By DENISE MAYCOCK
Tribune Freeport Reporter
dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
FREEPORT: Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham says Sir Jack Hayward can appoint whom he wishes to serve as chairman of the Grand Bahama Port Authority as long as the individual is considered "fit" for a work permit by the government.
The Port Authority has not appointed a chairman since 2009 when the government refused to renew the work permit of former chairman Hannes Babak.
"Sir Jack can appoint whoever he wants to be chairman so long as he is a fit person; we are only concerned with who is fit from the point of view of getting permission from the government," Mr Ingraham said.
Prime Minister Ingraham's comments came while addressing questions from the media in Grand Bahama on Wednesday at the Office of the Prime Minister.
He said the government did not find Hannes Babak to be a "suitable" person to head the Port Authority.
"We find Hannes Babak unacceptable. We came to that conclusion for good, valid, sound reasons, and recent events have reaffirmed and reconfirmed to us that he is not a suitable person to be in charge of the Port," said the Prime Minister.
Mr Babak, an Austrian, was forced to step down as chairman when his work permit expired in December 2009.
The government's decision not to renew Babak's permit resulted in a fall out with Sir Jack Hayward, one of the principal owners of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, who felt the organisation was left "leaderless" without any explanation given by the government.
Mr Ingraham, however, said Sir Jack was told a lie.
"I met with Sir Jack on many occasions. I am delighted that Sir Jack has now come to the conclusion that we can have a chat as we used to in the past that's uninfluenced by any other considerations.
"See, for instance, Sir Jack was told a lie. He put it in the newspaper. He said that we had refused Hannes Babak a work permit without telling him anything, etc - that is a total lie."
Mr Ingraham said he had dispatched Branville McCartney, the then Minister of Immigration, to Freeport to have a meeting with Babak to tell him that the government no longer regarded him as someone who should be in charge of the Port Authority, and that the government would not give him a work permit when his expired.
"He had his notice. Hannes Babak was not satisfied with that. He got Sir Albert Miller to call me saying he will come to Nassau to see me. They both came.
"He (Babak) asked whether McCartney spoke for the government or for himself. I assured him that Mr McCartney came to Grand Bahama to see you upon my instruction and he delivered the message I sent, that you are not the person we are going to support to be in charge of the Port.
"Sir Jack never knew any of that, he was told something different," Mr Ingraham explained.
When asked why the government came to its conclusion about Babak, he did not wish to say why.
Asked whether he would support a foreigner or Bahamian as chairman of the Port Authority, the Prime Minister said Sir Jack can appoint whomever he wants to be on his team so long as he is a fit person.
"We can't determine who you want to appoint your chairman, we are delighted to support whatever you want to do with your chairmanship so long as the individual is someone that we regard as fit to have a work permit in the Bahamas. You must bear in mind that Mr Hannes Babak came to the Bahamas on the basis that he was a person who did not need to work.
"He got permanent residence on being able to work in his own business, not to go and work for somebody else as a work permit holder. So he could run his own business as much as he like," Mr Ingraham said.
Mr Ingraham said he has had a very good chat with Sir Jack and supports the plans they have for Freeport.
"I am of the view that Sir Jack is going to be cooperative with the government and the government will be cooperative with him.
"They have some plans they will announce in due course and we will be in support of those," he said.
Mr Ingraham stated that Zhivargo Laing has indicated government's willingness to undertake specific investment promotion for Grand Bahama.
"We made available half a million dollars from the government and asked the business community and Port in Grand Bahama to match us and we will take Freeport on the road," he said.
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