The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) on the Christie administration's deal with Bahamas Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTC) and Cable and Wireless

Bahamians are NO Fools!

The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) is incredulouslydisappointed in the Christie administration, which, as failed negotiations withCable and Wireless further proves, continues to show no real plan forgovernance.

Many Bahamians voted for the Progressive Liberal Party onthe premise that Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) ownership would bereturned to them. They deserve an apology—one from the former Prime Ministerfor selling the corporation in the first place and one from the current PrimeMinister for selling such a far-fetched dream.

“Bahamians are no fools. They are no longer comforted bypromises that lack projection or feasible solutions. We deserve better. Wedeserve more. We deserve a government that can close the deal,” said Mr.McCartney.

Since the deal with BTC and Cable and Wireless took effect,Prime Minister Perry Christie blindly assured Bahamians that his Party could returnto them majority stake. However, according to a recent announcement, that didnot happen. “This is not surprising news” says DNA party leader BranvilleMcCartney “as, like many of their other initiatives, ending in complete andutter failure. Whether it’s the promiseof 10,000 jobs; the mortgage relief plan that provided no relief to anyone; thegaming referendum debacle or the proposed economy destroying VAT plan, thisgovernment string of failures in less than two years is the only recordbreaking thing they’ve done, unmatched by any government in our past.”

The past government sold BTC under such clauses that wereindefinitely irreversible. However, theChristie government has proved that they and the former Ingraham Administrationare two sides of the same coin. Theyboth seem to believe that government ownership of 49% equates to majorityownership.

“While we appreciate that BTC has pledged to give a littlemore in charitable donations, 2% is not a huge break considering that BTC isalready a major sponsor of most national events and initiatives,” said Mr.McCartney.

The DNA is demanding that the government, or BTC, share withthe public the value of what has been given to charitable organizations in 2013and the value of the 2% promised.

The Government is searching for answers in the darkness,wasting time and taxpayer dollars on schemes that result in no wins for theBahamian people. Crime worsens, unemployment rises and regrets soar, asadmitted by Mr. Christie, himself.

Perhaps now Mr. Christie can use his time and resources toplot rational plans to combat crime, create jobs, relieve homeowners andbusiness owners, and explore reasonable tax alternatives. He owes taxpayersthat much. As of this day, the Christie administration is known as the governmentthat makes promises that they can not keep.

January 23, 2014

Democratic National Alliance (DNA)

What role is Mark Holowesko playing in the BTC - Cable and Wireless marriage?

Holowesko denies conflict claim...


Responds to PLP’s claims about BTC board appointment



Professional money manager Mark Holowesko has strongly denied claims made by the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) that his recent appointment to the board of the newly-privatized Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) represents a conflict.

At the close of the deal with Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) early this month, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham announced that Holowesko, a principal of Holowesko Capital Partners, is one of the three members who will represent the government on the board.

In a recent press statement, the PLP attached general information from Franklin Templeton Investment Funds that lists Holowesko as a member of the board of directors.

Franklin Templeton Investments Portfolio Holdings — also included as part of the press release — shows that Franklin Templeton holds shares in Cable and Wireless Communications.

But Holowesko dismissed claims that he has been appointed to the BTC board to serve interests other than the government and the people of The Bahamas.

“I am not intimately involved in Cable and Wireless,” Holowesko told The Nassau Guardian.

“I own no shares in Cable and Wireless personally and I don’t know that I’ve ever bought any shares in Cable and Wireless for myself or the funds that I’m directly responsible for.”

But the PLP highlighted what it called an apparent conflict.

“At the time of the announcement of Mr. Holowesko to the board of BTC, no disclosure was made by the prime minister or Cable and Wireless of the apparent divided loyalty of Mr. Holowesko,” the PLP said.

“Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition demands to know in whose interest is Mr. Holowesko serving.

“Is Mr. Holowesko representing the interest of the Bahamian people as a government appointee to the board, or is he there as a representative of the company for which he is employed, or is it both?”

But Holowesko said there are several erroneous statements in the PLP’s release.

One of them, he said, is the suggestion that he is paid by Franklin Templeton Investments.

And he said none of the funds he manages holds shares in Cable and Wireless.

Holowesko said he was inquiring with the Franklin Templeton office in the United States about whether any of the funds on whose board he sits holds shares in Cable and Wireless.

“I am a director for a group of funds over in Europe for the Templeton SICAV funds,” he explained.

“Franklin Templeton Investments isn’t the correct legal name for it. Franklin Templeton is a company incorporated in America, which is an investment management company and they have mutual funds in Europe under a Luxembourg umbrella fund called SICAV fund and I am a board member of those funds.

“I’m not a director of Franklin Templeton, the investment management company. I’m a director of some of the funds that they run over in Europe. That’s an important distinction.

