The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

FNM chairman Darron Cash’s comments about BTC prove he “doesn’t know what he is talking about” according to Frankie Wilson, the lead negotiator in the government’s efforts to regain majority shares in the company.

Mr Wilson was responding to Mr Cash’s accusation that the government has struck a secret deal with BTC to extend its monopoly on the telecommunications market while withholding information from the Bahamian people.

He told The Tribune yesterday that “clearly Mr Cash does not know what he is talking about. Maybe there is an obligation for him to say something because he is chairman but clearly he’s showing his ignorance”.

Mr Wilson also said negotiations between the government and BTC are being affected by the competing political interests surrounding the issue.

“From a tactical point of view, it is best in negotiations for there to be equality on both sides,” he said, adding that contrary to what Mr Cash claims, not only has the government been forthcoming with the public on BTC, but they’ve also done so while BTC representatives have remained silent.

“Equality is not possible in this instance because it has a strong political component to it because the opposition keeps making statements that have no basis,” he said. “And it is not in the country’s long term interest for us to keep reporting on the issue while the chairman of BTC says nothing. Let the process play out.

“I don’t wish to get into any partisan political divide. We want to pursue something of national interest. In this season of independence, people should try and identify things that are in the national interest. It is important to the country that we get BTC back the right way.”

Mr Wilson also reiterated his stance that the initial deal made between the Ingraham administration and BTC in 2011 “was an incontrovertibly bad transaction for the country”, adding that “the public will see evidence for that.”

He also addressed claims that BTC was sold for $200 million, saying the country did not net anywhere near that.

“Let Mr Cash go back to the rally where the PM said he is selling BTC because we needed the money. He was being truthful. He told the people that at Fort Charlotte that and it was a fact. The fact is selling BTC was a bad deal.

“No former Cabinet minister is trying to defend this; they’ve left Mr Cash to discuss this. He wasn’t in the Cabinet so he doesn’t know what he is talking about and he doesn’t know what he does not know,” Mr Wilson said.

When asked to comment, Marlon Johnson, vice president of marketing and sales at BTC, told The Tribune it is against BTC policy to discuss matters relating to the ownership of the company.