The Tribune

OVER THE weekend we had a call from an angry citizen — someone in a position to know what he was talking about. He wanted to find out if we knew that in these hard economic times government had spent $72,000 to send a delegation of 12 Bahamians to Singapore to attend the summit of the International Association of Gaming Advisors. The three-day meeting was held from October 23 to 25.

This $72,000 outlay was on airline tickets alone — $6,000 per passenger, he said. It did not include hotel expenses, transportation and all the other incidentals.

The second question that the caller asked was whether 12 delegates were necessary when two persons with eyes to see and ears to hear could have returned with the same information.

We cannot answer either question. But hopefully government can. At the same time it should give the cost of the entire trip and tell the public what information the delegates brought back to justify such expenses.

The delegation headed by Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe included his aide, Marcian Cooper; Damian Gomez, Minister of State in the Ministry of Legal Affairs; Andre Rollins, chairman, Gaming Board; Patricia Rodgers, permanent secretary, Ministry of Tourism; Alva Coakley, legal counsel, Ministry of Tourism; Camille Johnson, permanent secretary, Ministry of the Environment & Housing; Sir Baltron Bethel, senior policy advisor, Office of the Prime Minister/tourism development consultant, Ministry of Tourism; Senator Julian Russell, chairman Hotel Corp; Kendred Dorsett, Minister of the Environment & Housing; Dennis Martin, secretary, Gaming Board; Kayla Ward, director, Special Projects Office of the Prime Minister/Ministry of Tourism.

And while we are on the subject what is the retainer fee that government has to pay the UK consultants hired to advise on the best course of action for the country — web shops or a lottery?

In all of this we wondered where the “numbers” men fitted into the web shop scenario, only to be told that they are now the “corporation” attached to the web shops. From being the illegal “numbers racket” the whole business suddenly sounds very respectable.

And to add to the confusion the FNM claims that the December 3 referendum is illegal. It has pointed out that the parliamentary commissioner is authorised to conduct any referendum that is constitutional under the Parliamentary Elections Act. However, said the Opposition party, “the PLP’s web shop referendum does not meet the necessary legal criteria since there is no bill passed by Parliament which seeks to amend the constitution.”

“Other than for the purposes of elections to the House of Assembly, the holding of a constitutional referendum or the conduct of local government elections, the parliamentary commissioner has no lawful power to conduct any election,” the FNM said.

Prime Minister Christie would be well advised to either postpone the December 3 date or cancel the referendum and take the matter to the House of Assembly, where it belonged from the beginning.

This whole matter is compounding confusion. It is a confusion that is getting more expensive the longer it is dragged out. It is now time to pause, take a deep breath and think deeply about what is the best course of action for the nation.

• • • •

And now for BTC …

Having made it clear that it respects the agreement made between the Ingraham Government and Cable and Wireless to privatise the Bahamas Telecommunications Company, it would be wise for the Christie government to quietly end its negotiations to regain control of the company.

Tony Rice, the London-based chief executive of Cable & Wireless Communications, has made it clear that CWC will not allow government’s bid to regain control to hurt its own shareholders.

As Tribune Business editor Neil Hartnell pointed out in his news report CWC has subtly made it clear what would happen should government push too far.

Asked about its minority shareholding in Trinidad & Tobago’s national phone company, CWC said it would either gain control or reduce its level of investment in the business.

“Where we don’t control them, either we want to get into a controlling position or redeploy capital tied up in those businesses, because there are other things we want to do with it,” Tim Pennington, the company’s chief financial officer said as he bluntly stated the position.

We hope the Christie government got the not too subtle hint.

Therefore, should the Bahamas government push too hard, CWC will just fold its tent and walk away, leaving the government with a failed telecommunications company. This would be another financial burden on a country already too heavily in debt.