The collapse of the $3.5 billion Cable Beach project has led to a public relations war between the government and the chairman and CEO of Baha Mar, Sarkis Izmirlian.

In a series of statements to the media and various letters to Baha Mar’s employees, Izmirlian has repeatedly hit out at the government on a number of issues related to the project.

In one of his latest letters to Baha Mar’s workers, whom he calls his “citizens”, Izmirlian chastised the Christie administration’s actions over the last month. He said that what was once a commercial transaction has been “usurped for political reasons”.

Izmirlian also categorized the government’s refusal to pay Baha Mar’s foreign workers’ salaries as "deplorable". The government has stepped in to pay the company’s Bahamian workers – people Baha Mar wanted to fire with the money it hoped to get via the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process in Delaware.

In defense of his administration, Prime Minister Perry Christie has questioned Izmirlian’s mental state.

This back and forth is not what the prime minister wants. Christie does not like conflict. He prefers to be liked.

Shane Gibson, the minister of labor, however, has no problem going on the attack.

Saying anything in Parliament

Pointing to Izmirlian's public criticisms of the Christie administration, Gibson told the House of Assembly on Wednesday that it may be a good idea to carry out psychological evaluations on future investors.

"All of a sudden this one man, because he has a couple dollars, believes he could come into The Bahamas and talk to us and the prime minister any way he feels like," he said as he led debate on a resolution to increase the minimum wage.

"That brings to mind, maybe as a part of our overall assessment when we are looking at allowing developers to come to The Bahamas, we don't discriminate. We need to look at having a psychological evaluation. That may be something that we need to consider."

Gibson must remember that, as a full member of Cabinet, when he speaks we the people think he is uttering policy. The Bahamas is a small and vulnerable economy. We need foreign direct investment to help rise us out of the mess we are in today.

The unemployment rate is nearly 16 percent. The youth jobless rate is in the 30 percent range. We are on pace for another murder record. The country might be in recession.

Sensible investors with actual money, real ideas and the follow-through to get things done are needed now more than ever. Loose talk suggesting that The Bahamas might require such individuals to go through psychological evaluations is not helpful. Such talk has the potential to discourage people from investing in our country.

Not every dream makes sense

If we are to take anything seriously from Gibson’s comments it would be the necessity for us to further examine the vetting process in our country when it comes to foreign investors. We should know their backgrounds; we should find out if they really have the money they claim to have; we should examine their ideas to determine if they are feasible and sensible.

If Christie had done all these things we would not be in the mess we now are in with Baha Mar. Christie, during his first term in office, brought Izmirlian, then a 30-something living in Lyford Cay, forward to the Bahamian people. It was Christie who was the champion of the grandiose and excessive plan to redevelop the Cable Beach strip.

We need leaders who can soberly assess what is proposed and make sensible decisions. Christie should never have green-lighted Izmirlian’s dream. The single-phase, multibillion-dollar Baha Mar was a bad idea presented by an investor who had no experience in delivering on what he was promising. Bad ideas led by inexperienced people are doomed to fail.

The PR war between the government and Baha Mar will rage on if no deal is reached between the parties – and right now no deal is imminent. Whether the winding up of the company is pursued or some other course emerges, we need no more off-the-wall utterances as those made by Gibson. Focus is needed on governance in these troubling times. Let’s calm down.