The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

BAIC chairman Arnold Forbes said the government is trying to “alleviate” the amount of persons on work permits holding technical jobs by training Bahamians.

For too long, the country has neglected technical training, choosing instead to focus on accounting or law, the Mount Moriah MP said yesterday.

“We’ve allowed our technical and scientific areas to really go south. If you look around you at whatever projects that are going on in the Bahamas - you see a lot of foreign technical people coming in because we’re not technically sound,” he said.

Mr Forbes said he was working to try to alleviate the number of persons on work permits holding technical jobs in the country,

“We’re trying to ensure that we can get Bahamians technically qualified to take those jobs over.

“There’s no doubt about it, if you go probably to Baha Mar - I don’t know how many technical people you will see on that job site that are Bahamian - it’s probably very few. These are the things that we need to take advantage of.

“It’s very important for us to empower our people, so that our economy can grow. If you have people in the Bahamas - Bahamians working that can do those jobs - that’s hard currency that stays in our economy and helps our economy to grow.”

Mr Forbes was speaking at his Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation office to announce a new programme that will train Bahamians to become “internationally certified elevator technicians” - an industry in the country mainly staffed by foreign professionals.

He said Richard Tighe of Bahamas Elevator Systems met with BAIC’s deputy general manager Don Major, looking for qualified trained elevator technicians.

“The exhaustive efforts to find qualified persons, physically able and technically qualified to meet the demands of projects, like Baha Mar, which offers an abundance of jobs where Bahamians can and should be employed, was challenging,” Mr Forbes said.

“Therefore recognising this ever-widening abyss within this industry sector, Don Major of BAIC, Richard Tighe of BES and his consultant, birthed this partnership and enlisted BTVI’s participation as a vital component of the collaboration.”

The new elevator technician partnership will allow for the creation of about 50 qualified Bahamian professionals.

BTVI manager Iva Dahl said the vocational school agreed to the partnership as it appeared to be a win-win for the parties involved - as well as for the country at large.

“This partnership with BTVI, BAIC and BES is encouraging because it will have the impact of stimulating a little-known industry that is predominantly staffed by non-Bahamians because the local Bahamian does not carry internationally recognised certification,” she said.

BES owner and general manager, Mr Tighe said that issue was addressed in his meeting with BAIC.

“During our meeting, we discussed BES needs and whether BAIC could help solve the human capital/human resource difficulties I encountered - including finding qualified Bahamians for our staffing needs,” he said.

“After much discussion, we realised we were facing an uphill battle and it was there that we birthed the idea of a training/apprenticeship programme where we could have Bahamians internationally certified and thus qualified to work on any elevator project anywhere in the world.”