Prime Minister Perry Christie's recent tabling of the cellular liberalization request for proposals (RFP) document in the House of Assembly elicited thunderous pounding on the tables by PLP MPs as Christie declared it was in keeping with his government's commitment to transparency and accountability. But for many who have been carefully following this administration's actions, that declaration was laughable.
It has been 13 months now since Christie and the head of Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) Phil Bentley announced that they reached an agreement to transfer just under two percent of CWC's shares back to the government to be held in trust for the Bahamian people.
In January 2014, Christie cut into the evening news with the major announcement. He called the deal "an historic agreement under which the majority economic interest in BTC will once again rest with the Bahamian people". Christie also announced that CWC will collaborate with the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas (BCB) "with a view to assisting in the integration of technologies and other collaborative strategies".
We got no explanation on what that meant then, and we have none now. Indeed, the details of the Christie administration's agreement with CWC were fuzzy at the time the agreement was announced. They remain fuzzy now. That is because we have yet to see this deal.
After the original announcement, months passed and Christie refused to make the deal public so we could understand fully what the government agreed to on our behalf. We were told repeatedly that as the agreement had not been finalized, it could not be made public. Last August 29, Christie and Bentley held another major press event.
The cameras were rolling as they announced with great fanfare that the deal was finalized. That was just under six months ago. Again, no agreement has been made public.
We have had no details of the so-called foundation that was to be formed as part of that deal. While Christie had committed in opposition to regain "control" of BTC, that commitment was not achieved.
Bringing Leon Williams back as CEO might have been a symbolic move to help soothe Bahamians' anger toward the contentious 2011 agreement between the Ingraham administration and CWC. It was no doubt designed to convey the impression that Bahamian involvement at the top meant Bahamian control of BTC. While we were made to believe by the PLP that it would work to ensure that the Bahamian people got a firm hold back on the company, we did not. What we got was a formalized commitment by CWC for the funding of community projects.
Our transparent and accountable government has made no reports on the foundation or given any updates in this regard. But not to worry.
We have majority economic interest in the company. That is not to be underestimated, we are told. The government repeatedly pats itself on the back for achieving what it said was an important campaign promise. PLP MPs repeatedly pound their tables at any declaration of transparency and accountability. But they would better serve the Bahamian people if they demand transparency and accountability all around.
Layoffs loom
What has up until now remained largely a secret agreement has come back into the spotlight now as BTC is prepared for cellular market liberalization. After The Nassau Guardian revealed last week that BTC was seeking to let go at least 150 employees, Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis made it clear that as BTC is a private company, there is nothing the government could do. So while the Bahamian people hold 51 percent economic interest in BTC (or so we are told), the government has decided to take a hands off approach to the downsizing exercise.
"First of all it is a private company," Davis said. "All we would hope is that they will conduct themselves, engaging best practices, and do what is in the best interest of their company having some regard to the welfare of their employees. That is what we would expect. And I think that is what is going to happen."
It is interesting that the government as a majority shareholder of BTC sees itself as powerless in saving the jobs of BTC workers. The government has no ownership in Atlantis, a wholly-owned foreign company, yet we were told recently that Christie's intervention saved the jobs of 300 Atlantis employees last fall. Either we as Bahamians are the majority owners in BTC or we are not.
The government boasts about this when it suits its agenda. When it does not, it points out that BTC really is a private company. What are we to believe? We have never even seen the agreement that lays out the reported share transfer. Minister of Labour Shane Gibson placed the layoffs at the feet of the Ingraham administration.
Gibson said what CWC is doing now in downsizing the company was made possible through the agreement with the former government. Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and the Free National Movement have paid a hefty price for their decision to sell a majority stake in BTC to CWC.
We have no doubt that, that deal and Ingraham's refusal to listen to the deafening chorus rallying against it was a major factor in the FNM's defeat at the polls in 2012.
An admission from former BTC Chairman Julian Francis that he plans to switch his service to the company that is awarded the second cellular license due to BTC's "horrendous" service, left us wondering if Ingraham and all the FNM MPs who walked the line in the BTC vote in 2011 regret the sale to CWC. While Francis did not say he regretted the sale, the strong language he used to describe BTC under CWC's ownership is telling.
BTC employees, meanwhile, remain in a pickle. They are anxious and many are stressed as CWC brings out the axe. With layoffs looming, Leon Williams, a man who is not short on words, has refused to speak to the media. On Friday, he sent out a staff memo to employees formally advising of the voluntary separation packages (VSEPs) "as a part of [BTC's] program to restructure the business for full liberalization". Williams informed that the 2011 VSEP program will be extended to managers and line staff up until March 13.
The packages are being offered in several categories: ages 58.5-60; ages 55-58.5; ages 50-55; ages 45-50 and under 45. As the government paves the way for liberalization, it will likely continue taking a hands off approach to what happens to BTC's staff. The workers have been left to battle their way through choppy waters.
As a more streamlined BTC emerges and as the government initially becomes the majority owner of the next company in the cellular market, in the interest of full disclosure, it ought to table the secret BTC agreement and provide a full update on what has transpired since in its relationship with Cable and Wireless.
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
