By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Chief Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said the controversy over the now-terminated Bahamas Moorings deal had forced his administration to review marine policies, claiming officials still cannot determine how certain breaches occurred.
His comments in the House of Assembly yesterday came as the Free National Movement intensified its calls for transparency over the lease agreement between the government and Bahamas Moorings.
The company drew scrutiny after installing moorings/anchorages and associated infrastructure in Exuma without the required approvals, prompting a cease and desist order.
The deal was subsequently terminated, and the company voluntarily relinquished its lease.
Mr Davis said there is a need for policies that Bahamians can trust and contribute to, adding that his government is committed to developing a new national strategic plan for mooring management.
He said mooring arrangements have traditionally been handled ad hoc within the existing legal framework but suggested this must change.
“As science and technology and the climate are all in flux, we can benefit from updating and more clearly defining and implementing our country’s policies,” he said.
He said government intends to act quickly, seeking input from stakeholders, including boaters, fishermen, and marina owners.
However, FNM leader Michael Pintard accused the prime minister of being disingenuous, suggesting he spoke as though he had not approved the deal himself.
“When he talks about this situation having brought to his attention the need to change how we do moorings, I want to know where was he a couple of years ago, when he was signing off on a document in secret,” Mr Pintard said during a press conference.
He claimed that the prime minister was protecting the financial interests of those close to him, an apparent reference to a senior policy advisor in his office said to be connected to the Bahamas Moorings deal.
The Tribune previously reported that Sandra Kemp, deputy communications director in the Prime Minister’s Office, witnessed the signing of Bahamas Moorings’ 21-year lease on the company’s behalf. She is the wife of Philip Kemp, one of the two principals named in the lease.
Mr Davis did not address her role in his speech yesterday or whether disciplinary action would be taken, only saying that investigations were ongoing.
He over the past few days, officals have been unable to determine who was responsible for placing the moorings or who authorised their installation.
He commended Exuma Chamber of Commerce President Ehren Hanna, who told The Nassau Guardian that while he lamented the missteps in the Bahamas Moorings deal, he supports the development of a successful mooring system at Elizabeth Harbour, Great Exuma, in collaboration with the Bahamas National Trust.
“He will be one of my first calls,” he added.
“We have an important opportunity to update our country’s policies with an openness to new solutions, although, of course, we will start from the non-negotiable premise that The Bahamas is a sovereign nation and that if you enter our jurisdiction, you will compensate Bahamians for doing so.”
Comments
ohdrap4 1 month ago
Stop spending travel money in climate change. How much carbon credit money was received? How much? As long as Trump is around, there will be no carbon credit.
Carbon credits are an external market, you are producing nothing. So you can lose money anytime .
Carbon credit is a hoax.
birdiestrachan 1 month ago
The boats are comming they are casting their anchors somewhere. For sure
rosiepi 1 month ago
A new plan? Please, from these master criminals?
ExposedU2C 1 month ago
You can just hear greedy Tony Ferguson and others whispering in Davis's ear that he should simply ignore the law and the voices of all Bahamians concerned with this most corrupt and blatant abuse of power to unjustly enrich his financial-backers and cronies in yet another monopolistic giveaway of national assets belonging to the people disguised as somehow being a Public-Private-Partnership (P-P-P) that serves the public interest. What a joke!!
And why hasn't the FNM opposition insisted the Office of the PM produce all of the bogus documents behind the now aborted corrupt moorings deal showing who signed them in the dark of night with the nerve to hold them out on discovery by the public as somehow being legal?
By the way, why has the FNM opposition gone quiet about the blatantly corrupt and illegal deal whereby Tony Ferguson is purported to have engineered the transfer of monopolistic control of our nation's entire electrical energy sector to a greedy wealthy group of marauders led by Snake for mere pennies on the dollar of the value true of the national assets given away? This yet another most corrupt and illegal P-P-P that must be undone!
zemilou 1 month ago
In a June 19, 2019, Central Communications Unit communique titled “Land Reform Initiative to Improve Access to Crown Land Leases and Grants,” then-Prime Minister Ingraham stated: "The Department of Lands and Surveys is presently engaged in an intensive exercise which, in due course, will enable the Government to better manage the Crown Land leases and grants processes."
How much progress has been made in this direction? Perhaps all non-agricultural commercial leases—especially those involving the seabed—should be put on hold until new legislation has been enacted and Gazetted. Such legislation should address, among other things: the establishment of an independent Crown Lands Commission to oversee leases and land management; competitive bidding processes; public consultation and the legal right to challenge leases; majority Bahamian and/or government equity in projects; independent and/or Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) environmental impact assessments and economic analyses.
Crown Lands are the people’s asset and, as such, their management and leases must adhere to principles of transparency, accountability, fairness, equitable economic benefits, and environmental protection. (For reference, consider Australia’s Crown Land Management Act 2016; New Zealand’s Te Urewera Act 2014, and Alberta, Canada’s Public Lands Act.)
Hobo2500 1 month ago
Moorings should be locally owned and operated. If you are not a resident on an island you should not be given permission to install moorings near that island.
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