The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

MONTAGU MP Richard Lightbourn yesterday said Prime Minister Perry Christie still “owes” the Bahamian people an explanation in the letter of intent controversy because the recent explanation given by Bamboo Town MP Renward Wells “doesn’t hold water”.

Mr Lightbourn said Mr Christie can no longer “stall” on the matter because the public deserves to know what exactly happened.

His comments came a day after Mr Wells, former parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Works and Urban Development, gave an explanation in the House of Assembly on why he signed the $600m letter of intent (LOI) with Stellar Waste to Energy Bahamas last July.

His actions led to months of debate and outcry over the government’s secrecy on the matter before he was ultimately fired in October.

“What Wells said was totally insignificant,” Mr Lightbourn told The Tribune. “The country knows that his signing came with authorisation and now it is time for the prime minister to clarify who gave the authorisation. The people need to know what is going on.

“Christie said he would speak to this issue when he was good and ready, he has to be ready now. Wells has said what he had to say and it is time for the prime minister to give an account of what transpired. It is time for him to be ready. He cant stall or move away from it. The public has to know.”

On Wednesday night, Mr Wells revealed that he signed the LOI so that the company would “carry out studies” free of charge to present to Cabinet.

He told the House of Assembly: “In order to build a waste to energy plant, you need studies – Front End Load studies.

“All that means is I am going to do the necessary research to make sure that when I build my plant I would not have made mistakes, I would know how much electricity I can generate and where I put the plant, the sub stations, whether the grid can handle it, all of these things must be studied,” he added.

It was the first time Mr Wells addressed the matter in the House of Assembly.

Mr Lightbourn said the explanation given by Mr Wells “left more question than answers.”

He added: “If his explanation given covered everything that took place, why did it take more than three months to clarify what happened?

“If the issue was that insignificant, what was the reason for the delay? He (Mr Wells) could have come out and told us exactly why he signed and who told him to sign months ago instead of wasting all of our time.”

He added: “The prime minister has to come out and explain to us what took place because what Wells said holds no merit, not one piece, not one bit.”

Several times since the incident became public, reference was made to a probe into the matter. The results of that investigation have not been made public, although government officials have said it was complete.

Last November, Mr Wells broke his silence on the issue and said he signed the LOI – reportedly without Cabinet approval – for the “good of the people”.