“Franklin Templeton funds may or may not own Cable and Wireless shares.”

Further explaining his role with the investment group, Holowesko said, “Franklin Templeton is a company that runs funds all over the world and the funds that I’m a director on, I’m making an educated guess, are about 20 or 30 percent of the mutual funds that they manage, so they’re not the US funds or the Canadian funds. They’re the European funds. Those funds may or may not own Cable and Wireless shares.”

Holowesko explained that as a director on the board of certain funds, he would have no specific knowledge of the day-to-day activities of them.

“I’m not involved in the day-to-day management of those funds. As a director we meet twice a year in London to basically review the operational activities of those funds,” he said.

“The day-to-day investment management of those funds is not under us as directors and I’m not an insider in terms of knowing what they buy and sell and when they buy and sell.

“I do get reports as a director at certain periods in terms of what the funds hold at that point in time, and whether or not those funds own shares in Cable and Wireless today I don’t know and I’ve asked the legal department of Franklin Templeton to let me know and I’ll have that response.”

Holowesko was contacted by The Nassau Guardian to respond to the PLP statement.

The opposition party said, “The nagging questions persist as to what role Holowesko is playing in this BTC, Cable and Wireless marriage.”

“Was Mr. Mark Holowesko involved in the sale of BTC to Cable and Wireless, a company he is intimately involved in as an investor, from the beginning?

“If so, in what capacity? Who was he serving then and who is he serving now?”

But Holowesko said he played no role in bringing Cable and Wireless to the table for the BTC deal. In fact, he said he knows very little about the transaction.

“I have very little knowledge and I have had absolutely zero activity in the sale to Cable and Wireless,” he said.

“As a matter of fact when the prime minister asked me to go on the board, I said ‘one of my main concerns is I don’t know enough about this transaction. If you want me to go on the board you need to have somebody fill me in on this transaction.

“So it is completely and totally erroneous that I have any knowledge or any kind of involvement in this transaction. I have zero involvement in this transaction and I know very little about it.”

Holowesko said he has a meeting with government representatives on Thursday so he can learn more about the specifics of the CWC/BTC transaction and what will be expected of him as a board member.

Holowesko was also asked whether Franklin Templeton Investments is benefiting in any way from the BTC sale.

“I have no idea,” he said.

In its statement, the PLP also said it had been informed that the parent company of Cable and Wireless Communications, Temasek Holdings, is the majority shareholder of Singapore Telecommunications Limited.

“A major shareholder of SingTel is Templeton Global Advisors Limited which falls under the umbrella of Franklin Templeton Investments,” the PLP said.

“Temasek Holdings Limited’s 54 percent ownership of SingTel is under the control of the Government of Singapore.”

Holowesko explained: “Temasek is a company in Singapore which is 100 percent owned by the Singaporean government, which the Singaporean government uses as its vehicle for investing on behalf of the Singaporean people, and nobody owns shares in that company other than the government of Singapore. I have no interaction with that company.

“And how that company is somehow involved in Cable and Wireless I wouldn’t know, and to somehow imply that we have some sort of interest or I have some sort of interest in that company is like saying the average American has some sort of interest in the US Treasury. It’s silly.

“That’s just loony. Total fabrication.”

Company documents with information on Franklin Templeton Investment Funds’ board of directors has a brief reference to “Temasek”, but not the company.

The company address of one of the Franklin Templeton directors — Dr. J. B. Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton’s Emerging Markets Group — is listed as “7 Temasek Boulevard” in Singapore.

Asked how he felt about the claims being made by the PLP, Holowesko, who is the son of Senate President Lyn Holowesko, said, “I’m not a politician. I’m a businessman and a family man. I’ve had family members in politics. I don’t like politics. I abhor politics.

“I find most of it to be a waste of time for these particular reasons that I’m involved in right now. This is time wasting. As far as I’m concerned it’s non-productive and I guess politicians like to do these sorts of things for a variety of reasons. And whatever reasons they have I guess it’s up to them.”

Holowesko said he was asked by the prime minister to be a member of the BTC board and he hopes to make a positive contribution on behalf of the government and the Bahamian people.

“From an investment perspective, I’ve been in the investment business since 1985. So I have a lot of investment experience,” he said.

“…From what I understand — and I’ll get more information [this] week — there’s some very specific things that Cable and Wireless is supposed to do as part of this purchase for The Bahamas and my role on that board is to ensure that they do those things first and foremost.”

The two other government members of the BTC board are Maria Ferere, a partner of FT Consultants Ltd., and Deidre Prescott, who works for the Bahamas Electricity Corporation and previously served as a director on the BTC board.

