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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
 Having had his chance to clear the air on the unfounded and bogus claims made by his deputy leader and chairman, Dr. Minnis instead chose to further mislead the Bahamian people in an interview with NB-12 that aired on Wednesday night, 9 April 2014.
In the interview, Minnis denies that his government approved the business plan that called for massive displacement of Bahamian workers, but instead claimed that a clause in the sales agreement with Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) gave the government veto power to prevent employee redundancies at BTC.
It is clear that Minnis either approved a Shareholders’ agreement he did not read; he has a very short memory or he is a bold faced liar. In either case, he is losing credibility by the day and is not fit for public office because nobody can trust anything he, Butler-Turner or Cash has to say.
Section 8.6 of the Shareholders Agreement (between CWC and the Bahamas Government) reads as follow:
“Matters not requiring the consent or approval of the Government.
For the purpose of this agreement, the consent or approval of the Government will not be necessary in respect of matters specifically and expressly set out in, permitted by, required under or agreed pursuant to:”
Clause 8.3.18 under Section 8.6 “Voluntary Workforce Restructuring Plan” provides that Government of The Bahamas (GoTB) may veto any redundancies in the 2 year period following the effective date i.e. between 6 April 2011 and 6 April 2013.
Further, Clause 8.3.9 speaks to GoTB's veto in relation to relocation overseas of the principal place of business or material part of BTC's undertaking.
These clauses mean two things: Firstly, the FNM government did not lift a finger to veto the loss of more than 500 jobs at BTC that were directly due to the sales agreement Dr. Minnis and the FNM agreed to in 2011. Secondly, the FNM signed away the government’s power to prevent the “relocation overseas of the principal place of business or material part of BTC’s undertaking” which includes outsourcing large chunks of BTC’s business.
As much as Minnis tries to convince the Bahamian people that he and the FNM are committed to protecting Bahamian jobs, nothing could be further from the truth according to what is in black and white in the shareholders’ agreement. The facts are clear that Minnis and Butler-Turner gave away the shop and sold out the Bahamian people for bowl of porridge and now seek to rewrite history to save their political hides.
© Copyright 2014 by thebahamasweekly.com
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