Nearly four years after the sale of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) which was vehemently opposed by thousands of Bahamians, the chickens have come home to roost and the country is now forced to face the consequences of the bad decisions made by the former Free National Movement (FNM) administration.

The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) finds it peculiar that today, years following the initial sale of BTC, members of the FNM, and in particular its chairman Darron Cash, continue to feign concern over the state of the company and its employees, calling the alleged plans to outsource hundreds of positions currently held by Bahamians ‘an act of betrayal’.

But was it not the Free National Movement who first betrayed the Bahamian people by selling the corporation in the first place? Were hundreds of Bahamian jobs not also at stake when the FNM who, despite the very valid concerns expressed by BTC’s union, ignored the glaring red flags and moved forward with that deal?

That deal will now undoubtedly be recorded as the singular greatest reason to banish the FNM to the garbage heap of history.

Unfortunately, rather than accepting responsibility, and seek forgiveness from the Bahamian people for their role in the obvious decline of the country’s communications sector, The FNM and its chairman have chosen to use the issue for political expediency. In his impassioned statement to the media, Cash seems full of contempt for what he asserts, is a deal shrouded in secrecy. How ironic that he would comment on such secrecy when Bahamians are only NOW learning the details of the agreement struck between the then FNM Government and Cable and Wireless Communications which, as one of its conditions, cemented a monopoly for the company which has lasted for the past 3 years, dooming its customers to subpar service.

Since the sale of BTC in 2010, dropped and failed calls, slow data services and unsent text messages for which Bahamians are being billed daily, have become synonymous with the company and its services; despite continued pronouncements of millions spent, and the introduction of new technologies.

It is the hope of the DNA that the recent end to BTC’s monopoly will translate into additional competition, lower costs, and improved telecommunications services for Bahamians around the country. In the meantime however, the corporation and its executives must be made accountable to the public for its countless short comings, price gouging and system failures the most recent of which occurred just two weeks ago, and by the company’s own admission affected more than two hundred thousand customers.

In today’s technology driven environment, the soundness of a nation’s telecoms system is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity. The continued deterioration of the country’s telecommunications networks is not only an inconvenience, but is dangerous, particularly in cases of emergency. It further has negative effects on hundreds of businesses who depend on the integrity of such systems to carry out their operations locally and internationally as well.

Following what is the second such widespread blackout of BTC’s services since being sold to Cable and Wireless, The DNA calls for Bahamians to band together and initiate a class action lawsuit to recoup the tens of millions of dollars lost to them as a result of the outage.

In the meantime, the DNA will continue to closely monitor these latest developments at BTC. So far media reports on the issue have seen the company’s executives deny all knowledge of such a plot, however if such plans are in fact in the works, It would indeed be the final nail in a coffin commissioned by the FNM, and laid to rest by this PLP Administration.