The Tribune

ENVIRONMENT Minister Ken Dorsett yesterday denied claims circulating on social media websites that suggest he owns a garbage collection company.

“Although I have addressed this issue before in the House of Assembly and in the media, I again state emphatically for those who did not hear or read my previous statements and for those who are only interested in creating political mischief, that I do not own, nor have I ever owned a garbage collection truck or company,” he said in a statement.

Mr Dorsett said since assuming office, he has repeatedly listed the private companies that were contracted by the Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) to collect residential waste on behalf of the government on a month-to-month basis.

“On January 22, 2014, I released another statement on the state in which I met the publicly owned fleet of garbage trucks in 2012 and the government’s decision to have the trucks which we met in disrepair assessed by the diesel mechanics attached to the Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF).

“As a result of the continuous ‘cannibalization” of the garbage trucks and heavy equipment by stripping them of their working parts, the RBDF recommended the trucks be removed from the DEHS facility to enable them to conduct a proper assessment. That was done and the facility which currently houses the publicly owned inoperable garbage trucks and heavy equipment is being utilised as a storage facility at no cost to the public purse. Discussions are ongoing with respect to the future of the inoperable trucks and their use.”

He added: “The public should be aware that the management of DEHS contend that the main issue was that the previous administration purchased the wrong garbage trucks for the Bahamian climate and terrain. The management of DEHS advised the former administration to purchase Mack garbage trucks. Against that advice they purchased 16 ‘international’ garbage trucks. All of them encountered engine challenges and failures in a short period of time. Indeed, when I took office, there was a graveyard of international vehicles laid up and being cannibalized to repair the working trucks in operation. This state of affairs is what led to the government expanding the existing outsourcing of residential garbage collection, started by the former administration to the entire island of New Providence. The new programme created new entrepreneurial opportunities for Bahamians, more jobs and it has reduced the cost to the public purse and brought about certainty in budget calculations and estimates.

“If there is a scandal, it would be to ascertain why the previous administration purchased the wrong garbage trucks against the advice of the technical staff of the DEHS and how those trucks ended-up in such disrepair in a short period of time under their watch.”

Mr Dorsett said the claims circulating on social media websites are to either “gain political mileage for the Free National Movement or those who seem desperate to gain the attention of the electorate by using old and tired political tactics.”

He said he will continue to defend his name whenever he is attacked for “cheap political points.”