The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Chairman Michael Pintard has called for Leslie Miller to resign from his post at the Bahamas Electricity Corporation, also criticising the Tall Pines MP for not having the “capacity to deliver the kinds of ideas required to move BEC into the 21st century.”

Mr Miller is BEC’s executive chairman.

Echoing similar calls recently made by Bahamas Electrical Workers Union (BEWU) President Paul Maynard, Mr Pintard accused Mr Miller of having a “lack of respect” for BEC workers.

He said the chairman is “no longer appropriate to lead the corporation” and cited Mr Miller’s own payment history with the utility provider.

“He, therefore, does not have the moral capacity to enforce compliance with the rules at BEC or any payment schedule, because he himself has only paid a portion of his bill after a whistleblower indicated what his bill is,” Mr Pintard said.

“Even in paying a portion of his bill, the executive chairman paid in a format or in a manner that the law does not make provision for. The sum of money that was paid, we have no idea the origin of those funds, and clearly BEC has a policy in terms of how large sums of money ought to be spent with the corporation. That alone requires a new chairman.”

Mr Pintard was referring to union reports that Mr Miller’s daughter paid $100,000 in cash last summer on their family-owned business’ BEC bill, after the outstanding amount was leaked to the press.

He added: “The executive chairman ought to respect workers at BEC and clearly there is a lack of respect for these workers. So therefore I share their view, that he is no longer appropriate to lead this corporation. He might very well fit comfortably in another capacity in government, but at BEC he can no longer offer the type of leadership required.

“More fundamentally, the chairman is in place to ensure the reduction of the pain and suffering of Bahamians, which means lowering electricity costs and consistency in supply. He does not have the capacity to deliver the kinds of ideas required to move BEC into the 21st century, and on that ground, and that is the most important ground, we need new leadership.”

A fire at the Blue Hills Power Station caused an island-wide outage last Friday, which forced the company to conduct load-shedding exercises throughout the weekend. Mr Miller, on Sunday, blamed the problem on the management and staff who work at the Blue Hills Power Station.

He said the whole incident could have been avoided if “the machines were properly maintained and serviced”.

On Monday, however, Mr Maynard said unless the government immediately fired Mr Miller, the union would not support BEC’s restructuring process.

Mr Maynard insisted that a “fault occurred in the system”, causing a fire and the subsequent meltdown.

On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said he was satisfied that the blackout did not occur as a result of negligence by employees, contradicting Mr Miller’s earlier statements.

Mr Miller later apologised and insisted that his original statements to the press were “taken out of context”.