Four employees of LIME (CWC’s Caribbean arm) are also members of the new board, including LIME CEO David Shaw.

4/26/2011

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) has found no friend in the Perry Gladstone Christie lead Progressive Liberal Party (PLP)

Undoing the BTC deal

By CANDIA DAMES
Guardian News Editor
candia@nasguard.com


Could it be done?


Officials of Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) appear to have their work cut out for them.

In addition to delivering on all they and the government promised in the months and weeks leading up to the recent controversial closing of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) privatization process, they must convince hundreds of BTC workers that CWC is not the enemy, but a caring employer and strategic partner in every sense.

That may be a tough task, but perhaps not an impossible one.

Accepting the defeat that has been handed to them, BTC union leaders have met with CWC representatives to try to iron out the best arrangements for their jittery members.

While it may reach agreement with the previously enraged unions, what is clear is that CWC has found no friend in the Progressive Liberal Party, and if its leader, Perry Gladstone Christie, delivers on what he promises if he wins the next general election, CWC could face more problems that it bargained for.

But that’s if Christie wins, and if he follows through on his warning to undo this deal.

The former prime minister issued the threat to CWC on several occasions, most recently a week ago as the company and the government were preparing to finalize the transaction.

“This is a bad deal,” Christie said.

“The deal stinks and the PLP remains committed to regaining this asset for the Bahamian people and allow the Bahamian public to have a full and public view of the entirety of this transaction.”

But while Christie is sure he would undo the deal, he apparently has not yet settled on how it would be achieved.

Each time he threatened to change the terms of the deal, we carried the warning, but there really was never any indication about what steps he would take to deliver on this promise if he forms the next government.

So National Review decided to ask him.

Christie revealed that he would seek advice from lawyers because it would have to be done legally, of course.

“The mechanics will have to be left to the kind of advice we will get on the matter,” he told us.

“I’m not prepared to comment on those matters.”

Three PLP parliamentarians who are lawyers also told us they are not prepared to speak behind the leader.

One of them said, “We won’t get our messages mixed up on this one.”

So what really would be Christie’s options on this?

Thomas Evans, QC, was not intimately involved in the BTC deal, but has vast knowledge of the law and commercial transactions.

“Because they are the government I suppose they can do whatever they choose,” said Evans, speaking generally about governments.

Evans recalled years back when he was in the Office of the Attorney General.

He was bold enough to write to the government and advise it could not do something.

“I was very quickly rebuffed and told ‘Look, we’re the government. We can do whatever we feel like doing’. That’s true, but there are consequences for certain things that they do.”

Evans pointed out that if one party reneges on an obligation that it assumes in entering a contract, then that violates and encroaches on the other party, and that other party is entitled to sue and recover damages for whatever loss is incurred as a result of the breach.

“So, while the government could go ahead and not perform an obligation which it assumed, there are consequences,” he repeated.

PENALTIES

Another lawyer close to the PLP suggested to us that one way in which a new Christie administration could force a deal change is by reducing the three-year exclusivity period for cellular service.

“CWC would have to determine how that would affect its commercial interest because the deal may no longer be viable,” noted the lawyer who did not want to be named.

“It may give them a commercial impetus to say rather than just paying us the penalty we want out of the entire deal.”

But that would call for hefty penalties.

In its agreement with CWC, the government has agreed “to pay to the purchaser such amount as is equal to the loss, expense, damage or other liability (calculated on the same basis as would be used for determining damages for breach of contract) incurred by the purchaser which arises as a result of a second cellular license being issued prior to the third anniversary of completion, and/or a second and third cellular license being issued prior to the fifth anniversary of completion.”

Under the agreement, the government has agreed to pay CWC $100 million if one or more additional cellular licenses are issued within the next year.

It would have to pay $80 million if one or more licences are issued within the next two years and it would have to pay $40 million if it issues one or more licenses within the next three years.

If the government issues a third cellular license after the third anniversary of the closing of the sale, but prior to the fifth anniversary of completion, it would be subject to a $20 million penalty.

So it would seem unlikely that the Christie administration might want to go this route, but given that Christie has not yet received advice from lawyers, that of course remains unclear.

Evans said if the government decides to go to Cable and Wireless asking for two percent of the shares back, it would likely have great difficulty “because you’ve got a deal.”

“Once a contract has been entered into between two parties it can’t be changed unless you have the consent of both parties,” he explained.

“It can’t be altered. One person can’t unilaterally alter the terms of the contract, even if you are the government.

“So, Cable and Wireless would say ‘Look, the deal I have is a deal. I acquired 51 percent. That’s what I wanted. I am not interested in 49 percent, and I’m just not going to agree.

“I don’t know that there’s any way that the government, even though they’re the government, would be able to compel Cable and Wireless to agree to surrender their two percent.”

