The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

LIKE many Bahamians, I have watched the Baha Mar saga unfold. Having almost applied to work there, I now count myself fortunate for never having linked my future with that resort. Since its inception, Baha Mar seemed to be a shining example of the correct way an investor ought to develop anything in this country. I am too young to recall all that went on publicly with Atlantis, but it always seemed a bit disconnected from actual Bahamian culture. Baha Mar, or should I say Sarkis, however, sought out authentic Bahamian components for every single facet of the resort. There was no denying the creativity, imagination, cultural identity, and modernized Bahamian-ness that permeated every nook and cranny of that hotel, and I felt a sense of pride in the work of the many talented Bahamians that I knew personally who were contributing to this development.

Then greed reared its ugly head, and a man I have come to respect immensely, was ousted from his dream by money loving, power hungry, and corrupt politicians both locally and abroad. I had thought the PLP couldn’t sink any lower than they had between 2002 and 2007, but oh how wrong I was. Leaked emails, public slandering of a local investor, and name calling unfit for any public office was a constant reality as self-interest and morally deficient men and women sought to remove the heart of the company, and replace it with a body of people solely interested on the advancement of their agenda, and that of their country.

That this blatant mistreatment of an investor, that also lives here I might add, was permitted in a place so dependent on outside sources of revenue baffles me. It ought to infuriate anyone with a love of The Bahamas that a sitting government opted to side with a Chinese owned construction company against an investor they had initially begged to develop Baha Mar.

That the PLP would then go on to ridicule this investor publicly, invent ways to discredit him, and then push through gaming permits, and ignore reasonable austerity measures to facilitate Chinese investors speaks to the level of corruption both sides are willing to engage in for personal interest. In the interim, however, hard-working, decent Bahamians were made to suffer, and a resort that could have been a turning point in our economy was left to rot for two years while the greedy fought over crumbs.

The time for crying shame is over. A great wrong must be made right, and like countless others in this country, I believe that this new government must revisit in totality all permits, agreements, and contracts made between the former government and CEXIM, and CCA. Furthermore, in keeping with campaign promises of transparency, all documents ought to be made public where agents of the former government negotiated on our behalf, especially in light of the recent editorial by Eileen Carron which pointed to blatant corruption in a number of the key players currently running Baha Mar, and the potential owners in waiting, along with questionable bonuses paid out to the former gaming board specifically for gaming licenses for Baha Mar.

If the PLP were as careless in their dealings with Baha Mar as they were with government monies, one can only imagine what kind of agreement they came to that we are now beholden to as a country.

A blind man can see that there is something wrong here, and I join with many others who hope that these anti- Bahamian, and anti-investor decisions that were made by the PLP be overturned, and this resort returned to its original visionary.

STEVEN CARTWRIGHT

Nassau,

October 17, 2017.