The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Tennyson Wells yesterday said he saw no issue with a controversial $2.1 billion Chinese proposal for Andros, but admonished current Minister V Alfred Gray for not being “upfront with the people.”

“Gray should have been upfront with the people instead of trying to hide it,” Mr Wells told The Tribune when contacted for comment yesterday.

“He should go to the people who are in the industry. Talk with the farmers, fisherman, processors, because we produce seafood now that is being exported to Europe, US, and Canada. So if we can produce more, if it’s there and the fishery is properly managed, I don’t see a problem with it.”

Mr Wells added: “Most of the problems that Gray has been in over the years, is that he just tries to be secretive when it’s unnecessary. Just say what the facts are, and you’ll be much better off.”

The Tribune asked Mr Wells as well as former Cabinet Minister George Smith, whose former portfolios included agriculture and fisheries, to weigh in on the proposal.

Earlier this week it was reported that the Bahamas embassy in China had been given the go ahead by Mr Gray to have discussions with Chinese investors over the proposal.

The proposal projects a $2.1 billion injection into the local economy over ten years through an equal partnership between Bahamians and the People’s Republic of China. According to an earlier report, the proposed partnership will entail the incorporation of 100 companies, with the agricultural products and seafood to be used for local consumption, and exported to China and the United States for sale. The proposal also reportedly includes the option to lease 10,000 acres of Crown land in Andros.

When the news broke, Mr Gray admitted to reporters that he told newly appointed Chinese ambassador Paul Gomez that he could discuss the proposal with “interested investors.”

And while he later called media reports about the proposal utterly “false”, Mr Gray also said on Tuesday that such a plan could be a “good thing” for the country because Bahamians generally “lack interest” in the agriculture industry.

He has been embroiled in controversy ever since.

“I would have thought that Gray would have discussed with his people internally or have some debate on it in the fishing and farming community,” Mr Wells said. “I don’t see nothing wrong with him trying to expand, I think that’s his duty. The only question is how you go about it.”

Meanwhile Mr Smith told The Tribune he was shocked to learn of the proposed partnership given the government’s longstanding policy that the fishing industry, and to an extent the farming industry, was reserved for Bahamians.

“When I first saw that I was a little peeved and disappointed,” Mr Smith said.

“I think the ambassador was well intended but obviously he either wasn’t overly familiar with the longstanding policies.”

Mr Smith said that, as the longest serving minister with that portfolio, he understood the public’s gut reaction to the proposal.

“First of all about the use of Bahamian land for farming purposes to raise animals, and I know how Bahamians feel about the fishing industry and every time persons experimented with getting foreign partners it always failed,” Mr Smith said, “because it could never be accepted by the Bahamian people and the industry.”

Mr Smith suggested that Mr Gomez’s focus should be on the end goal of the Chinese investors, which he said was access to the country’s agricultural products and seafood.

“Since what you want is the product to be available to your citizens,” Mr Smith said, “why don’t you think and I’ll try to persuade the government to encourage the establishment of a commercial bank in the Bahamas to give venture capital to Bahamians who want to go into business. You make available to that entity certain monies, the same amount that you say you want to invest in these joint venture arrangements.

“Some of it you expect to recover over a period of time, that bank ownership could be broad based and established to do these undertakings and empower the Bahamians.The problem with Bahamians in farming is that they are never able to get money necessary to do it.”

For his part, Mr Wells said the potential of farming and fishing industries in the country were seriously underdeveloped, but he noted that the main concern was ownership and how such a partnership would impact operations at the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI).

Mr Wells said: “What is the purpose of BAMSI if you’re not going to train persons to do what they ought to do?

“I think if they can get $2b injected into that sector of the economy it would be worthwhile, it’s just a question of how they do it. The US was developed through immigration and the Bahamas can be developed along similar lines as long as Bahamians are at the forefront, and in control.”