Evans said the fact that a new party takes over the government doesn’t change the obligations that were assumed by the previous party because the government is the government.

“A party doesn’t make the government even though the constitution says that after an election the prime minister is the person who is the leader of the party that has the majority in Parliament.

“To that extent there’s a measure of connection between the government and a political party. But the point I’m seeking to make is that the government is the government.”

TAX FRUSTRATIONS

When he spoke in the House of Assembly recently, Golden Gates MP Shane Gibson, who served as a minister in the Christie Cabinet, noted that there are all sorts of creative ways in which a PLP government could pull the rug from under CWC.

Gibson — who served as president of the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) during initial attempts to privatize the then BaTelCo in the 1990s — expanded on those comments when he spoke with us for this piece.

“Obviously Cable and Wireless would have gotten what they consider to be an air-tight agreement from the government,” he said.

“And they are making it very difficult to introduce competition [any time soon] and they are making it difficult to have any other operator come in here, and making it difficult for a new government to be in a position to force them back to the table.

“As I said in Parliament, there are many ways that you can force a company like Cable and Wireless back to the table.

“We can tax them on certain aspects of their income; tax them on certain areas of the different services that they provide. For instance, we could put a special tax on mobile services. They’re the only one who provide mobile services in The Bahamas.

“So we tax them 15, 20 or 30 percent on mobile services, so there are many ways.”

Gibson had another idea.

“If we’re in charge of URCA (the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority), we could have discussions with URCA and make sure that individuals at URCA, advise them, or encourage them not to allow them (CWC) to go up on rates to offset taxes that they would have on certain parts of income.”

But given that URCA is an independent regulator, that too appears unlikely.

Gibson said that at the end of the day “it is known that the Bahamian public wants nothing to do with Cable and Wireless and they want BTC back in the hands of Bahamians.”

He said Bahamians have been running BTC for decades and “at the end of the day they almost feel that we are going back 100 years”.

“Once certain members of any elite group decide that they want to purchase, whether it is a property or a company, it is very difficult to persuade them to give it back to the people that it belongs to,” Gibson said.

“So it’s important to put it back in the hands of the people.”

CONSTITUTIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

We also asked prominent attorney Brian Moree how Christie might be able to get BTC back in the hands of the people, if he is re-elected.

Moree, who had no involvement in the BTC deal, said given the very strong and very direct comments from Christie, one would assume that he has a legal basis for making those statements.

“It would be surprising that that position would be adopted unless they had the benefit of some advice to suggest that the transaction could be impeached or reversed if they were elected,” Moree said.

“Generally speaking, if you’re going to challenge a transaction of that sort retrospectively or after the event, one would have to look to see if there were any constitutional issues, which would be relevant and whether proceedings on the public law side of the court could be commenced, either by way of judicial review or some other process.”

Constitutional issues were raised by one respondent when URCA was considering the BTC/CWC deal.

That respondent asserted that the proposed exclusivity of the licensee is ultra vires the Constitution of The Bahamas.

The respondent stated that URCA cannot be party to an unconstitutional result and should require the applicants to address the question as to whether or not the exclusivity arrangement offends the Constitution.

URCA said it was aware of discussion of this issue by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the Marpin Case2, a Dominican case in which the Judicial Committee held that a monopoly to control a means of communications can amount to a hindrance of freedom of expression, provided that it is proven that the restriction exceeds that which is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society.

URCA noted that the Committee in that case did not make any conclusive finding, but referred the issue back to the Dominican courts for a consideration of the particular facts in the context of the above test.

“In any event, constitutional issues, such as this, are highly complex and would properly involve significant judicial scrutiny of the facts surrounding the challenged decision. URCA is not the appropriate forum to consider matters of constitutionality of legislation in The Bahamas, and is therefore not competent to determine this point,” URCA said.

Supporters of Christie’s plan to take back a controlling interest in BTC point to similar action taken by Prime Minister of Belize Dean Barrow who in 2009 brought legislation to nationalize Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) in the public interest.

Barrow promised “fair and proper compensation” and said the move against BTL was not “some cowboy action, but something done in the full plentitude of, and compliance with, our constitution.”

INVESTOR CONFIDENCE

Moree said a degree of responsibility must be attributed to people in public life who make statements concerning these serious matters.

“That is why I said that I assume persons have obtained legal advice to support the position which they have adopted,” he said.

“I’m not aware of that legal advice, so I would not want to speculate.”

While he did not speculate, Moree raised the issue of investor confidence.

“The Bahamas as a sovereign country [must] acknowledge that there has to be a continuity of governance regardless of which political party is in power at any point in time,” he said.

