FNM Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis
on Wednesday renewed his call
for PM Perry Christie to reveal whether he supports the proposed $2.1 billion
agri-fisheries venture with Chinese investors, as he said Mr. Christie’s “stony
silence” may very well “go forward with this theft of our birthright.” Dr.
Minnis is on record as calling this proposed investment initiative secret and
lacks transparency.
He was speaking at the ratification ceremony at the FNM
Headquarters.
It is important to note that all of the genesis, the facts
and the documentation surrounding this investment initiative are all a matter
of public record. The announcement of the $35 billion fund earmarked for CARICOM
by the President of the Peoples Republic of China is a matter of public record;
the announcement was made four years ago in Trinidad and Tobago during the
CARICOM-CHINA Summit. The draft paper “for discussion only” prepared and
submitted by the Bahamas Ambassador to China to Agriculture Minister the Hon.
Alfred Gray has been published in its entirety in the local newspapers. The authorization
letter submitted by Mr. Gray to pursue this economic opportunity was also
published. The Ambassador shared both documents with the Bahamas National Trust
(BNT), BREEF and a number of local stakeholders as part of his consultation to
solicit the input of industry stakeholders. I note that consultation with
stakeholders by its very definition denotes transparency so this charge of
secrecy appears to be at odds with the facts as we know them.
Regarding the comment “theft of our birthright” by Dr.
Minnis, it is unclear what Bahamian birthright is being stolen by the Chinese
as the Fisheries Act is clear, allowing for Bahamian exclusivity in fishing in
Bahamian waters; seafood processing is allowed by foreign investors but not
fishing. As for farming, well foreign companies have leased large tracts of
land on Andros, Eleuthera and Abaco and engaged in large scale commercial farming
in this country for more than one century.
To ask a Prime Minister, the head of the cabinet, to make a
policy decision based on the suggestion of a civil servant is not only unfair
but inconsistent with the manner in which informed public policy is formulated
at the cabinet level. The Agriculture Minister asked the Ambassador to gather
information from various stakeholders, prepare a report and submit for active
consideration. If the report makes its way onto the cabinet’s agenda, no doubt
the Attorney General and her senior lawyers at the AG’s Office will have sight
of the report and will render legal opinions to protect the best interests of
The Bahamas and its people. At that point it is reasonable that the Prime
Minister will be in a position to take an informed policy position on the
matter.
In
the meantime the novice opposition leader continues to try to bait the Prime
Minister into public commentary on this matter.
Prime
Minister Christie, a political sage with forty years of battles under his belt
remains silent on this issue while insisting that this so called “Chinese deal”
is a “non issue;” and at this point it is.
Elcott Coleby
