The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I couldn’t help but notice that none of the executives of the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) were in a photo with Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and several Free National Movement (FNM) Cabinet ministers, Lucayan Renewal Holdings Chair Michael Scott and Royal Caribbean and ITM officials at the official signing for the Grand Lucayan Resort.

As the quasi-government for Freeport since the drafting of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement by Wallace Grove and the government in 1955, I would’ve thought that GBPA executives would play a prominent role in the heads of agreement exercise.

Their conspicuous absence from the photo, which went viral on Facebook and WhatsApp, might be interpreted by some as a snub by the Minnis administration, due to an utter lack of confidence in that organisation’s ability to resuscitate the nation’s second city.

Freeport has not been the same since the death of Edward St George in December 2004. He was the mastermind behind many of the significant investments that came to Freeport during the prosperous 1990s.

Since then, Freeport has lagged behind Family Islands Abaco, Exuma, Bimini, the Berry Islands and possibly even Eleuthera that is preparing for that $400 million Disney investment.

Whatever the merits of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement are, Groves is probably turning in his grave over the sad state of affairs in Freeport.

If the FNM can manage to turn around Freeport, it would accomplish what the two previous governments were not able to do. Whether one is FNM or a Progressive Liberal Party supporter, Freeport’s economic revitalisation should be fantastic news for every Grand Bahamian.

Indeed, the decades old recession has been politically indiscriminate in Grand Bahama.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama,

March 3, 2020.