The Tribune

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

Insight would have started by saying the silent saga continues on the previously featured government-owned high end houses, however, there appears to be slight movement due to the spotlight being placed on them by this column.

Insight spoke with developer Paul Wynn of the Wynn Group last week and was told that the Minister of Tourism, after reading the Insight articles, has reached out to the vice president of the Wynn Group to address its interest in “La Playa”.

“The Minister of Tourism called Randy Hart and said he never received anything from us,” Mr Wynn said. “Randy sent him the offer that we sent to them about nine months ago. He had sent it directly to the Minister and directly to the Prime Minister which he hand dropped off. The Minister said he will look into it.”

Mr Wynn said the Minister’s attention was “absolutely” drawn to “La Playa” from the series of Insight articles. He is curious about why the Minister would say he had not received the document when the Wynn Group, as mentioned, had it sent directly to him in July 2020.

The Wynn Group is currently building a resort, costing some $140m, directly opposite the Office of the Prime Minister. Mr Wynn is now also showing some interest in some of the government-owned properties at Prospect Ridge.

Insight did some digging and managed to get hold of the document through a source in the Ministry of Tourism. The letter dated July 22, 2020 was addressed to the Minister of Tourism, Dionisio D’Aguilar.

An excerpt of the letter reads: “Further to our recent meeting at GoldWynn, this letter is to formally submit an offer on behalf of the undersigned company in the amount of B$2,250,000.00 to purchase the adjacent property known as “La Playa” which we understand is presently owned by the National Insurance Board.

Although the offer seems way below what NIB paid for the property, Mr. Wynn made it clear in his Insight interview of last week that he is looking forward to negotiating a price with the government.

As a recap, this is the fourth in a series of articles done on five high end homes, in western New Providence, owned by the government of The Bahamas and placed in the care of the National Insurance Board. One of the five homes, “La Playa” situated next to Goodman’s Bay, was actually purchased for $3.5m by NIB.

The houses are in a state of serious disrepair – rotted wood, walls falling apart, extremely overgrown foliage - and are now the homes of vagrants. The four houses on Prospect Ridge are situated on land between one and a half to two acres. Their once majestic forms have diminished over years of neglect and they now sit there, ignored by their owner – the government.

Insight spent an entire week reaching out to the current NIB director, James Moss and the board’s chairman, Troy Smith, to no avail. Mr Moss’ assistant, Rudeen Basden, should be commended for being very patient, professional and polite. Pressing for information after no call was answered or returned, Insight sent an email to Mr Moss outlining questions about the homes NIB is custodian to, but only received an acknowledgment of receipt from Ms Basden in return.

Due to the lack of contact with the board’s current director and chairman, Insight spoke with three former directors and two of them shared their knowledge and views on the situation at hand.

“I cannot offer any comment on that,” said immediate past director Dr Nicola Virgil-Rolle who has moved on recently to take up a position with the Lyford Cay Foundation.

The other two directors who date many years back in the system, spoke to Insight on condition of anonymity. Neither wanted to appear to be overstepping the current director and both of them served under the FNM administrations.

“I am not sure about the Prospect Ridge homes, I only know about the one on Goodman’s Bay,” said the first director. “The house was bought by the PLP government in their term that ended in 2007.

“It was bought from Lady Nuttall to be the residence of the Prime Minister without a plan. The house was never developed. The government changed in 2007 and decided from what I understand that there was no priority for a residence of the Prime Minister. In the meantime, NIB was spending thousands of dollars to maintain the home monthly… landscaping, etcetera.

“The government changed again in 2012 when the PLP came in and nothing ever happened since. The real question is why was the house bought in the first place? They bought that house for over $3m and many people thought that it was overpriced and that there was no reason to buy that house at all.”

When corrected that the house was bought from a Canadian who had purchased it from Lady Nuttall, the former director strongly refuted this and insisted it was purchased directly from Lady Nuttall.