“And when persons are dealing with the Government of The Bahamas, they have to have a level of confidence that their dealings — assuming that they’re lawful and they’re proper and there has been no corruption — they need to have the confidence that if they deal with the government which happens to be the FNM one day, that their transactions aren’t going to be the subject of litigation if another party comes in...”

Gibson said the Christie government has no problem with foreign investors, but is concerned about safeguarding national assets.

“If you look around and you try to identify one single project that this FNM government would have brought to The Bahamas since coming to office in 2007, I don’t think you could do that,” Gibsons aid.

“All of the projects that they are sitting and smiling over right now were projects that were initiated under the Progressive Liberal Party administration.

“And so, we’re not anti-foreign investors. We are anti-Cable and Wireless.”

Gibson said many Bahamians would have welcomed AT&T or T-Mobile, but not as majority shareholders.

“We’re not talking about foreign investors; we’re talking about this specific deal with Cable and Wireless, which seems to be the greatest giveaway ever in the history of The Bahamas,” the MP said.

PLPs would no doubt point to the instances where the Ingraham administration, upon assuming office in 2007 undid some of the deals left in place by the Christie-led government.

The straw market deal, incidentally, which was undone by Ingraham, remains unresolved with some of the professionals who had agreements with the government still waiting to be paid.

Of course, there were no such agreements on the magnitude of the BTC deal, but those actions by the new government led to the popular ‘stop, review and cancel’ phrase tossed about by PLP politicians.

When they took over last week, CWC executives seemed unbothered by Christie’s threats.

“In terms of our operations with government, we have a number of operations with governments across the globe in which we have very successful relations with them,” said Gerard Borely, chief financial officer of LIME, CWC’s regional arm.

“And we have successful relationships with governments no matter who is in power. The reason for that is because we deliver value and service to our consumers and governments, value that they appreciate. And we expect that to continue to be [the case] here.”

4/11/2011

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

Kirk Griffin's thoughts on the union between Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) and Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC)

Kirk Griffin on CWC


IN YOUR OWN WORDS


Former Acting CEO of Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) and newly-appointed advisor to the company Kirk Griffin offered his thoughts on Cable and Wireless Communications.

“I am fortunate to have been at BTC — at the executive level of the company — from the very beginning of the privatization process some 14 years ago. This has given me a unique perspective on the company, the industry and the necessity for BTC to be able to align itself with industry giants that can position BTC where it needs to be.

“I am not reluctant or shy to say that my team members and I at BTC are extremely proud of what we have been able to accomplish. We have consistently been profitable over the years as we have brought modern telecommunications throughout the length and breadth of The Bahamas. Our strengths and successess have been acknowledged by all reasonable observers, including our new colleagues at Cable and Wireless Communications. There can be no question that BTC has done well.

“However, by virtue of its small size, BTC is often disadvantaged because it cannot reach the economies of scale and command best prices from suppliers and vendors. At times, BTC even has difficulty attracting the attention of potential roaming partners as we seek to expand the connectivity of our very own customers across the globe.

“Further, as we all recognize the full liberalization of the telecommunications market is vital for the interests of Bahamian consumers and the vibrancy of the Bahamian economy, for BTC to compete in a fully liberalized market, up against the telecom giants of the world, it is critical that the company partners with a capable and competent global operator. CWC will help position BTC to effectively become and remain the provider of choice for consumers in The Bahamas, in a fully open and competitive marketplace.”

4/8/2011

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) is now a private company... It's now time to put down the placards and help build a telecommunications network of which all Bahamians can be proud

BTC has new owners. Time to move on


tribune242 editorial



AFTER 14 long years of starts, stops, demonstrations and a few hiccups, Bahamas Telecommunications Company is now a private company.

The much disputed sale agreement was finally signed in the Cabinet office yesterday with a prediction by the new owners that a "new era" in the Bahamas telecommunications sector is on the horizon.

Cable and Wireless Communications, a London-based worldwide communications company, now owns 51 per cent of BTC for which it paid Government $210 million in full and $14.3 million in kind and cash completion dividends from BTC.

Early this year Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, who had said that the money was earmarked for construction of the new hospital, announced that because of the economic downturn the payment would now have to go directly to the reduction of the national debt. The new owners will be protected from predators for the next three years in which time they will prepare the company with a more efficient staff and upgraded technology to face competition -- the first in its long history.

Only three years after Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, telephonic communications arrived in New Providence on a limited scale. It was from this invention that Cable Beach got its name when in 1892 an undersea cable was laid from Jupiter, Florida, to New Providence, surfacing at what is now Goodman's Bay. The small police barracks was constructed nearby in 1894 and had telephone contact with its stations in Grants Town and the Eastern District.

