The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

DISASTER Reconstruction Authority executive chairman Alex Storr confirmed yesterday that two employees were terminated this week at the DRA office in Grand Bahama.

He declined to comment further on why the two individuals were dismissed. This is the second round of dismissals at DRA in Freeport.

According to sources, DRA officials flew to Freeport on Tuesday. The Tribune understands that a supervisor and a manager were let go.

The DRA is in the process of restructuring the authority following allegations of reported gross mismanagement under former DRA officials.

One of the individuals who was let go on Tuesday said the termination was expected with the change in government.

“I expected this,” said the employee, who did not want to be identified. “They came to the office on Tuesday and informed me and a manager there. This is not the first, they also fired seven persons at the office prior to this.”

The employee believes that the termination was political.

“They hired their own people from Nassau, and the ones they let go earlier were believed to be PLPs, and so they are being brought back one by one, and some will be rehired and returned on Monday,” the individual said.

The employee said that political terminations affect not only the individual, but also their families.

Michael Pintard, opposition leader, has condemned what he calls the “vicious cycle” of terminating Bahamians whenever a new political administration is elected to office.

He stressed that the ongoing termination and layoffs at government agencies are troubling because ordinary working Bahamians are being put out of jobs.

When contacted yesterday, Free National Movement Chairman Dr Duane Sands said an investigation will have to be conducted to determine if there was just cause.

“We have watched with consternation and disappointment countless regular, ordinary Bahamians oftentimes on subsistence salary being let go from Urban Renewal and off their roadside contracts, and it appears as if the individual’s political affiliation is a significant reason why they are no longer allowed gainful employment,” Dr Sands said.

“We have not seen this kind of behaviour in The Bahamas in decades,” he added. “We hope and pray it ends because all Bahamians need to eat and live. So, the details of these terminations at DRA will have to be investigated and determined if there is just cause for rendering additional Bahamians and families destitute.”