The Tribune

A COMMENT by Prime Minister Perry Christie that he is pleased to be leading the country at this time because he feels the nation requires someone with his "temperament and personality" to bring in the levels of investment that are "quickly" needed, recalls a conversation we had with Mr Christie towards the end of his first administration as prime minister.

It was outside St Anselm's Church in Fox Hill after a wedding. Before he left the church grounds, we got into a short conversation with him. At that time, he was Prime Minister. The discussion was about Mr Ingraham's lost referendum, which if won would have given women equal rights with their men to pass on their Bahamian nationality to their children. The defeated referendum was held just before Mr Ingraham's second term in office was ended by a defeat at the polls. Mr Ingraham, as well as the referendum, were defeated and Mr Christie inherited what was left.

In the House of Assembly, Mr Christie and his party, then in opposition, had supported the referendum. However, when the referendum went to the vote, the PLP raised all sorts of spurious red herrings and encouraged Bahamians to defeat it.

When the unfairness of the situation was pointed out during our conversation -- it so happened that the mother of a young man affected by the defeat was a part of the discussion-- Mr Christie smiled sweetly and said that during his administration he would and could get the matter resolved. He explained that it was something that Mr Ingraham could not do, but that with his temperament and personality, he was the only man who could get the measure through. We took him at his word and expected to see results. To this day, nothing has happened.

We hope that his "temperament and personality" will this time have results, because, it is true what he said -- investment and investors are "quickly" needed in the Bahamas to get the economy moving and create much needed jobs.

However, Mr Christie's ham-fisted handling of his election promise that now that the PLP is the government its ultimate objective is to recover "what would enable us to have the majority interest on behalf of the Bahamian people" in BaTelCo will probably backfire. To get these shares a contract entered into with Cable & Wireless Communications by the Ingraham government would have to be broken. It was made clear to Bahamians at the time of the sale that BaTelCo could not get a buyer unless that buyer could own the majority shares so that the company could be effectively managed. To any business person this made sense.

Of course, Mr Christie did say that his administration remained committed to "exploring all lawful means" to recover majority ownership. If we recall, the negotiators of the contract at the time were aware of the political noises being made in the wings by the PLP, so the contract's escape clauses are so iron-clad that the financially-strapped Christie government probably will not be able to reclaim the shares.

However, Mr Christie has made public his bluster to his supporters. At least he has demonstrated that he has attempted to keep his election promise. However, on the other side of the coin, he has done untold damage to the confidence of any future investors. The very thought that one government could break a contract made with an investor by another government, would, in the words of eminent British judge Sir Tasker Watkins, be "a breach of faith... a breach of contract."

Mr Christie's words -- despite his "temperament and personality" -- will not go down well with any investor. Talking shortly afterwards with a Bahamian, who with a group was planning a rather large investment that promised many jobs, the immediate reaction was: "You hear what he say, hey! We better slow down and see where this thing's going first!"

Now that was the gut reaction of a Bahamian who understands the dishonesty of Bahamian politics and how politicians play with the heads of an ignorant base. Yet the Bahamian's first reaction was to back off. No foreigner -- especially with the fears of a collapse in Europe and the consequent further economic melt down in the US, its largest trading partner --is going to come sailing across the Bahamas Bar with a trunk full of money knowing that our contracts are not worth the paper they are written on. Regardless of the "temperament" and "personality" of the prime minister, no wise investor is going to anchor his money in such an anti-business climate.

Chamber of Commerce chief Winston Rolle gave good advise when he said that Mr Christie should have had discussions first with Cable and Wireless chiefs before going public. But Mr Christie has given himself 100 days to satisfy his supporters, so he probably feels that he has to justify his position by making them believe he is at least making an effort -- even though most of us know that it is going to be a fruitless bluff. In the meantime, his words are going to do so much collateral damage that no sound investor is going to put faith in a man's temperament and personality to open a business.

Just as Bahamian women have not seen justice done in their cause, we wager that 100 days will come and go and Bahamians will get a lot of hot air, but will not see the majority of Bahamas Telecommunications' shares coming their way.