In a desperate effort to be re-elected, Prime Minister Perry Christie is once again attempting to sell dreams to the Bahamian people.

Yesterday in Parliament, Mr. Christie sought to re-tell a selective history of his Government’s colossal mistake in pushing Baha Mar into liquidation which resulted in the project going into receivership and doing harm to the country’s ability for a strong negotiating position as a sovereign nation.

It is ironic and telling that even as the PLP was claiming that they were the great defenders of our national sovereignty, that their legal maneuvering did even greater harm to our national sovereignty.

Reading from legal opinions prepared and paid for by the government, the Prime Minister is once again seeking to remove himself from this enormous disaster that he and the PLP created.

For the 2,500 plus families who are waiting to go back to work at that resort, the Prime Minister’s remarks today rang hollow as he offered one excuse after the next.

Mr. Christie continues to offer less than a full understanding to the Bahamian people with respect to developments at the megaresort. What we suspected last year is now clear today, that this Government’s legal decisions had more to do with certain specific interests rather than with the broader interests of the Bahamian people.

We should recall the now infamous email from the Prime Minister’s Senior Policy Advisor, Sir Baltron Bethel advancing the promotion of a new equity partner to be brought in to invest in Baha Mar as a way to secure the necessary financing to complete the project and to get it open.

Sir Baltron revealed that this idea came from another party and not the Government of the Bahamas, in order to “prevent Baha Mar from taking the position that the Government was trying to push out the project’s developer.”

The Prime Minister, despite countless promises that he was taking these negotiations seriously, never went to China himself to negotiate a deal. Today he admitted that as Prime Minister he had to be invited to China to attend any such discussions.

Were the trips to and from China by the Attorney General and Sir Baltron mostly posturing, geared at giving the appearance of forward movement?

The Prime Minister has yet to confirm or to deny the extent to which demands have been made on him to complete and open Baha Mar.

The Bahamian people eagerly await a full understanding of what demands or requests have been made to restart construction at this property.

Baha Mar is too important to the future of this country for us to allow this Prime Minister to continue in his exercise of smoke and mirrors and fast talk and deflection.

The country deserves to know what is being negotiated on their behalf, and whether it is in the best interest of the country now and for generations to come.

By Loretta Butler-Turner
Shadow Minister of Labour and Social Development
Member of Parliament for Long Island

Source: Chester Robards