The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

IN A recent interview that he did with The Freeport News, PLP Member of Parliament for Marco City Gregory Moss said that he will not support the reinstatement of Austrian born businessman Hannes Babak to the chairmanship post at the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA).

Considering the fact that Babak had openly supported the PLP in the recent elections, this announcement by Moss is shocking news, especially to the political opponents of the former Ingraham administration.

On the night of May 7, Babak was among the hundreds of enthusiastic PLP supporters who had showed up at the governing party's headquarters off East Sunrise Highway to celebrate the PLP's landslide victory at the polls. He was adorned in a PLP T-shirt.

Babak told a Freeport News reporter that the PLP's victory was the best thing that could happen to the country. I am of the belief that Babak was under the impression that he would have been reinstated to the chairmanship post at the GBPA at the behest of the incoming Christie administration.

Moss' announcement must have caught Babak completely off guard. Another thing, one wonders if the PLP will even renew his work permit seeing that they are now in high office. Interestingly, I have yet to hear the PLP government state its position on this matter.

Just this past April, Ian Fair was named chairman of the GBPA and Sarah St George, the daughter of the late Edward St George, was appointed vice-chairman. Babak was appointed chairman of the Port Authority in mid-2006 after the resignation of Julian Francis.

After former Prime Minister and Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Hubert A Ingraham announced in December of 2009 that Babak's work permit would not be renewed by his government, that post had remained vacant until April of this year.

Ingraham never divulged the reason for this controversial decision. In fact, earlier this year, over two years after this decision was made, Ingraham still refused to give a reason why he had chosen not to renew Babak's work permit. He only told the Press in January of this year that the former GBPA chairman was unacceptable. Apparently, Ingraham and the co-owner of the Port Authority, Sir Jack Hayward, have had a standoff over the Babak work permit issue. In a FNM political event that was held in late January, Ingraham announced that he and Sir Jack were now talking, now that Babak is no longer an issue. This shocking revelation by Ingraham had given many Grand Bahamians the impression that the FNM had neglected Grand Bahama because of one man, Babak. This is likely the reason for the FNM's poor performance at the polls on May 7. In fact, the FNM lost the popular vote on Election Day. The majority of Grand Bahamians voted against the FNM in all five constituencies. Is it possible, as some have suggested, that Babak might have allowed several of his businesses to go belly up in order to get back at the Ingraham administration? Hundreds of Grand Bahamians were adversely affected because of this decision.

Critics of the former Ingraham administration have argued that the former prime minister's decision had stifled the growth of Grand Bahama's ailing economy. In fact they have argued vociferously that Babak had several investments on the drawing board at the time his work permit was not renewed by the former Ingraham administration. Had his work permit been renewed, Grand Bahama's economy would have been vibrant, according to these people. Clearly, the Babak work permit loomed large in the minds of thousands of voters as they entered the polling divisions. Of course, this was due to the PLP's propaganda machinery and to the literary output of former Nassau Guardian and Freeport News editor, Oswald Brown. Brown had penned many anti-Ingraham and anti-Zhivargo Laing letters that were published in The Freeport News over the past two years. The gist of many of his anti-Ingraham/Laing letters is that the former prime minister's refusal to renew Babak's work permit and his refusal to dialogue with Sir Jack is the main reason why Grand Bahama's economy has suffered over the past several years. Undoubtedly, Brown has been a thorn in the FNM's side.

Moss told The Freeport News that if Babak had the foreign reach, in terms of attracting foreign investors to Grand Bahama, then one would expect that it would have been seen on the ground over the same past five years, notwithstanding any differences he had with Ingraham. If the former chairman had any connections with wealthy foreign investors as Grand Bahamians were led to believe, then Grand Bahama would have had some major investments during Babak's tenure at the Port Authority. Moss is right, the fact that no significant investments came during Babak's tenure at the GBPA is perhaps evidence that he does not have any reach at all into the foreign community. In fact, while he was chairman, Grand Bahama's economy was deteriorating. It never saw any improvements under his watch.

Moss also said that the reinstatement of Babak to the chairmanship post at the GBPA would be too divisive and controversial. Perhaps Moss made this decision to state his position on the Babak issue because his party, like the FNM, did not win the popular vote. Moss was also right when he said that it would be unfair for a chairman of that organisation to be competing with the licensees of the GBPA. It is no secret that Babak owned Freeport Concrete and The Home Centre. As the owner of the now defunct Freeport Concrete and The Home Centre; and as the former chairman of the GBPA, Babak was obviously in an unfair position, according to many Grand Bahamian contractors.

If Moss' statements concerning Babak are correct, then it appears that he has unwittingly vindicated the former prime minister's handling of the Babak work permit situation. Moss' statements also tells me that the GBPA had grossly overrated the former chairman's value, in terms of him being able to revive this island's pathetic economy. Babak had two whole years at the helm of the GBPA, yet he had accomplished very little.

I cannot point my bony finger at one major investment that he has brought to this beleaguered island, other than Ross University in the Sea Horse Shopping Centre. But I hasten to add, however, that Ross University has a very small operation on Grand Bahama, as Moss himself had pointed out in the Freeport News article.

This island was catching eternal hell when Babak was at the Port Authority. That is why I am still having problems figuring out why Brown and others made such a big deal over the FNM government's decision not to renew his work permit.

If Babak could have attracted the much needed foreign investments that Grand Bahama desperately needs, then why didn't he simply do so? If he could, but refused to do so because of a spat he had with Ingraham, then that raises more questions than answers. What's more, why would he (allegedly, of course) intentionally closed down his companies that employed scores of hard-working Grand Bahamians if he means this country well? Interestingly, Brown and others were so determined to bury the Ingraham administration on this matter, that they never stop to ask themselves why Ingraham was so hell-bent on refusing to renew Babak's work permit. For all we know, Ingraham could have had valid reasons. If one is going to accuse Ingraham of holding the residents of Grand Bahama hostage because of a feud he had with Sir Jack, then we must also accuse Babak of doing the same thing because his feud with the former prime minister. In light of what Moss has told The Freeport News, it now appears that Brown and the PLP have overblown this issue in order to score political brownie points. The fact that we have yet to hear what the PLP government's plans are concerning Babak's work permit speaks volumes. It is likely that many Grand Bahamians have missed the significance of Moss' interview with The Freeport News. He has virtually pulled the rug from under Brown and others who used this issue to bludgeon the Ingraham administration during the campaign.

That being said, I still give Moss credit for his brutal honesty. However, why didn't the Marco City member of Parliament make this disclosure before the General Elections on May 7? Why did he remain silent as his supporters such as Brown persistently bludgeoned the former prime minister in the Press for not renewing Babak's work permit? Furthermore, what was Moss' position on this matter before May 7?

In any event, many of the Grand Bahamian fence sitters who voted for the PLP might become disillusioned with the governing party now that Moss has disclosed his position on this matter. After all the rhetoric that was uttered on the campaign trail, it appears that the PLP's position on the Babak issue is really no different than that of the FNM's. Many of these people voted the FNM out over the Babak issue. I wonder how Brown will now respond to this latest development. My guess is that he will remain silent.

KEVIN EVANS

Concerned

Marco City resident

May 29, 2012.