The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Deputy Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party  Leader Philip “Brave” Davis insisted yesterday there is “nothing wrong” with the manner in which the former Christie administration issued a contract to a high-ranking Bridge Authority executive, saying it all boils down to “being stylistic more than principle”.

In an interview with The Tribune yesterday, Mr Davis said the government must “cease and desist” exposing confidential clauses in contracted workers’ agreements.

His criticism comes after this newspaper on Monday reported that Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis ordered an investigation across government agencies to probe contracts issued under the PLP after it was revealed that an agreement for a Bridge Authority employee specified no fixed termination date and no less than three years’ notice be given in the event of termination.

The clauses were added in an addendum to the executive’s contract on April 20, 2017, nearly three weeks before the last general election. The contract is worth nearly $100,000.

The Tribune did not identify the executive in question in its reporting, however a local tabloid identified the employee yesterday.

“…Thank God the contract for the person who he exposed this morning is cast the way it is (or) otherwise they would be on the street today,” Mr Davis said yesterday.

“There is nothing wrong. It all boils down to (being) stylistic more than principle,” Mr Davis added when he was asked whether there was anything untoward about the added stipulations. “Because I do something a particular way don’t make it wrong because you would not have done it that way.

“It is truly disturbing that the Minnis administration will continue to expose the personal business of public servants in the manner in which he has been doing, particularly those who were engaged under the Progressive Liberal Party’s watch,” the Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador MP said earlier in his interview.

“He is doing no different. I have asked questions about some of the persons who were employed and employed for in excess of $100,000, which he said he was putting an end to those contracts, but on the other hand he is hiring people. It’s the same thing.

“I decry the hypocritical posturing of the government in attempting to demonise and to insult the intelligence of persons engaged in the public sector and by ourselves.

“I don’t know what he is talking about by probing contracts. Contracts are contracts and thank God for contract the person who he exposed this morning had is cast the way it is (or) otherwise the poor lady would be on the street today.”

Meanwhile, Senator Fred Mitchell, PLP chairman, said the Bridge Authority executive was now exposed to security risks.

“Those of us who are PLPs would have come front and centre today when we opened the newspapers and found that yet again there was an assault on someone who was appointed under the Progressive Liberal Party and all their private business was put in the streets simply because some people have now become the FNM and the government and their view of governing is to attack their opponents instead of governing in the eight months,” Mr Mitchell said during a memorial yesterday at the PLP’s headquarters on Farrington Road. “That is what they’ve been doing, digging up into trash, stirring up old stories and exposing people to what I call security risks.”

He also said: “They put the salary in the newspapers and they accused the Progressive Liberal Party of putting what I am calling a poisoned pill, which is a clause that says if you want to break the contract you have to pay out the contract for a period of three years.

“And they say that something is wrong with this. It’s again part of their narrative that all we do is crooked and all that we do is ignorant and greedy.”

Meanwhile, the prime minister has said he is “deeply disturbed and annoyed” by the practice carried out by the PLP. He hinted the government was seeking to cancel the contract, charging that anyone who feels the Minnis administration is wrong can “take us to court.”

“If any government is allowed to get away with something like this, where is the fairness in democracy? How is it acceptable to essentially contract someone to work for the government for life? It’s like they tried to contract people for life,” Dr Minnis told The Tribune recently.

According to documents obtained by The Tribune, on April 20, 2017, the addendum was added and signed to supplement a contract of employment for the executive, which was dated January 7, 2013.

The addendum read: “…Employer shall employ employee in the capacity set forth commencing January 7, 2013 and continuing with no fixed termination date, until either party shall give proper notice of termination of this employment agreement to the other. “The notice shall be no less than three years’ notice.

“If the board wishes to terminate this agreement for any other reason outside the terms of the employee agreement, the employee shall be compensated in accordance with the terms of this contract along with any pecuniary benefits that the employee was entitled to.

“In the event any conflict arises between the provisions of this contract and any other document issued by the board providing for terms and conditions applicable to employees of the board, the provisions of this contract shall prevail,” the addendum continued.

This addition was supported by terms in the original contract on January 7, 2013 specifying that this agreement was to continue indefinitely until either party gives notice to the other.