The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK 

Tribune Freeport Reporter 

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell has refuted claims that the government’s dispute with the Grand Bahama Port Authority over $350m allegedly owed to the administration is hindering investments on the island.

His comments came in response to remarks from a GBPA spokesman who suggested that the dispute is “unhelpful” and a distraction preventing investments in Freeport.

While in Grand Bahama yesterday, Mr Mitchell dismissed these claims and accused the GBPA of trying to exert public pressure on the government and turn Grand Bahamians against the PLP administration.

“I find this, the PLP finds this an incredible statement to be made after the two families who own the GBPA were fighting like cats and dogs in the streets over who owns what and who is going to do what, and so the Port could not move forward for almost a decade,” he said.

Rupert Hayward, executive director of the GBPA, had publicly stated that the conflict is impacting investor confidence and is a distraction, adding that investors are observing how the government handles the situation.

To which, Mr Mitchell replied: “It is rubbish. This is a spoiled brat who is speaking rubbish in public trying to manipulate public opinion and trying to get into a political battle that he does not know anything about and he ought to stay out of it.”

He emphasised that the matter concerns the government’s demand for $357m, claimed under the provisions of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement (HCA), and is being resolved through legal channels.

The minister also highlighted economic challenges in Grand Bahama, noting a decline in the island’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“The fact is that evidence shows that the GDP of Grand Bahama, unlike other islands, has gone into reverse. Something seems to be amiss. The question is whether these folks were actually performing to according the provisions of the HCA. That is the only argument which is going on now. There is a provision that you are said to owe funds to that provision and there is a process. So, don’t tell us about what’s unhelpful,” he continued.

He pointed to incomplete infrastructure projects, such as the unfinished bridges to Taino Beach, Dover Sound, and the Grand Lucayan Waterway, as responsibilities of the Port that remain unmet.

Mr Mitchell also mentioned that the GBPA’s claims about regulating utilities will soon be addressed in court.

Despite these challenges, he expressed optimism about Grand Bahama’s potential.

Reflecting on the HCA’s broader implications, he questioned its relevance as it approaches expiration in 30 years.

He added that when the HCA expires, the land should return to the Bahamian people to decide its future model.

While he acknowledged no functional issues between the government and GBPA, he said: “What is happening is the spokesman for the families, I don’t know whether it is plural, but it appears to be singular. They are trying to map out a path to create public pressure on the government and persuade citizens to turn against the government. That is all happening here.”

“It is a very dangerous thing to me to get involved in a political contra-tangle with the government of the day.The predecessors would never have engaged this. The problem is that we can’t have a situation where the public domain and the well is being poisoned everyday by one side without some countervailing view being put.”