Bahamian Politics
DNA: Much Ado About Nothing (PM on Baha Mar)
By Branville McCartney, Leader, Democratic National Alliance (DNA)
Aug 23, 2016 - 1:11:51 PM


Last night, Prime Minister Perry Christie did his usual song and dance before the Bahamian people. Just like he did when they announced that they had regained the two per cent shares in BTC, there was an overflowing of grinning Ministers and cameras, but very little, if any details.

Last night, the Prime Minister claimed that the government had secured an agreement for the remobilization, completion, and opening of Baha Mar.

But what are the facts?

All that we were told last night was that the same China Construction America company (CCA) – the same CCA that has failed to meet two of its own self-imposed construction deadlines, will be given hundreds of millions, possibly over a billion dollars to finish a resort that they messed up in the first place.

Our Prime Minister, in all his pomp and glory, sought to evoke a sense of pity from the Bahamian people for all of the “hard work” that he and his team had been doing, “continuously, day and night” to find a resolution to this nightmare at Baha Mar. What the Prime Minister has once again failed to point out was his intimate role in creating this mess in the first place.

Let us look at what he now has claimed to have secured for the Bahamian people, workers, investors, and contractors who are owed millions of dollars.

For 20 months, these families have suffered, and watched with utter bewilderment as month after month went by and they received nothing from this same CCA company that has gone on to start construction on yet another hotel development right in front of their eyes.

The Bahamian people went from being assured that they would get 100 cents on the dollar, to being promised now yet again, and I quote “a significant part, and possibly all of the value of their claims”.

Ladies and gentlemen, here we go again, more Christie Talk 101.

But our Prime Minister can be clear when he wants to be. He was very clear when he announced that the Chinese Export Import Bank had agreed to fund “all remaining costs to complete the resort” and that CCA will finish the works.

Why would the Government of the Bahamas agree to a deal that allows the same company that did all this shoddy work in the first instance, to go back to Baha Mar again?

Have we not learned our lesson?

But the bigger question is, why are Bahamians not being used to complete this work? Surely Bahamian contractors are competent enough, and capable enough to finish the remaining 3 per cent of work necessary at that resort.

What happened to this Government’s motto of ‘Believing in Bahamians’? Or was that simply an election time slogan?

Mr. Christie also claimed that going forward, many of the same people and companies, who were previously contracted, will be re-engaged to complete the project. We will wait to see what this really means.

We also note as well that the Government of the Bahamas and the Bahamian utility companies, such as BPL/BEC, will receive payment for “some” of their outstanding claims against Baha Mar.

So the Bahamian public purse, that was already being depleted, will have to take another hit so that a Chinese construction company can be made whole. What happened to CCA taking a cut for their outstanding, unsubstantiated, questionable billings that we have read so much about?

The only thing that was commendable out of last night’s entire show was that former Baha Mar employees would receive monies that are owed to them. But this should not have even been a question.

This was the bare minimum that we got. In fact, when you look at this whole affair with a discerning eye, the Bahamian people are likely being paid from those same unpaid Government taxes that the Chinese construction company will walk away from.

These are old tricks they are pulling on us once again. Same old, tired Christie, selling us dreams.

A real deal that we as Bahamians could have been proud of was providing opportunities for Bahamian contractors to finish this resort, collecting all the taxes that were owed to the Bahamian people, paying the thousands of former workers their outstanding monies, and getting this country from underneath a construction company that appears to have this Government by the throat.

The DNA is also very interested to know what concessions the country was forced into accepting to make this deal happen on the eve of being downgraded by Moody’s!
Do not fool yourselves in believing this was a deal that the Government actually wanted to sign.

In all likelihood we were forced into this deal to avoid junk-bond status. We also note that this comes at an auspicious time when the same construction company, CCA, has shipped their workers out of this country because they did not get their work permits for The Pointe. We can only imagine what we have given away at this last minute to facilitate this charade of a deal.

But let us not delude ourselves; we have a lame duck government that is fighting for their political lives. They offered no details to the media last night, and even in their statement they admitted that this is only an agreement to have an agreement; in other words, that press statement last night was not worth the paper it was written on.

The DNA, and the Bahamian people are sick and tired of these games that the PLP is playing. The Bahamian people are ready to rid ourselves of this incompetent Government with their smoke and mirrors.

As this Prime Minister is clearly unable to do better, we in the DNA invite you the Bahamian people to work with us in showing this PLP government what good governance really looks like.

Branville McCartney
DNA Leader

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