The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune

General Douglas MacArthur said in his final speech, “old soldiers never die, they only fade away”. Well maybe I’m an old soldier, but I’ll not fade away easily. When I croak and they are taking me out toes up, I will probably sit up and ask, “where are we going or what if”.

Today the air is full of promises, and the people are happy. They’ve been promised the world with a silver lining! This one will do this over 30 years and that one will do that over the next 25 years.

Pie in the sky? Let’s go back. After Freeport had been all but destroyed by the then government (PLP), the PLP promised a complete renovation of Grand Bahama. The Billy Butlin resort had been the economic centre of West End Grand Bahama for years. I visited there many times. West End was the only airport in Grand Bahama. If you wanted to visit Freeport you had to land in West End, book a room at the Butlin hotel and then drive through the bush to Freeport.

Years later after Freeport had been crushed I was in the House of Assembly when we were presented glorious artists renderings of a proposed development of West End. It showed a new state of the art terminal, beautiful roads, large buildings, art centres, stadiums. You name it and there was an artist’s rendering of it there.

All of the government members were beyond themselves with joy. They shouted at us who were members of the opposition and told us how dumb we were.

Years later I visited Freeport and we drove to see this much touted West End “development”. The Butlin hotel had been knocked down, several uncompleted buildings which were built with four inch block stood out, cars were parked there still with the keys in them, the office was open with the doors swinging in the wind, and not a soul was in sight. It was like a ghost town. You could have shot off a canon and not hit a mosquito!!!

I assume there was no performance bond, no starting date, or no development schedule. It appears that once the developers had the government’s signed agreement in their hands, sold shares, collected money in advance, and then vanished.

Shortly after the FNM took control in 1992, I was told that there was a big plan for the development of Mayaguana. As I recall some “Prince” had showed up with a plan, which required large tracts of land in Mayaguana. The Government agreed, gave the “Prince” the necessary agreements with no performance bond, no starting schedule and no progress agreement. With the agreement in hand, the “Prince” was set. He went all over the world and collected money for the proposal.

Where’s the land in Mayaguana? It’s still there, still bush. Where’s the money? I assume the “Prince” has it. Where’s the “Prince”? That’s anybody’s guess.

Then came Disney, Mickey Mouse and all. Mickey Mouse, dressed in all his glory, showed up, swung the government’s head with all sorts of “to help the people” comments and developed a port in Abaco. How much did the people benefit? When Disney was finished they left leaving, I understand, an environmental disaster.

They’ve now moved on to “Lighthouse Point” in Eleuthera, a prized Bahamian asset. With Eleuthera desperate for development they blinded the people with promises. They will do this and they will do that. The shout sounds familiar. But they will give us a little extra; they’ll give us a park.

What is the real scoop Dr Minnis? Has a performance bond been made? Has a progress agreement been signed? Other than jobs as servants, what will the Bahamian people get out of it? Most important, what will the servant’s children and grandchildren get out of it? Will they be able to be business owners, masters of their own fate?

Let us not forget the OBAN deal where the Guardian photographer using a telescopic lens exposed that the man was signing somebody else’s name. In any civilised world he would have been arrested. Or is that too “just nonsense”, Dr Minnis? What is the deal with Oban? One day a Minister says it’s off and the next day another Minister says it’s on. This, Dr Minnis, is no game; it’s serious business.

Now all sorts of promises are being made about ports, hotels...you name it...in Freeport. Is this on, off, or maybe? Or is this too pie in the sky? Are the same people who vetted the Oban deal vetting these other deals?

Every time you turn around the government is announcing some multi-million plan. Where’s all this money coming from? Are we as a nation not worried about the possible outcome of all this? What if all this money is borrowed from a foreign government, Bahamian land and assets are put up as collateral, and then the investor goes bankrupt?

No foreign government should directly or indirectly hold mortgages on Bahamian land, be they American, British, Canadian, Chinese or Russian.

Frankly, this all seems like a dice game between the American government, the Chinese government and the Russian government with the country, The Bahamas, being the prize. Yes folks, this is serious stuff !!

Wake up Bahamians before its too late!!

PIERRE DUPUCH

Nassau,

April 26, 2019

Footnote

Since this writing, it appears that Carnival, by using our beautiful waters as a dumping ground, has shown its true colours.