“As far as NIB is concerned, the house was bought from Lady Nuttall for the purpose of being the residence of the Prime Minister. Now it could be that there was no plan for him to actually live there or he would have had it as a protocol (house) like how the Governor General has a protocol (house) and a residence or it could have been used for both. But I know that NIB’s cash was used on that house.

“The house had started to be renovated by the government that was in 2002-2007, but the government that came in in 2007 did not continue. The question really is then that if the government really wanted to make it a protocol house or whatever, they could have done so between 2012 and 2017? They had five years to get it done. So why was this $3.5m really spent?

“The developer is talking to the wrong people. NIB owns the house and should be spoken to directly on it. NIB I am sure would want to get rid of that house because it’s just sitting on the books deteriorating.”

The second director took issue with the Prime Minister’s flippant remarks made in the House of Assembly concerning “La Playa” saying he had no time to think about “any house for a Prime Minister to entertain people”. This came about as he introduced a resolution to sell land to young professionals at minimal costs.

“I don’t know all of the reasons why the government purchased these properties because I was not focused on that when I was at NIB as there were so many issues there that was the least of my worries. I know that ‘La Playa’ was purchased for the purpose of entertaining dignitaries etc. It was not, as the Prime Minister was alleging in the House, that the government intended to have it as the home of the Prime Minister - that was not true. It was deceptive!

“There were some very detailed plans that were drawn up as to what the property was to be utilised for. It was going to cost millions of dollars and I think the government at the time may have opted not to proceed because of the cost.”

Insight learned that when the Minnis administration took up office, Minister of Foreign Affairs Darren Henfield and senior officials from his ministry were looking at continuing the renovation of the “La Playa” but on a less elaborate scale for the purpose of entertaining dignitaries. The minister and a team actually visited the property and were looking at that palatial home with the intent of utilising it in the same way it was purchased for. So what happened?

Attempts were made to speak to Mr Henfield, but he did not answer any calls. Instead, Foreign Affairs director general Sharon Brennen-Haylock was contacted, but she said she could not offer an answer as to why Foreign Affairs did not follow through.

Insight also contacted former clerk to the House of Assembly Maurice Tynes, who spoke to why he believes no action was taken on “La Playa”.

“The four houses were where judges used to live, I think I may have been the clerk of the House when that passed through Parliament to NIB,” he said. “I cannot speak with authority on it, but it may be that one government had a plan for them and the other government just stopped, reviewed and cancelled. That would be my first reaction.

“I have always been against that kind of policy because it is wasting public funds. You should not stop a project just because it is started by a different political party. Government ought to be continuous, but it doesn’t seem as if that principle is rooted in some of our political leaders. When a party wins an election, they become the government for all.”

A former top government official gave Insight a rundown on the houses on Prospect Ridge.

“The last occupants of those houses were Dame Joan Sawyer and Sir Burton Hall,” the former official said. “After they moved out everything closed up. The government owned those houses before independence in 1973. In the past, certain high level civil servants lived in those houses like judges and the chief justice and the secretary to the Cabinet.

“They are now vandalised with vagrants living in them. The government should seek to fix them and sell them. They should sell them in public auction not private sale. Either way they should be sold. The government of The Bahamas needs to get rid of them and not leave them to rot. The one on Goodman’s Bay (“La Playa”) should be sold and made into a restaurant like Graycliff or Lucianos… that standard.”

Several attempts were made to get the Office of the Prime Minister to comment on the matter of the abandoned houses over the past few weeks to no avail. Emails requesting the same go unanswered. Many attempts were also made to call the minister with responsibility for NIB, Brensil Rolle – all calls went unanswered.

It should be noted that civil servants, be they ministers or clerks, are just that – servants of the people who are answerable to the citizenry of this country. At no time is it okay to simply ignore the Press and the people of this country when they search for answers on matters of national importance. And yes, governmental wastage is of national importance.

People are voted in office to work for the populace and protect public property. This widespread culture of ignoring matters of national interest or people attempting to find answers, meted out by this government, can be conceived as wanton arrogance or dismissive behaviour. Governments are answerable to the people!

Insight waits now to see if there will be, not just promised, but real action taken by the government of The Bahamas on these abandoned homes.