In 1924 the Nassau Telephone directory -- measuring 8" by 41/2", less than a quarter of an inch thick with 11 pages -- had 584 subscribers. It looked like a gentleman's brown leather wallet.

In case of a fire, Bahamians called 45, the Governor's office at Government House was 1, the Attorney General's chambers were 7, the Treasury 139 and The Tribune 260.

The little book advised constant practice of eight specified rules to receive good telephone service. The final rule was to "let the telephone reflect your personality in as pleasing a manner as though you were talking face to face." The booklet closed with the warning: "Do not use the telephone during lightning storms." The directory was printed by the City Press.

Look at the Bahamas' telephone directory today with its separate edition for the yellow pages for advertising and appreciate how far we have progressed from 1924 in the world of telecommunications.

In 1938 many changes were made to the department, chief of which was the switch over from the manual dial to the automated dial system. At this time it was known as the Telecommunications Department or Telecoms.

Later it became The Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation and most recently, in preparation for privatisation, it was transformed from a corporation to a company -- The Bahamas Telecommunications Company. Over the years BTC has done well. However, the Bahamas with its limited resources has developed the company as far as it can. It now needs a strong strategic partner to give it a global footprint.

The new technology is mind-boggling with the ability to switch to cellular towers from mobile phones. These cell sites are able to transmit vast amounts of data over the airwaves -- now almost too fast for man to assimilate. It provides instant communication, the results of which one can see daily on TV as the youth of backward nations demand that their governments move into the modern age. Instant telecommunications -- Blackberrys, iPods, Facebook and Twitter -- have informed them of how the rest of the world lives, and they want to join the band.

"BTC has posted strong revenues and profits in the past largely as a result of the very lack of competition that has led to the high fees that have kept Bahamians at the mercy of a monopoly, allowing BTC to generate strong profits despite its very high operating expenses," Mr Ingraham told the House in a Communication as the privatisation debate opened. "If BTC were exposed to competition tomorrow in mobile services, it would likely not survive. There is no way it could compete with a lean and aggressive competitor entering this market with a low cost base and aggressive marketing budget.

"We need," he said, "to give Bahamians competitive communications, but at the same time we want BTC to survive and prosper as a company preserving as many jobs as we can, to be a company that Bahamians can be proud to work for, to buy from and to have an ownership stake in."

It's now time to put down the placards and help build a telecommunications network of which all Bahamians can be proud.

April 07, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International

Dr. Andre Rollins and double standards

Dr. Andre Rollins and compromise. Or are we witnessing double standards?

By Rick Lowe


I think I can refer to Dr. Rollins as an acquaintance. He used to visit Nassau Institute events where we would exchange thoughts/ideas.

But as we pointed out in this post... in politics, Mr. Obama included, appears to force a double standard or compromise when it comes to his deciding when to send troops off to "war" for example.

We also have reports of a recently elected Republican in the US receiving farm subsides and when pressed would not offer to give his subsidy up. Saying something like, farm subsidies need to be rationalised. Go figure.

Now let's look a little closer to home, where we have a political figure stating that foreign investment is both good and bad.

According to a story in The Nassau Guardian on April 1, 2011 by Chester Robards, recently nominated PLP candidate Dr. Andre Rollins chastised the current government for not attracting foreign investors to The Bahamas.

He was quoted as saying; "We need to cause businesses to come here that are outside of the scope of our current economic model."

While he is correct that The Bahamas needs foreign direct investment he does not appear to have indicated what those foreign businesses are that should be asked to come in and invest.

But what's the double standard or compromise then?

Well Dr. Rollins party just came off a heated campaign against allowing a foreign company into the country to buy BTC the government monopoly phone company and now he says we need foreign investment.

I sometimes wonder how we say these things with a straight face. And to our College of The Bahamas students no less.

I must paraphrase Mencken yet again for a little respite from this:

I dislike double standards and the compromise of politics forces on values, common sense, common honesty. It seems this makes me forever ineligible for public office.

Oh, you might find this article on Politics as the Art of Confined Comprises interesting.

Monday, April 04, 2011

weblogbahamas

Bahamas Blog International

The House of Assembly Passed the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) Privatization Resolutions

House approves BTC sale

By KRYSTEL ROLLE
Guardian Staff Reporter
krystel@nasguard.com


PM accidentally voted against sale, then changed vote

The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) privatization resolutions were passed in the House of Assembly yesterday with 22 MPs voting in support of the resolutions and 18 voting against. The process to sell 51 percent of BTC to Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) is now almost finished.

All members of the official opposition voted against the resolutions. Independent MP for Bamboo Town Branville McCartney also voted against the resolutions.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham initially made a mistake and he accidentally voted against the first privatization resolution. He was seemingly distracted, using his Blackberry phone, when his name was called to vote. Ingraham said, “No.”

