The Tribune

By DARRON CASH

Free National Movement chairman

THE BEC privatisation has been cloaked in a thick blanket of secrecy and the void has now been filled with innuendo, rumours of kickbacks and renewed claims of frustrated foreign investors.

Sadly, the current scheming does not seem to be able to pass the sniff test.

And more pre-election deceit is evident: with BEC we see that empowerment delayed is empowerment denied!

Right-thinking, clear-minded Bahamians continue to lose confidence in our Prime Minister. His words are increasingly hollow and the credibility of his government continues to sink.

For most clear-minded, right-thinking Bahamians, little that the Prime Minister says can be taken at face value any more.

As the Prime Minister’s Trust Deficit increases, it becomes a clear sign that the entire government has lost its moral authority to govern.

In 2014, there is daily evidence of this, but it is a reality deeply rooted in early 2012.

When he was in opposition, Perry Christie’s party accused individuals within Cable & Wireless of bribing public officials in the FNM government’s sale of controlling interests in BTC to C&W.

When Mr Christie became the Prime Minister, that grossly unfounded charge was doubled down upon through his “Take Back Control” committee.

The Prime Minister has done nothing to distance himself from the most recent charges of direct and implied corruption in the previous administration relative to BTC.

When he was in opposition, Mr Christie’s party also accused one of the country’s largest international accounting firms of either incompetence or corruption in that same sale of controlling interests in BTC.

The indirect charge was that the accounting firm conspired with C&W to intentionally undervalue BTC so C&W could make out like bandits on the purchase.

Based on these claims, this is clearly an odious and undesirable pair to be in business with.

Clear-minded, right-thinking Bahamians who believed the PLP knew that after the election there would be hell to pay for these people. Or so they thought.

Today, Mr Christie seems headed down the aisle to “renew his vows” with Cable & Wireless. And he has hired that same firm deemed incompetent or corrupt to advise him on the sale of BEC.

The FNM has stated it before and it bears repeating; we have no issues with the competence and integrity of the accounting firm in question; we hold the company in high regard.

The reason for raising this issue is to expose the government’s blatant deception and belief they can get away with it.

If anything Mr Christie’s government puts forward regarding BTC and BEC is to be trusted, the Prime Minister will have to publicly explain the earlier positions with respect to this firm and charges of corruption by C&W.

Were they simply playing politics before and right after the general election? Or were they right, but believed these firms also deserve a “second chance”?

Either way, he explains himself, the Prime Minister will have been found to be (further) lacking in credibility both as Prime Minister AND as Minister of Finance.

His behaviour portrays a critical lack of good judgement. He must explain himself and he must now apologise.

As we turn our attention to current developments a disturbing pattern continues to be evident.

The process employed by the Christie Administration to privatise the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) has been cloaked in a thick blanket of secrecy.

Far too little credible and tangible information has been forthcoming. Because of this lack of information, the void has now been filled with innuendo, rumours of kickbacks and renewed claims of frustrated foreign investors.

Now, even with a rushed — and we feel predetermined process — the current scheming designed to sell BEC does not seem to be able to pass the sniff test.

Press reports suggest unwillingness by the government to publicly disclose the names of the bidders and the broad particulars of their bids.

It is hard to understand why knowledge of the bidders is such a state secret. Then last week came the news that one of the bidders pulled out of the process. We are curious to know why. What was the “deal breaker”? Why is it that the company with the Bahamian component was the first to pull the plug?

What is clear with BEC is that the Christie government has no genuine interest in empowering Bahamians.

That is why Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis said in early December 2013 that “it was too early to say” how much involvement Bahamians would have in BEC’s planned reform, and that after the foreign investor was finished with the company in “10” or “15” years, then Bahamians would have a chance for meaningful engagement.

That is a clear sign of a government that has lost the moral authority to govern.