The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE government has acquired space in a vacant building on Bernard Road, the entrance to which says the “Commission of Inquiry”.

Office of the Prime Minister director of communications Latrae Rahming confirmed to The Tribune yesterday that the government is paying for the space, but he neither confirmed nor denied that it will be used for official inquiries into matters of public interest.

“The prime minister has addressed the issue of a Commission of Inquiry and his lack of satisfaction in getting the answers he needs to report back to the Bahamian people and has left all possibilities on the table,” he said.

He did not reveal cost details for the space nor when it was acquired.

As leader of the opposition, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis promised a Commission of Inquiry into events surrounding Hurricane Dorian amid confusion about how many people died in the storm.

He told reporters this summer that he has not ruled out an inquiry because there are lessons to be learned from the experience.

Central and South Abaco MP John Pinder recently said he wants a formal inquiry, insisting the likely number of people who died is “substantially more than the 74-odd that are public”.

Free National Movement Chairman Dr Duane Sands believes the Davis administration is gearing up to “distract the public from their dismal performance in government” by seeking to “generate some sexy, salacious information”.

“I suspect they’re gonna go after the COVID discussion or the food programme or something else,” he said yesterday.

The Commissions of Inquiry Act empowers commissioners appointed by the Governor General to summon and compel the attendance of witnesses, call for the production of documents, and examine people before them on oath.

A commission was last appointed in 1992 by the first Ingraham administration to examine the practices, procedures, policies, systems and mechanisms, financial and otherwise, of the Bahamas Holdings Limited, the Hotel Corporation of The Bahamas and The Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation.

In 2018, the Brickell Management Group, a real estate company, advertised the Bernard Road building complex on Facebook. Prominent businessman and Island Luck CEO Sebas Bastian, the non-resident ambassador to the Central American Integration System, is the chairman of that company.

 A representative of Brickell Management Group said yesterday that the company no longer deals with the property. She referred The Tribune to a top official at the Fox Group of Companies, but that person said they were unaware.

 Former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said yesterday his administration had approved leasing the property to house the Road Traffic Department out of concern for structural challenges to the Thomas A Robinson Stadium. However, he said technocrats concluded there was insufficient parking, so the plan never materialised.

 He said his Cabinet later approved the space for the Surveillance Unit during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the government ultimately used the Melia Hotel instead.

 He said he did not know if a contract to lease the space was ever formalised.

 Public Service Minister Pia Glover-Rolle said the government is looking to move some departments into the complex but that the Ministry of Finance “has control of the project”.