give the kinds of statistics when the responsibility for whether or not he can carry out his job does not rest with him alone. A number of these matters are political decisions in nature. One must be careful not risk the police force and its responsibilities being caught up in political battles. Ministers of the Government should not be allowed to hide behind the coattails of the Commissioner or Police, not give him the resources, and when it does not work blame the Commissioner.

Remember now that the FNM came to office with Janet Bostwick saying and once the PLP was gone, crime would disappear. So it is the FNM that should be made to fully account for what is happening on crime and why the figures remain high.

We support the Commissioner of Police in his work, but I only add this word of caution. We do not expect miracles to happen. We expect reasonable results. We expect the support of the Government to achieve those results. But we do not want the Force to extend itself too much and then fail at the end of the day to the detriment of the reputation of the Force.

And so brothers and sisters of Fox Hill, I hope that within a year and next year this time that I will be able to stand here as your PLP representative for Fox Hill. With God’s help and if life lasts, I hope that will be the result. We shall have the biggest and best Fox Hill and Emancipation day ever if we win.

The PLP will bring in new policies. BaTelCo workers and those of all publicly owned corporations including Bahamasair can expect new policies to protect the national wealth for Bahamians. This morning, I was reminded by my Leader that our policy in the PLP is that shares in BaTelCo should be sold to ordinary Bahamian citizens, that the existing management ought to get an opportunity to buy the rest. That would be our approach with the Broadcasting Corporation, with BEC and with Bahamasair. The Bahamian people ought to have a chance to invest in all of them. The existing management ought to have an opportunity to buy those companies. The PLP would then send a strong signal in this country that we believe in Bahamians and their abilities, and we believe in the transfer of wealth to ordinary Bahamians.

In the case of Bahamasair, we ought to provide a subsidy for Family Island travel, absorb the existing debt, and underwrite the purchase of new planes for the new owners. But after that the airline has got to be on its own.

So in the coming days and months, I am sure you will hear more of what the PLP has in store for The Bahamas. Our next meeting will be in South Beach so please keep an ear out and watch the press for the next meeting when Agatha Marcel will be officially launched as our Party's candidate for South Beach.

I thank you all for coming and I wish you all a pleasant good night.