The Tribune

SOME wag once advised that a good rule of life is that “whenever someone says ‘trust me’ run.”

This seems to be the reaction of many Bahamians to the promises of Prime Minister Perry Christie. Mr Christie, unlike former prime minister Hubert Ingraham, is often so delighted about whatever deal he is trying to put together that he is inclined to announce it as an accomplished fact before he has all his eggs in one basket. That is why, rushing to the airwaves with Moody’s downgrade burning at his heels on Monday, he was anxious to raise the spirits of the Bahamian people by breathing life into the closed Baha Mar. There had to be some antidote to offset Moody’s bad news that was announced the same day. According to Moody’s, The Bahamas credit ratings had been dropped another point — just a notch above junk status.

After all, during the past two years, there have been several encouraging statements from the prime minister about imminent good news – always “imminent” but seldom arrives – that many Bahamians, filled with doubts, are still fence sitting. They are muttering to themselves that they don’t want Mr Christie to tell them, they want him to show them. That is why they are clamouring for more information and are suspicious that the information they are entitled to has been sealed by the court.

How can they forget the secret clauses in the 2005 signed heads of agreement with the developer of Baha Mar, the final agreement that Mr Christie declined to sign until after the 2007 election. He lost the election and so it was left to Prime Minister Ingraham to discover “that there remained secret clauses and/or agreements whose contents have, in fact, not been disclosed to the Bahamian people”.

The Ingraham government renegotiated the “secret clauses”, clawing much Crown land and other property back for the Bahamian people from the Baha Mar deal. So why should Mr Christie and his group be despondent that all Bahamians are not joyfully throwing their hats in the air. The celebratory balloon was burst as soon as Bahamians learned of the court’s seal being stamped on the documents. Nothing can even be taken out of a trash can and read in parliament as was recently done by a government minister in the Save the Bays parliamentary scandal.

The Bahamas Contractors Association president said that his group was being cautious over its response to Mr Christie’s news as too many details were unknown? And now, almost on the eve of another election there are potentially more secret clauses. Rather than relying on the wholehearted support of the Bahamian people, government with its Chinese partners would be well advised to get the project moving and put their statements to proof.

Many Bahamians are very concerned about who will be selected as the “world-class hotel and casino operator” promised by Mr Christie. They will have much to say if government agrees to the questionable group whose name has been floating around town in the past few weeks. And so, as soon as the selection is made and before the agreement is signed, Bahamians should be informed about the group with which government is negotiating.

In a statement, lawyer Wayne Munroe said the reason for the secrecy was to prevent Sarkis Izmirlian, the original developer, and his “cronies” from being able to destroy the process.

Sarkis Izmirlian planning to destroy his own dream? A dream that no less a person than Prime Minister Christie encouraged him to invest? Mr Izmirlian would be the last person to do such a thing.

“He’s broke,” declared Mr Munroe, “he didn’t pay the bank back, but he has made moves to try to stall the process.” How can Mr Munroe say that Mr Izmirlian is broke when his company BDM Holdings has stated that it is still “ready, willing and able to move forward to complete Baha Mar”?

“Despite the fact that CCA deceived the prime minister and the whole of the Bahamas over a year ago regarding its guaranteed completion of Baha Mar, they are permitted, and will be paid, to return to the project,” said BDM Holdings. “Among other reasons, this further shows cause behind our motion to move Baha Mar to full liquidation under which all parties owed money have a better opportunity or representation in order to protect their rights and bring Baha Mar to a more constructive solution to the benefit of all Bahamians.”

Twice this year, Mr Izmirlian has asked to meet with the EXIM bank to resolve their differences and finish the project. It is understood that he has had no reply. It is obvious that EXIM bank would prefer to stay close to its partner, CCA construction, which, as far as we are aware, is credited with being the cause of the Baha Mar disaster.

According to lawyer Munroe, Mr Izmirlian “is clearly someone who has demonstrated an intention to damage the prospects of restoring the project and to damage The Bahamas. His actions speak for himself as does the actions of his cronies and the actions of politicians sympathetic to and probably paid by him.”

… “and probably paid by him.” This is something that can be said about many in The Bahamas — particularly about politicians — but Mr Izmirlian would be the last person, in our opinion, to lower himself to crawl under that table with such low life.

We have met the young man only once when the project was nearing the opening date set by CAA to receive its first guests. He was filled with pride and hope, proud of his Bahamian staff, pleased with how supportive they were and keen to be top of the line in whatever sector of the hotel they were being trained. The future looked bright and he sincerely felt that he was contributing to the success of a country that he loved with a passion. As far as we knew at that point, if the clouds of doom were forming, he gave no indication.

At the end of the tour, we commented to our companion, that if anything happened to cause this project to fail it would be because this young man was too idealistic and honest for The Bahamas. He was not a bribe-giver or taker. He was not one to do under the table deals. His father had brought him up to be a straight shooter. He spoke his mind when confronted with unfairness - to such an extent that Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell suggested that he “consider making the appropriate steps to live elsewhere” if he could not conform with the expected conduct of “economic guests.”

Sarkis Izmirlian is someone that Mr Munroe probably does not understand. People usually define others by their own standards — in The Bahamas these standards are usually rock bottom.

Our measure of this young man is that he cannot comprehend those standards. And so, although Woodes Rogers in 1717 thought he had expelled piracy and restored commerce, our history still haunts us.

This is the tragedy of The Bahamas.