FNM Slams Davis Government Over Urban Renewal

Opposition Leader Michael Pintard is speaking out against what he calls the unfair treatment of Urban Renewal staff on Grand Bahama.

Emotions ran high and tears flowed today as a former general worker at the Pineridge Urban Renewal office spoke out. Verinique Pratt, a mother of one, says she and some of her coworkers, got their walking papers on December 28.

Pratt was one of several people who gathered at St. Georges high school on Grand Bahama this afternoon. Minister of Social Services Obie Wilchcombe and PLP Senator Kirkland Russell were both on campus meeting with urban renewal and social services workers.

Our News team was there as the meeting ended and Wilchcombe exited the building. While he declined an on camera interview, he did call the meeting nothing out of the ordinary. He did not elaborate further.

Our News obtained this memo that does not indicate what the meeting was about however it made it clear it was a mandatory.

Marco City MP Michael Pintard says he got wind of the meeting and thought it best to show up given what he called the unseemly circumstances he says have been unfolding in Grand Bahama’s Urban Renewal office. He addressed the media outside the school gates, moments after the meeting wrapped up.

The Davis administration has also accused the former government of playing politics with urban renewal, which was originally started under a PLP government under Former Prime Minister Perry Christie. In fact, earlier this month it was revealed that the Davis administration settled with 65 former employees of Urban Development in Grand Bahama and the family islands who were terminated after the May 10, 2017 general election.