When he realized the mistake, Ingraham quickly said, “Yes.”

His initial “no” vote led to loud cheers and laughter from opposition members.

When it came time to vote on the second resolution, Ingraham clearly said, “Yes.” This also led to laughter from the opposition, considering Ingraham’s initial mistake.

Both resolutions passed shortly after Ingraham wrapped up the debate yesterday evening.

“This is a historic day in the history of The Bahamas,” Ingraham said. “It is the culmination of a process that was started 14 years ago.”

In negotiating the BTC deal, he said the government was motivated by its desire to give Bahamians the best of what is available and to ensure that communications services are reliable and accessible.

Ingraham also accused the opposition of using the unions representing BTC employees as “pawns” in the fight against of sale of BTC to CWC.

Ingraham further criticized the leaders of the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) and the Bahamas Communications and Public Managers Union (BCPMU) — the BTC unions — for leading their members down “the wrong path.”

The unions have led protests and legal action seeking to block the sale to CWC.

Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) MP for Fort Charlotte Alfred Sears took offense to Ingraham’s “pawns” statement. He said the unions are mature groups with responsible leaders who can make independent decisions.

The BCPOU and BCPMU were seeking an injunction to stop the government from selling BTC.

However, Supreme Court Justice Neville Adderley said the unions lacked the legal capacity to institute and maintain the action in their own names.

The unions appealed the decision, but lost that bid before the Court of Appeal Tuesday.

The unions will face significant legal bills as a result of the failed court action.

Ingraham encouraged the unions to engage with CWC.

“I appeal to the leadership, to the unions, to begin to engage in discussions with their new bosses. Because they are going to be the bosses in short order and it makes good sense for them to have discussions,” he said. “Do not allow anyone to mislead you into believing that we do not have your best interests at heart. In fact, had they listened to me they wouldn’t have been stuck with the thousands of dollars in court fees.”

The legislation associated with the BTC sale will next be debated in the Senate.

3/25/2011

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

The "evil role" of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) in the Privatisation Process of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) to Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC)

Maynard: BTC/CWC Issue Damaging Bahamians’ Psyche

By IANTHIA SMITH


Golden Isles Member of Parliament Charles Maynard said he believes Bahamians have been brainwashed into thinking that the deal between the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) and Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) is more controversial than it really is.

Mr. Maynard said as much as he led off day two of debate on the BTC privatisation in the House of Assembly Tuesday afternoon.

In fact, he said it was a plan masterminded by the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) that has obviously been working as tensions mount in the country over the pending BTC/CWC deal.

He added that ever since the government made steps to privatise the state-owned company the official Opposition has played an "evil role" in the entire process, a process he said has toyed with the minds of the Bahamian people, and that he added was more then evident at those mass rallies, motorcades and protests that grabbed the country’s attention.

"They have done considerable damage to the psyche of many Bahamians," Mr. Maynard said. "They have stirred up emotions that really didn’t need to be stirred up and I think that the worst victims are the employees of BTC.

"What I don’t understand and cannot appreciate is why would you play with the emotions of the hardworking people at BTC, why would you do that? Why would you make people feel uncertain about their futures, why would you encourage them not to meet with who could be their potential new bosses? What benefit would that have to them?"

To say that the BTC/CWC issue has drawn battle lines in the country would be an understatement.

Free National Movement (FNM) and PLP supporters, BTC union representatives and workers and the general public are either for it or against it, but whatever their position they made it known with posters, bullhorns and even blood, sweat and tears.

But according to Mr. Maynard these actions are being fuelled by the PLP who he said is "behind all of the civil unrest in the country right now."

North Andros and Berry Islands MP Vincent Peet would tell you that while he has no problem privatising BTC, however, he said he does have a problem with the lack of transparency with the process.

"It appears to me that Cable &Wireless is the only winner here," he said. "Why is there a two per cent fixed operating fee to be paid to Cable &Wireless for managing BTC?

"It is highly improper for an entity to purchase another entity and then be paid to manage that new entity. This is a guaranteed amount and they get this money even if BTC doesn’t make a cent."

Mr. Peet also accused the government of "selling Bahamians’ generational property" to CWC.

However, Montagu MP Loretta Butler-Turner was quick to shoot down that thought as she claimed she has too strong of an attachment to the country to ever stand for such a thing.

"My grandfather Sir Milo Butler fought for the rights of Bahamians and (you) dare say I, who still live among my people would come in here and sell out our birthright for the Bahamians I live with and see everyday," she said.

"I am a third generation Bahamian. I don’t have to buy the loyalty of Montagu, I live among my people I have to pass them everyday. These are people that I go to church with, went to school with, that I live with, that I work with, they know me. They don’t have to worry about their MP selling out their birthright."

