The Tribune

SINCE The Tribune released the findings from its investigation earlier this year, which revealed an apparent breach of The Pointe Heads of Agreement, much controversy has loomed over the project. What has been most disconcerting is the Minister of Labour’s consistent attempts to defend the serially bad acting contractor, China Construction America (CCA).

At every turn, Labour Minister Dion Foulkes provides a sequence of excuses for the Chinese construction company’s manipulation of the agreement between itself and the former PLP government. The previously constructed agreement stipulated the labour ratio required during construction be set at 70:30, in favour of a local complement. However, CCA executive Daniel Liu initially stated the high-tension superstructure built on the contractor’s construction projects required special skills that were not present in The Bahamas.

Not long after, images on the Bahamian Contractors’ Facebook page toppled those comments and challenged the validity of the CCA executive’s claims that there was no local expertise. Naturally, a few questions arose among the general public: Did they not make contracts available for the local contractors to have an opportunity? It certainly would seem as though they did not. Worse, the Minister of Labour, of all responsibilities, seemed clueless as to whether these opportunities were opened to the local construction industry.

He, along with the prime minister, expressed satisfaction with CCA’s adherence with the agreement, which means, had The Tribune not published its findings, we would have been in the dark on this disturbing matter. That in itself is a disappointing revelation.

Rather than being the vanguard for securing employment opportunities for Bahamians, Foulkes’ responsibilities seem to have spanned into public relations, as these days he looks more like a spokesperson for CCA than a minister in the Bahamas Government.

His most recent communication with local media quite clearly shows this. In saying he understands the view of CCA’s reasoning to undermine its responsibility to adhere to a signed agreement between itself and the Bahamian government is nearly treasonous and is reason for him to be fired by the prime minister.

Minister Foulkes said it himself: “Government is continuous.” Furthermore, as he suggested, the current government should honour what is legally binding. His attempts to massage the agreement’s wording and appeal to the electorate’s penchant to accept foolishness is obvious and shameful.

Foulkes, himself, has called The Pointe Heads of Agreement a poorly constructed deal. Perhaps, he should do the work expected of a public servant and propose to Cabinet that they reconstruct the deal to reflect good sense and fairness to the Bahamian people.

Unfortunately, at this time, he has shown no such inclination. Rather, he seems hell-bent on sweeping this under the rug and quietly meeting with the Bahamian Contractors’ Association to offer some type of concession to keep things quiet.

Using the Minister of Education as an attack dog on social media is also unbecoming of leaders in our society. Minister Lloyd, in particular, who has historically been a stalwart for the advancement of the Bahamian people, should, above the rest of his colleagues, be able to see right and wrong in this matter.

Yet, as we so often see in the political sphere, good men and women overlook their own moral compasses to fall in line with the demands of Cabinet. This “Cabinet versus the collective” model of governance has compromised the nature of accountability, as loyalty within Cabinet preempts that promised to the Bahamian people.

With millions of dollars surrendered to the Chinese in concessions to purchase two hotels in the heart of Nassau, how are the Bahamian people supposed to be satisfied with 500 jobs when the construction industry is still left ailing? CCA’s assurances – which literally aren’t worth the paper they’re written on – fall on deaf ears when the government refuses to hold them to account.

The strange irony here is this is the same group that talked tough on China prior to the last election. At least the prior administration had the fortitude to stipulate a labour ratio that should have served as a stimulus for the ailing construction industry. Sadly, the current administration lacks the fortitude to enforce it.

With no idea how long it takes to build the superstructure, versus how long the suggested 83 percent local complement would be working on the site, we are hard-pressed to make sense of what the Labour Minister is talking about.

This is an abject failure and neglect of responsibility on the part of Minister Foulkes, and the entire government of The Bahamas.

It has become more and more apparent that the “people’s time” was nothing more than a catchphrase, as more Bahamian citizens question which “people” the government is referring to.

Certainly, it is incumbent upon the government to understand something important – times have changed. This is not like in days past, where a sitting government can feed an electorate hogwash and not expect their days to be numbered. Quite the contrary, the time is ticking away until 2022, and the Bahamian people will have the opportunity to say how they feel.

As witnessed last year, the Bahamian people were merciless with the PLP government. Therefore, the Minnis administration need not delude itself into thinking that because the ABC (anyone but Christie) epidemic spread rampant throughout the archipelago, that we would be immune to the ABT (anyone but them) virus in 2022. In short, if the Bahamian people are disgusted enough with you, anyone can get a chance.

While the Minnis-led government continues to miss these opportunities to stand up for disenfranchised Bahamians - not only when it is convenient or politically expedient, but when it is simply the right and just thing to do - the Bahamian people are keeping score.

Without any doubt, a day of reckoning is certain to come in 2022 if these lessons aren’t learned by this current administration. And if the record reflects the Bahamian people again felt treated as second-class in their own country, heads will be sure to roll.