The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Chairman Darron Cash said “the spotlight of suspicion” now shines on many people within government in the absence of definitive answers over Renward Wells’ signing of a multi-million letter of intent with a waste to energy company.

The House of Assembly on Tuesday night took a six-week break without a clear statement from Prime Minister Perry Christie despite more than a month of promises that the matter would be addressed before the recess.

Mr Wells, parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Works, also has not publicly addressed the matter.

Mr Christie had told reporters nearly two weeks ago that Mr Wells would have to speak on the issue before the House broke for its recess.

Mr Cash’s comments came as he suggested that Mr Christie’s handling of the controversial signing would be damaging to his reputation and to the Bahamas’ image.

When asked about this yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said he had no further comment as the matter now rested in the hands of Mr Christie.

Mr Cash believes the scandal is the result of a “power struggle” between the prime minister and “the heir to the prime ministerial throne Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis.”

“It is unclear how that power struggle will end, but the deferment of the PLP convention suggests that the PM has the upper hand in that struggle.”

He added: “The bigger scandal may not be who signed the letter of intent, but who are the persons in the shadows with ties to the underlying front door and back door deals.

“At the closing of this chapter of the Stellar Waste Management scandal, Bahamians are left to solve this mystery on their own.”

Last Thursday, Mr Christie pledged to explain the situation in due time.

“The member for Bamboo Town knows my position,” Mr Christie said in the House of Assembly, “and you could assume if I spoke to him on day one, that my position has not changed and therefore (if) I am sitting here in the Parliament when a member is defying me, I have the capacity to tell him get out.”

“And he understands exactly what my position is and I hope that when the House meets (again soon) he will be able to say so. I told him in the presence of a member of parliament downstairs that he should not let an MP speak in such a way where he is able to denigrate what he is and by implication question his integrity and question mine at the same time. Speak, and speak truth, that’s what I told him to do.”