The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Leader Philip “Brave” Davis made a valid argument when he chastised the Free National Movement (FNM) government over Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC) Chair Adrian Gibson’s request to resume WSC’s disconnection exercise during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Gibson’s claim that private customers collectively owe the corporation $9m pales in comparison to the alleged $80m owed by state-run agencies, as per Davis.

Resuming disconnections at this juncture looks bad, no matter the financial motives behind them. Whether or not Davis is accurate with his estimates, we all can agree that government run entities such as Bahamas Power and Light (BPL), Bahamasair, the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas and WSC are all massive strains of the public purse, and have been for decades.

The reason these agencies have mushrooming debts is that successive administrations have been historically negligent in collecting huge outstanding bills from high ranking political cronies and have rewarded hard-working political foot soldiers with soft paying jobs immediately following an election. Bahamasair, to the best of my knowledge, is simply not a profitable entity, yet has over 600 employees. In this instance, what do you do? If you cut staff or reduce salaries or privatise, you are committing political suicide. If you raise VAT to defray the high costs of running Bahamasair, you will feel the wrath of voters on election day.

Again, what do you do?

The deferral of WSC bills to the beleaguered citizens of New Providence was inevitable. With the closure of Atlantis and Baha Mar in March coupled with the tourism industry coming to a complete standstill, thousands of Nassauvians have hit financial rock-bottom.

Having said that, WSC’s issues predates COVID-19 by decades. I believe that some individuals who have good political connections are afforded exemption status from the bill collectors at the cash-strapped corporation. The same issue is plaguing BPL.

This socialist experiment has brought the state to its knees, to that degree that VAT being increased after 2022 seems likely, and will not make much of a difference anyway. Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and “Brave” Davis should both emulate former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, who, contrary to popular sentiments, sold BTC to the private entity, Cable and Wireless, in 2011.

Look at the Grand Bahama Utility Company (GBUC) in Freeport. Freeporters pay their water and garbage collection bills without complaining, notwithstanding the decades-old recession on Grand Bahama. Some Nassauvians, on the other hand, live in a thriving economy, at least up until the advent of COVID-19, yet have been chronically negligent in paying their bills for years, all the while enjoying free garbage collection services paid for by the state. GBUC will simply not allow outstanding bills to mushroom into the tens of millions. Its principals are in the business to earn a profit, not pander to political cronies.

GBUC is privately owned and is economically solvent and efficiently run. Bahamians need to make up their minds on whether or not they want a free market economy or socialism. You can’t have both.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, Grand Bahama,

October 20, 2020.