By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
The Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) yesterday said it had been denied “a fair opportunity” to participate in the Hawksbill Creek Agreement review consultation after the Government denied its request to obtain a key report four times.
Karla McIntosh, the GBPA’s in-house counsel, indicated strongly in an affidavit that Freeport’s quasi-governmental authority was taking the side of two Callenders & Co attorneys in their challenge to the Government’s review of the city’s founding agreement.
Ms McIntosh’s affidavit, made in support of the GBPA’s motion to intervene/be heard today in the Judicial Review action brought by Fred Smith QC and Carey Leonard, said the Government and its review committee had either not responded to requests for - or refused to provide - copies of the report by international consultants, McKinsey.
This document, thought key to influencing Government policy on both Freeport’s expiring investment incentives and the Hawksbill Creek Agreement’s long-term future, also played a major role in determining the Hawksbill Creek Agreement’s terms of reference.
Ms McIntosh, though, alleged that the committee refused to provide a copy of the McKinsey report to GBPA executives when the two sides met on March 19, 2015.
The committee did not respond to a written request five days’ later from Sarah St George, the GBPA’s vice-chairman, that the report be provided.
Two further letters, sent by Ms St George to the committee and Ministry for Grand Bahama, respectively on April 23 and May 4, resulted in further refusals to supply the GBPA with a copy of the McKinsey report.
Ms McIntosh said: “As the Government and the committee has voluntarily engaged in a process of public consultation, and the McKinsey report would inform the recommendations of the committee and/or the Government’s decisions concerning the expiring concessions under the HCA and other matters falling within the terms of reference, it was a matter of substantial importance to the GBPA that it be provided with a fair opportunity to review the McKinsey report for the purpose of making their representations to the committee.”
It is unclear what impact the GBPA’s seeming siding with Messrs Smith and Leonard will have on its relations with the Christie administration, but many will likely welcome its apparent effort to protect its rights and those of its 3,500 licensees. The significance of the Port taking the opposite position to government cannot be underestimated.
Ms McIntosh said the GBPA had wanted to review the McKinsey report “and provide comments on the same” before the committee headed by ex-Cabinet minister, Dr Marcus Bethel, submitted its recommendations and report to the Government.
She added that McKinsey was supposed to have studied Freeport’s economic situation, measures to spur growth and the impact of the expiring Business Licence and real property tax investment incentives, which were subsequently extended to February 4, 2016.
And Dr Bethel’s committee was, based on the McKinsey report, charged with developing recommendations “for securing an economic package to promote more robust, sustained growth and a fiscal package that enhances Grand Bahama’s contribution to the Government’s revenue base.
Messrs Smith and Leonard are still awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on a temporary injunction that would prevent the Prime Minister and his government from acting on the recommendations made over Freeport’s expiring tax incentives until the full case is heard and decided.
They also want an Order ‘staying’ the “decision-making process regarding potential changes to the provisions of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, and the economic and fiscal governance of Freeport”, stemming from the report produced by the committee.
In the substantive Judicial Review case, which was set down for hearing today, the duo are ultimately seeking Supreme Court Orders that prevent any decisions being made on the basis of the committee’s report; that require the McKinsey report to be made publicly available; and require that a new consultation process be undertaken with Freeport stakeholders.
Comments
The_Oracle 9 years, 3 months ago
It is about time that the Port Authority embrace its licensees properly, as without them they would have nothing. Without the Port to administer the port area, Freeport would soon look decrepit and abandoned, like much of Nassau. The Government has been the biggest impediment to Grand Bahama's development, and continues to be to this day. The Port Ownership must realize that its cozy familial relationship with the Government is done.
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