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Roberts: Remarks at National General Council meeting
Apr 24, 2016 - 4:07:59 PM

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Remarks By Bradley B Roberts Nat. Chairman Progressive Liberal Party National General Council meeting on April 21st 2016:

Dear Councilors, you will remember that the FNM constantly accused the PLP of corruption and Hubert Ingraham refrain of Hands in the Cookie Jar but has yet to present any creditable evidence of same.

I remind all that in April 2012 Hubert Ingraham said we also need a Government with clean hands.  I told y’all on Monday that I’ll chop off the hands of anybody reaching for that cookie jar. My response to Hubert Ingraham that his cutlass could not kill a mosquito.

“Just before the election the PLP made available to the public, by way of a press statement, clear and definitive information that the former Minister of Tourism Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace was found with his hand in the cookie jar. And Hubert Ingraham, when confronted by the press, refused to answer any questions about the matter.

Councilors, currently on center stage in our Supreme Court 79 year old Freddie ‘Fred Solomon Ramsey is standing trial on four counts of conspiracy to commit bribery and 14 counts of bribery allegedly committed between 1999 and 2003. Ramsey former BEC Board Member, former FNM Candidate and FNM Meritorious Member.

The Press chastise over and repeatedly the AG’s office on the time it took to bring charges.

In 2003 I address the House of Assembly as Minister of Works and Utilities, and disclosed that the then-BEC Board, chaired by J Barrie Farrington, had recommended that the contract to supply slow speed diesel generator DA 12 be given to the South Korean firm Hanjung. I explained that the unanimous verdict in favour of Hanjung was overturned by the then-Ingraham Cabinet, and the contract awarded to ABB/Alstom.

BEC DA 11 unit was purchased from Alstom which engendered tremendous installation and operational difficulties and cost the Corporation sizable multimillion of dollars in added cost and was the real reason the Board of BEC could not support the purchase of an addition unit from that company. The amount of money and time lost by BEC was significant and was borne by the ordinary consumer. It is clearer now what really went down.

Councilors may recall when the bribery story broke Frank Watson the only Cabinet Minister Hubert Ingraham said he could trust told the newspaper that the: “(Government) should do their investigation because if it is felt or reported that someone received bribes for doing this service, all we know is that someone complained that they paid someone in the Bahamas. There has to be more details before we can do any investigation.

When reminded of my disclosure in the House in 2003 Watson responded “I don’t remember being made aware of any of this. Bradley (Roberts) said many things in the House of Assembly that (were incorrect), so I don’t know what he’s talking about. I have no reason to distrust any member of the board at that time.”

Frank Watson the trusted one went on to respond to the alleged bribe taking: THE Free National Movement will not be negatively affected by the revelation of the identity of the former Bahamas Electricity Corporation official who is alleged to have taken bribes between 1999 and 2001,

Councilors will recall former DPM Frank Watson had responsibility for BEC at the time of the alleged bribe taking.

Regardless, Mr. Watson further in the interview said, the revelation will not have an impact on how the public perceives the FNM.

Frank Watson also declared: “I can’t think of any member of the FNM team to even pinpoint or suggest any name from the board (that would’ve engaged in this),” he said.

Paradoxically Despite this, Watson conceded that he believes the allegations to be credible and reiterated his call for the investigation to be finished and its results released.

For his part, FNM Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest dismissed the notion that the revelation of the alleged bribe taker will have a negative political impact on the party which, as some observers have argued, has portrayed itself as transparent and not corrupt.

The writer of the article concluded: The FNM has also consistently tried to paint the Progressive Liberal Party as a group mired in corruption.

“It has nothing to do with politics of the matter,” Mr Turnquest said. “It’s about the protection of public assets to ensure that the resources are not unfairly managed or wasted. I don’t see it as a political issue. I see it as systems issue, as a matter of proper accountability and no undue influence on how we manage the affairs of the Bahamian people.”

Councilors, we now know that former DPM Frank Watson knew all along what went down and was not open and transparent with the public and the press.  We now know that the main man who has stayed quite still to this very day and has not provided a believable reason why the Cabinet rejected the recommendation of BEC Board in light of the disastrous performance of the DA11.

I am aware that installation of DA 12 was very similar to DA 11 with tremendous to BEC again the burden in the main was borne by ordinary Bahamians.

Tonight I am requesting that a three person Fact Finding Committee be appointed including an Engineer, Certified Public Accountant and retired successful businessman or woman be appointed to review and investigate all matters relating and regarding the procurement, selection and purchase of DA 11 and 12 and the performance, cost and economic impact of same on BEC. That committee be given a time frame of 60 day to complete and submit report to the government. The Bahamian must be given the facts so that we can all know what when down and the impact on BEC and its customers.     

Councilors, the FNM have over and repeatedly accused the PLP of corruption and I have disclosed many times in the House of Assembly incontrovertible evidence of FNM corruption the most recent being the startling information which forced former FNM Senator and FNM Chairman Michael Pintard over is involvement with Togie and Bobo.  

Tonight we shall began the process of ratifying our standard bearers for the 2017 General Elections which shall be presided over by DPM and Deputy Leader Philip Brave Davis as PM Perry G Christie and Party Leader is off Island on official government business


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