Newly appointed chairman of the National Communications Network, Enrico Woolford is among a group of individuals selected by the Commonwealth Secretariat to observe The Bahamas elections scheduled for May 10.

Former foreign minister from Ghana, Hanna Tetteh, will lead the team of observers, the Commonwealth Secretariat said in a release. According to the release, this is the first time the Commonwealth will observe elections to The Bahamian parliament.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland announced the makeup of the observer group after receiving an invitation from the Government of The Bahamas.

“I’m delighted that former foreign minister, Hanna Tetteh, has accepted my invitation to lead the Commonwealth Observer Group. Her experience will be a real asset in this important assignment,” said Secretary-General Scotland. “In offering their assessment on the conduct of the election and the overall credibility of the process, the Group will be contributing to enhancing democracy in The Bahamas.”

The observers will consider all aspects of the electoral process and assess whether the election has been conducted according to the standards for democratic elections to which the Commonwealth of The Bahamas has committed itself. The Group will be in The Bahamas between 4 and 13 May 2017 inclusive. The last general election was held in May 2012. In addition to Tetteh and Woolford the other observers are: Elvin Bailey, Supervisor of elections St Kitts and Nevis and Lebrechtta Hesse-Bayne, Gender specialist Antigua and Barbuda.

Campaign intensifies

Meanwhile, The Bahamas government on Tuesday denied a statement by former prime minister Hubert Ingraham that more than US$800,000 have been missing or stolen from the treasury as the campaign intensifies ahead of the May 10 general election.

Ingraham, speaking at a rally of the main opposition Free National Movement (FNM) in North Abaco on Monday night, said that that when the details on theft in the public sector come to light after the next election, people will scratch their heads.

“I told you about the cookie jar. I’m just told today, yesterday actually, that US$860,700 was stolen in the Ministry of Finance under the watchful eyes of, or not so watchful eyes of the prime minister and Mr Halkitis.

“Eight hundred and sixty thousand dollars just gone, gone, gone,” Ingraham said without elaborating. But in a brief statement, the Ministry of Finance said it “has no evidence of US$860,700 in missing or stolen funds” as alleged by Ingraham. “The Ministry invites Mr. Ingraham to provide any evidence of this alleged fraud to the Ministry of Finance or the Commissioner of Police so that it can be thoroughly investigated.

“The Ministry is aware of an incident of overpayment to a vendor. This incident has been reported to the Auditor General as per general orders and steps have been taken to recover this overpayment, which does not approach US$860,700. Disciplinary action has been taken against the officer responsible for the overpayment and investigations are continuing,” it added. In his address to the FNM supporters, Ingraham said that it was important that the country votes out the ruling Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) in the general election.

He said that voters should also disregard the minority opposition Democatic National Alliance (DNA), saying he was giving his full support to FNM leader Dr Hubert Minnis to be the next prime minister of the Bahamas.

“I want you to fire them for lying to you. They lied to you, they told you they would introduce VAT, that you had to pay it on your light bill, water bill, the hospital, your food, insurance, on everything – you must pay this because they say Ingraham left the Bahamas broke and we need to pay the debt so we’re going to have this new tax on everything.

“Well that was a lie then, it’s a lie now. They got the tax, they collect the money, the debt is higher now than it was before, they knew they were lying when they lied to you, they been collecting the money, the debt has not decreased. For that deceit, fire them,’ Ingraham added. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Perry Christie has told PLP supporters that they should disregard the “Fake National Movement” adding that it is unprepared to govern the country.

Speaking at a PLP rally in Grand Bahama on Monday night, Christie said that good economic news was on the horizon, as he is due back here on Tuesday for a heads of agreement signing with Carnival Cruise Line for the construction of a new cruise port in East Grand Bahama. He reminded the rally that Minnis had boycotted the “soft opening” of the multi-billion dollar Baha Mar tourism project and that the FNM leader’s statements about Baha Mar were “stupendously stupid”.

“New guests are checking in everyday … and Minnis is denying that reality,” Christie said, adding “he is the most reckless and unprepared person ever to put forward for the leadership of this nation. “There has been nobody so unprepared vying for the leadership of this nation – on top of that he is so weak – there is no doubt he is going to get rolled over. Before you can get to him he is going to get rolled over by those special interests who are now in his party,” Christie told party supporters.