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DEY  COMIN’
If you had any doubt before this week that the general election was near, then that doubt should have been wiped out after Tuesday 27th March.  On the evening of that day, the Prime Minister Perry Christie announced and introduced his candidates to the country. As we predicted in this column last week, the PLP will field 39 candidates.  The  two seats that will not be contested it now appears are Bamboo Town, held by incumbent Tennyson Wells and Long Island and Ragged Island held by the FNM’s Larry Cartwright.  James Miller, a former FNM MP, will reportedly run in the Long Island seat as an independent.

As you can see from the pictures in the photo of the week and the others throughout this essay, the launch of the PLP’ s candidates created the highest excitement.  People came from all over the island and flew in from across the country to be there to support their candidates, in applause that simply shook the earth.  The pictures of all those gold T shirts portrayed a party that is poised to win again.  The elections are now expected in early May.

The Free National Movement had to scrap themselves up the same kind of show a few days later and its showed.  This is the party who wasted valuable news space to say that the PLP had been copying their programmes but it was clear that the changes in the boundaries caught them unawares and Brent Symonette in particular was having a problem deciding where he was going to run.  It appears that Hubert Ingraham, the FNM leader, had to finally order him to run in the new constituency called St. Anne’s where he lives rather than the constituency where he grew up which is now Montagu.  He took his sign down saying ‘Headquarters for Montagu’ that could be seen on the Eastern Road once the boundaries were announced and on the night of the House of Assembly meeting on Wednesday 28th March, the cars could be seen into the road, meeting late into the night to decide what to do.  Mr. Symonette was boasting all about the place that he is the only one who has a choice where to run and no one would tell him where to run because he did not need politics.  Yadda! Yadda! Yadda!  In the end, he went like all the other FNM lambs to the slaughter, precisely where he was told to run.

The reviews are in and there is no surprise that the FNM’s show fell dead flat on Thursday night at the Radisson in the same hall as the PLP’s golden show a few days earlier.  The election as you know is very much about numbers and perception. The PLP has the momentum with it.  The FNM has been reduced to carping, and nastiness throughout their campaign.  The PLP simply has to continue its work, with its teams in the field and the work being done, focusing on the issues.  The Prime Minister’s address seemed to cover all the points of the campaign of lies and deceit being run by the FNM.

One of the most telling points of course is the continued deception being staged by the FNM with regard to Hubert Ingraham's pension, a most embarrassing thing for them.  Hubert Ingraham collects $9,500 per month as a pension from the Government each month.  He was supposed to be retired.  It is clear that he designed the law in such a way that he politically blackmailed Sir Lynden to resign from office before he could get the pension and then took the pension himself while retaining political office and seeking to become Prime  Minister again.  How greedy can you get?  How much do you want?

Then to add insult to injury he gets up in the House of Assembly last week during the debate on the resolution on Monday 26th March to increase national insurance pensions to attack the Government for seeking to raise national insurance pensions by 30 dollars for the old age pensions.  So here is a man who gets $9500 per month, trying to stop someone who gets $200 per month from getting an additional $30 dollars per month.  Something is wrong with that picture.  And yet you have a group of diehard FNMs dressed in their blood red T shirts wanting to have this greedy, disrespectful politician back at the head of our country.  Again, something is wrong with this picture.

There are now 41 seats in the House of Assembly to be won in the next general election.  The PLP believe that the PLP will win the majority of those seats.  The PLP has done its work.  It has a record of accomplishment that is enviable and unmatched in this modern era.  The levels of investment, of the reserves, the rise in household income, the reduced levels of unemployment, the buoyant tourism figures, all show that the proof is in the pudding.  The PLP has done its work and done it well and it deserves a second opportunity under Perry Christie to govern again,

We use this opportunity therefore to urge those who have not yet registered to do so.  Get it done this week.  The Prime Minister said last week in the House that the general election is only a heartbeat away.  That is close indeed.  Every PLP should now be in readiness for the battle when the bell rings. The horses are walking toward the gate.  Our bet is on the PLP.  The people’s bet is on the PLP and that is what matters.