The Tribune

WE AGREE with Senator Zhivargo Laing that the new PLP government should get a move on rather than wasting House members' time bashing the Ingraham government. As for Prime Minister Perry Christie, his meeting with Cable and Wireless CEO Tony Rice is, in our opinion, just so much time-wasting posturing. Mr Christie knows that he cannot negotiate back the Cable & Wireless contract for the Bahamian people. Not forgetting that, even if he could, the concerns of Bahamians are far more immediate than being able to say that their once inefficiently-run BaTelCo is once again in their name -- remember, in name only, not in their pocket where they are feeling the real pinch.

The new PLP government boasted that it would be ready from day one to catch the ball and run with it, giving itself 100 days to accomplish many things that they promised would relieve the suffering of the citizens of these islands. But here we are now into the second month of their administration and it would seem they have yet to lace up their running shoes. The take-off gun went off on May 7, yet they are still behind the starting blocks arguing about Mr Ingraham. Anything to distract from facing the many outlandish promises made during the election campaign. Some of these promises they will find impossible to keep. One of them is Mr Christie's commitment to use all lawful means to renegotiate the contract with Cable & Wireless so that BaTelCo can be led back into the Bahamas' sheepfold.

We say impossible because this country, already on the brink of being dragged over the suicide cliff by its debt, cannot afford to purchase the contract from Cable & Wireless. By the end of the 2012-2013 fiscal year, it is predicted that the Bahamas' national debt will be over $5 billion.

It is our view that Mr Christie's meeting with Mr Rice was just a charade to make Bahamians think he is doing everything within the law to turn the tables with the Bahamas government taking control of BaTelCo while Cable & Wireless slips into the position of minority partner.

After trying to sell BaTelCo to an unknown foreign company with absolutely no track record in the business, the Christie administration is now saying that the FNM has sold to foreigners to the exclusion of Bahamians. Does this suggest that although Bluewater was presented as a fully foreign owned company in which Bahamians were not welcome, in actual fact there were certain Bahamians hidden within its structure?

However, it is significant that although the PLP insisted that the FNM was intent on selling BaTelCo to foreigners it was the Ingraham government that had specifically invited Bahamians to bid. In the end, it was decided that the experience, international connections and technical knowledge that Cable & Wireless brought to the table was the best offer the Bahamas could hope for. And so Cable & Wireless won the contract.

The real issue between the two administrations was that the PLP wanted government to hold 51 per cent of the shares, while the foreign partner was left with 49 per cent.

The only terms on which any partner would buy into the already crippled corporation -- that is if it were to succeed -- was to hold the majority shares so that the company could be managed without political interference. For this, Cable & Wireless received no concessions. It had to pay all government taxes. On the other side, the Christie government offered many concessions to Bluewater.

On the campaign trail, Mr Christie and his colleagues promised they would take back BaTelCo for the Bahamian people.

Over the weekend of June 16, we had heard that Tony Rice, CEO of Cable & Wireless Communications, was flying from London for confidential talks on Monday, June 18, with Mr Christie. We dismissed it -- as far as we were concerned the musical chairs had started and it would be a full news day for our reporters.

However, when we received information that there had been a complete telecommunications breakdown - reacting to what had been The Tribune's past experience with BaTelCo when, against all odds, it was trying to launch the Bahamas' first private radio station-- we scoffed: "Sabotage again! What a beautiful excuse for Mr Christie to justify reclaiming BaTelCo!"

We knew nothing, had heard nothing, but with our past experience with some of the staff of this inefficient company, our immediate gut feeling was that something was just not kosher.

We must pause here to say that this statement does not refer to all BaTelCo's Bahamian staff. Many of these Bahamians are first class people, and they -- not the foreigners -- are the ones now managing the company. But in the best of operations, there are bad apples. It is these bad apples that always spoil the brew. And so this reference is exclusively to them.

We later learned that BaTelCo itself suspected sabotage, and its investigation has been hampered by the mysterious disappearance of its surveillance footage.

Mr Christie - although we must emphasise that there is no suggestion that he had any prior knowledge of these events - commented that what had happened "reminded us of all the things we said and why we ought not to have agreed with Cable & Wireless".

In the contract with Cable & Wireless, there are provisions that preclude the company selling to any company or group that does not have market capitalisation of at least $750,000,000. The PLP itself has admitted that this figure "puts it out of the reach of any Bahamian company".

So we advise Mr Christie to admit the impossible, and get on with the even greater problems of solving the mortgage issues between Bahamians and their banks -- both sides are suffering.