Former FNM Senator Blasts Gov’t
By Kendea Jones:
A former Free National Movement (FNM) senator is blasting the government over what he feels is its over-dependence on foreign expertise.
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Darron Cash said the government is publicly setting up a “trial balloon” by hiring Canadian Company Emera to analyse the Bahamas Electricity Corporation’s (BEC) financial position.
“As a former senator, I am greatly concerned about successive governments’ apparent default position of looking to and relying upon perceived foreign expertise at the expense of Bahamian talent,” he said.
“To put it another way, I am concerned, and to a degree troubled, by the extent to which successive governments appear to look to foreign nationals to solve every major national problem we have.”
According to Mr. Cash the government has brought in foreign reserves for the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA), the city dump, BEC, Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC), the College of The Bahamas (COB) and the New Providence Road Improvement Project (NPRIP).
“With respect to BEC, I strongly urge the government to reconsider this idea. It is a bad idea,” he said.
“This country must get to the point where Bahamians recognise that they must be the ones to take ownership of and solve the country’s problems.”
The former senator added that he believes that the government is in too much of a hurry to solve the country’s problems.
The government has made no secret of the fact that BEC is in troubled waters.
Minister of State for the Environment Phenton Neymour, who has responsibility for public utilities, has said that the government projects that the state-owned corporation will lose $28 million in profits this year.
While speaking with the Bahama Journal yesterday, Minister Neymour said he disagrees that the government did not use Bahamian expertise.
“We used firms like Ernst & Young, which produced audit reports for us and analysed the processes being analysed in BEC. We also used the services of Deloitte & Touche, who did a forensics analysis over a number of months. They both produced reports for the government and the government took their recommendations, which included restructuring its BEC’s executive team,” he said.
Minister Neymour said the government also made the decision to hire Michael Moss as BEC chairman because he was locally and internationally known.
He also defended the government’s decision to appoint Emera.
“We have to now address BEC from an operational standpoint and so we had to find those firms who have experience not only in The Bahamas but in the Caribbean. Emera is part owner of the Grand Bahama Power Company (GBPC) and so it has experience not only in The Bahamas, but in Barbados and elsewhere in the Caribbean.
“We are using firms like that to provide BEC with stronger management because one of the things pointed out by the Bahamian firms is that we need to strengthen our executive team at BEC,” Minister Neymour said.
The minister also pointed out that the government is looking to bring renewable energy to BEC.
Minister Neymour said Emera is just the company to help the corporation get it.
“They are running experiments in regards to wind energy, tidal energy etc. We want to bring in these kinds of companies with this type of experience. So what Mr. Cash is saying is not correct. What we are doing is taking a multipronged approach to restoring BEC to the position where it used to be,” he said.
June 3rd, 2010
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