Bahamian Government, Opposition trade words

The Bahamian prime minister Hubert Ingraham and Opposition Leader Perry Christie have been trading words as to who should be blamed for the abrupt end of the budget debate in the country’s Parliament last week.



In a statement to reporters, Mr. Ingraham accused legislators from the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) of staging the walkout to avoid making tough decisions and to bring about a closure of government services in their selfish pursuit for political power.



He says that if the PLP had its way, the budget would be late and thousands of civil servants would not have been paid on time.



However yesterday Mr. Christie dismissed the statement describing it as a sorry attempt to deflect attention from the real issue facing the country.