Hours after a cheerful Prime Minister Perry Christie bragged at a microphone in Exuma that he is a better dancer than Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe, hundreds of Baha Mar workers learned that they have little to smile or dance about when the provisional liquidators appointed to oversee the project's affairs announced that more than 2,000 jobs were being cut. The move came nearly four months after Baha Mar was tossed into a tailspin with the developer, Sarkis Izmirlian, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States. Much has happened since then.

The Chapter 11 cases have been thrown out, and a Bahamian judge has appointed provisional liquidators. A crucial date -- November 2 -- looms for the judge to consider the government's winding up petition. For the country, the layoffs, while not surprising, represent a very sad development. It is particularly heartbreaking coming weeks ahead of the holiday season.

Ever the optimist, Christie said a day after the layoffs that notwithstanding the dark clouds that have emerged, they will soon shift.
Christie told a group of Bahamian diplomats on Friday, "Throughout last evening and this morning we have been involved in meetings with representatives of the parties and the People's Republic of China.

"I happen to have the responsibility for the reputation of the [government of The] Bahamas, and because I am aware of the commitment of the government of the People's Republic of China to ensure the just outcome comes about in this matter, I am speaking with great optimism."

He also assured, "Even those people who were employed and who face [difficulty] in their present situation will find that the government of The Bahamas will not desert them."

But as much as we all want to see an end to this nightmare ensnaring Baha Mar and the lives of so many Bahamians, it is hard to buy into the prime minister's optimism.

Christie's credibility has been shot in the Baha Mar matter and in other issues that have faced the country this term. How many times have we heard the prime minister trying to keep hope alive without any tangible evidence being presented to support those hopes?

Ahead of the Chapter 11 cataclysmic eruption, the prime minister peddled false hopes publicly. He continues to do so. He has not yet demonstrated any serious reason for his optimism which he has touted throughout the developments relating to the Baha Mar crisis.

At one point, it appears Christie was lost as to the true state of affairs involving Baha Mar and its money problems. Responding to a National Review question on the sidelines of parliamentary debate on May 13, Christie assured that the developer was not facing money problems.

"It is not my view that it is a money situation, that the financing has run out or that the Izmirlian family is without money," he said. "That is not the issue."

Christie said at the time he was focused on saving the jobs of thousands of Bahamians.

"We cannot allow [job losses] to happen," he said. "It would be absolutely wrong, both for the construction company and for the developer to have the country placed in that position."

Not long after that reassurance from the prime minister in May, we learned that the whole matter is absolutely about the developer running out of money. Having invested his legacy in this venture, Christie did not see the Baha Mar collapse coming. Christie's engagement with the developer and Chinese partners has not had the desired effect of leading to a resolution.

On Saturday night, the prime minister said, "There is absolutely no doubt that I will solve that problem -- none. And the parties with or without the level of togetherness that is necessary will see it happen".

But Christie gave no indication of how he intends to solve the Baha Mar problem. Saying the government will not desert the laid off workers is also not enough to ease anxieties in the midst of this tumultuous affair. Was that a political statement or is there a real plan in this regard?

In this current economic climate, it is virtually impossible to absorb 2,000 people -- many of them highly skilled. The government's gamble in filing a winding up petition before the court has not had the resolution the government had hoped for. The prime minister has indicated that the intent is to reach a resolution ahead of the court considering the actual winding up petition. With provisional liquidators in place, the government has said the parties continue to talk, but they have been unable to come to an agreement to get the project completed and operational.

Christie said the government looks forward to Baha Mar's opening in the not-too-distant future. But many people have lost hope for a speedy resolution.

Many people are tired of hearing about Christie's optimism. He seems to believe that if he remains optimistic, that optimism would breathe things into existence. If this were the case, we would all be living in utopia. But it is not. It is not a good thing to sell Baha Mar's former employees unfounded hopes.

We all recalled Christie's "good news" announcement in the House of Assembly on May 27, two weeks after his declaration that Izmirlian was not having money problems. More recently, Christie has warned the parties concerned to avoid the "chilling prospect" of the court approving Baha Mar's winding up, a process the government set into motion. With that court date a week away, there are diminishing hopes about any out-of-court resolution. It does not appear likely that Baha Mar will open for the peak winter season. The prime minister has indicated that $600 million is needed to complete the project.

When Baha Mar opens there will likely be huge issues with filling those rooms and servicing the project's astronautical debt. What direction the project goes in at this point remains unclear. The option remains open for Baha Mar's lender, Export-Import Bank of China, to appoint a receiver to collect the assets and settle the debts.

As Christie struggles to broker a deal among the parties, he is no doubt also aware of the tremendous political fallout that would come with a failure to bring an end to this months-long crisis. The Baha Mar debacle could portend doom for his political future and for his legacy.

The prime minister already suffered a huge credibility blow when he decided last year to ignore the results of the 2013 referendum on gambling. That he was so misguided on what was transpiring with Baha Mar -- seemingly unaware of money issues facing the project -- makes him a prime minister whose word is even harder to believe. His pronouncements on Baha Mar and his reassurances are falling to a large degree on deaf ears.

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