The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Immigration Minister Loftus Roker yesterday said Bahamas Electricity Chairman Executive Chairman Leslie Miller should be fired from his position for doing a poor job leading the corporation.

He also suggested that Prime Minister Perry Christie is sympathetic over the death of Mr Miller’s son, Mario, which is why he has not fired the controversial executive chairman.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Tribune, Mr Roker said Mr Miller appears more interested in blaming his subordinates for the problems facing the corporation rather than responsibly addressing the issues.

“The chairman shouldn’t be there,” Mr Roker, a former Cabinet minister in the Pindling administration, said. “Every day he comes out and blames somebody else for the conditions of BEC. Leslie Miller is saying one thing. (Minister of Works) Brave Davis is saying another. BEC is a serious matter.

“It’s one of the more serious matters of all the matters you’ve heard recently. Yesterday or the day before he was saying about how this thing on the weekend, (the IAAF World Relays), that you should expect the worst. (It’s like) you better pee before you go to bed because it will be dark so you can’t get up (to use the bathroom).

“The government should’ve fired him. He shouldn’t be there. He has a trick where he talks about the (union being a) burden on the backs of the people. That’s a way to be popular. But he is being paid as executive chairman.

“If something is happening there that he can’t control, he should leave.”

Since his appointment at BEC, Mr Miller has been at odds with the unions representing workers over overtime pay and bonuses, leading to many public clashes.

Last December, BEC signed a new industrial agreement with the Bahamas Electrical Workers Union in the absence of Mr Miller.

The Tall Pines MP expressed concerns about the contract at the time, particularly requests for lump sum payments and issues over rostering. He previously said the agreement was “not in the best interest of the people”.

Mr Roker also suggested yesterday that out of sympathy for Mr Miller, Mr Christie has decided not to fire the Tall Pines MP after his son was shot dead over a decade ago.

“When his son died, Mr Christie attended the funeral and said what a great fellow his son was and he even asked him to run for the PLP. I don’t know why (Mr Christie) said that at all, especially when you consider what could’ve happened. Why get into that? Why get involved in that? That tells me that’s maybe why he is not able to fire Miller.”

When contacted for reaction yesterday, Mr Miller said he has the “greatest respect for Mr Roker,” adding that he respects the former “freedom fighter” too much to respond to his criticism.

Mr Roker also said BEC’s woes, such as its inability to provide a stable power supply and its financial bleeding is due to bad management.

He also said that BEC’s General Manager Kevin Basden needs to be held publicly accountable. Mr Roker questioned why Mr Basden has remained silent for so long on BEC’s struggles.

Criticism of the government’s efforts to address issues affecting BEC comes as Bahamians grow increasingly weary of the corporation’s intermittent load-shedding activities, which has left many New Providence residents without power for hours at a time for several days this week.