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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
 The DNA is today calling for the resignation of the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.
Perry Gladstone Christie has deceived the Bahamian people for the last time.
Today, it has been revealed by no less than the President of Baha Mar, that a sale of the resort has not been completed.
This admission stands in stark contrast to what Prime Minister Perry Christie told the nation via a national press conference that the project had in fact been sold.
The Prime Minister went on to tout that this sale was the result of months of hard work and sleepless nights by his team along with multiple trips at the expense of the Bahamian people to Beijing, Hong Kong, and Macau.
The Prime Minister and his government even went so far in their charade by having documents sealed before the courts to suggest that the sale was “too commercially sensitive” to be known by the public at this time.
Now, it has now been revealed by Mr. Graeme Davis, the president of Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Ltd in an interview with the international press that no such sale has occurred.
Mr. Davis in an interview with Travel Press yesterday said, and I quote, “we’ve made commitments to the islands of the Bahamas, to the government and to the bank that we would open the project even before we close”.
So, to be clear, there has been no sale, so no deal actually exists. All that the Prime Minister has secured is the promise to make a deal, and nothing more. Therefore those promised jobs at Baha Mar are not secure.
Point number two; the public should ask themselves, why would a company, at the behest of what we know to be a corrupt Government, push to open a resort that they do not legally own just months ahead of a general election.
This is clearly a quid pro quo to the Government by the Chinese, thanking them for their assistance in securing the removal of the property’s original developer, Sarkis Izmirlian.
What a disgrace!
The public would recall that last year, the Government made a big show of the local contractors being paid some of the monies that were owed to them after the resort filed for bankruptcy protection.
At that time, this administration told the Bahamian people that it was a “gift” from the Chinese, who were under “no legal obligation” to pay the Bahamian creditors.
The head of the payout committee, Mr. James Smith at one stage even described some Bahamians who were unsatisfied with the amounts that they had received as “ungrateful”.
To add insult to injury it was revealed, not by our Government, but through the leak of an email that those monies that were spent were a tradeoff for the waiving of Value Added Tax on China Construction America (CCA)!
So in all practical sense, the Bahamian creditors were paid with our own money - $100 million dollars.
Again, the Government instead of being truthful with the Bahamian people, sought to mislead and swing the public into believing that these payments were a part of this “deal” they had secured.
Now we see, after doing all of that, after foolishly fighting the Chapter 11 process which would have actually paid out the workers and gotten the project restarted quickly, no matter what the Government tries to say to the contrary, after almost two years of bringing this resort to its knees, Christie still does not have a deal.
Our Prime Minister’s use of taxpayers money via concessions to prop up this sham is a cowardly, disgraceful abuse of the Bahamian people’s funds.
The Prime Minister knew when he announced the sale of Baha Mar in August of last year that he did not have a completed deal, but he misrepresented the truth for political purposes.
The Prime Minister knew when the Bahamian creditors were being paid their funds, that the money was actually coming from the taxes that he had waived, and not from the Chinese. But he allowed the impression to be created that it was part of his secret deal.
The Prime Minister knew when the public was demanding answers as to what had been agreed and secured in the sale of this resort, that he had nothing to offer the public – so he agreed to have the documents sealed before the courts, to hide the truth from the Bahamian people.
This Prime Minister knew that he was deceiving the Bahamian people, and he went about it in a systematic way.
Mr. Christie has disgraced his office, he has disgraced himself, and he has disgraced his party. The Prime Minister has abused the trust of the Bahamian people, some of whom have left other jobs to seek employment at Baha Mar. Those persons should be concerned that those jobs are not secure.
If this scheme of the Prime Minister was allowed to play out, he would have been able to prance himself before the Bahamian people during this election cycle to say, “look at what I’ve done for you!” But as fate would have it, he has been exposed
The mishandling of Baha Mar will be the stain that will live forever on the name of Perry Gladstone Christie. It is now for all to see that the Prime Minister along with members of his Cabinet worked in a concerted effort to remove the original developer of Baha Mar in favor of the Chinese.
That is painfully obvious from the comments of Mr. Graeme Davis yesterday. There is no other reason for a company to hire and open a resort before they even own it!
As an attorney with 26 years in the field, I have never, ever heard or seen what this Government is attempting to pass on as “common practice”.
This is a total political ploy, pure and simple. It is shameful politics, and a disgrace to our country.
The Prime Minister should not be allowed to hold office moving forward.
He has misled the country more times than we care to remember. His empty promise of moving the country forward, together, rings hollow for the cheap campaign rhetoric that it is.
This Prime Minister, and his Government, are making us the laughing stock of the international community who are branding us as a ‘Banana Republic’ that’s been sold to the lowest bidder. This arrangement that Christie has with the Chinese, that we now know has not been completed will not be honored when the PLP is removed from office.
So again, we demand that the Prime Minister resigns before he brings more shame to his office and to our country.
Branville McCartney
DNA Leader
© Copyright 2017 by thebahamasweekly.com
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