The debate is expected to end on Thursday.

March 23rd, 2011

jonesbahamas

Bahamas Blog International

The Perry Christie camp is certainly desperate to win an election

Election tactics to fool Bahamians in full swing

tribune242 editorial



DURING yesterday's rally Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union president Bernard Evans expressed the hope that "between now and the vote something will happen to derail the sale" of BTC to Cable & Wireless.

We are certain that the Bahamian woman who called a radio show yesterday morning to complain that she tried to pay her telephone bill but found no cashier on duty at any of the outlets-- except at the BTC Marathon office -- to assist her is anxious for the sale to go through. She is probably among the many Bahamians who -- unlike Mr Evans -- cannot wait for the company to be privatised so that persons like herself will get the standard of service they have every right to expect.

It is presumed that instead of manning their stations yesterday many of the missing staff were on Bay Street protesting the sale of BTC. Lower fees, better service and more choice in their public communications is what the public wants -- as far as many of them are concerned, it cannot come soon enough. Sunday night an internal e-mail, claiming to have been sent by Philip "Brave" Davis to six party members, mysteriously found its way to the desks of several newspaper editors and reporters.

With daily information being supplied by TV, Twitter, Face book and all the other new fangled means of information, Bahamians are sufficiently well informed not to buy into the PLP's propaganda blaming the Bahamas' economic downturn on the Ingraham government, rather than where it rightfully belongs -- the world economic crash.

"We have not been able to persuade the electorate that it is management and not the global economy that is causing the woes today..." said the e-mail. Party members have been advised to change their tactics. The e-mail claims that what is "resonating is the intentional delay and slothfulness to get things started that was left in place." We do not think that what the PLP like to call "stop, review and cancel" will resonant with Bahamians either if they fully understand what the Ingraham government has saved for them by going over all agreements left in place by the Christie government. When they realise what they would have lost had this not been done, we do not believe that even this propaganda slogan will resonate with anyone.

The Davis e-mail suggested that the chorus line to this week's debate about the sale has to be the five reasons why the "BTC deal stinks and this word has to be the chorus line to all contributions." Taking Mr Davis' advice yesterday, Fort Charlotte MP Alfred Sears during his contribution to the debate called for a Commission of Inquiry because the deal "does not pass the smell test."

The Christie camp is certainly desperate to win an election. They are clutching at any and every straw that passes their way to try to capture votes.

The e-mail advised the party stalwarts to be "dismissive" of the rally. This was a reference to Saturday night's FNM rally attended by a large, enthusiastic and orderly crowd. We presume that the directive was to ignore it, but one intrepid PLP MP broke ranks and suggested that the FNM were disappointed by the poor turnout to their rally. The police estimated that on Saturday night the rally drew a crowd of about 7,000-- hardly a poor turnout.

One bystander watching yesterday's demonstration outside the House believed the people should protest, but wondered if "anyone is listening." Why should anyone listen when reports persist that "party operatives" are paying many of them to be there.

We have been told by eyewitnesses that when the House broke for lunch around 1pm yesterday, a long line --"from the top to the bottom of the stairs" -- of demonstrators waited outside the Opposition's office door in the Bayparl building, demanding payment for doing what they claimed they were paid to do at the rally. "One of them urinated on the stairs, they were smoking grass, swearing and saying they wanted their money," an eyewitness said.

We then had reports of another disturbance at the PLP's Gambier headquarters last night when a fight broke out and police and an ambulance had to be called. Again, according to an eyewitness, it was claimed that a bus load of persons arrived demanding payment. How can anyone listen to demonstrators, a large number of whom are being paid by "party operatives" to swell the ranks. Obviously many of them neither understand nor care about the issues. Despite these alleged inducements, the turnout has been sparse, especially for an issue about which Opposition politicians claim the people are so passionate. Paid protesters do not reflect the opinion of the general public and, therefore, cannot be taken seriously.

This tactic of paying this type of person-- some of whom the police say are "well known" to them -- to disturb the peace is dangerous. One only has to look at what eventually happened to politicians in Jamaica who played this game too long. Bruce Golding is a case in point.

It would be wise for Bahamian politicians -- especially after what must be to them an embarrassing episode -- to call a halt and change course. Bahamians want to know the truth for a change. They are tired of propaganda.

March 22, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International

The Bluewater Ventures Limited / Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) Privatization deal that came close to reality

Bluewater Unveiled

By CANDIA DAMES
NG News Editor
candia@nasguard.com


A look at the BTC deal that almost was

The veil of secrecy surrounding the group that almost purchased 49 percent of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) under the Christie administration is being lifted.

According to a closely guarded document obtained by National Review, Bluewater is a privately held entity, which does not have audited statements or disclose financial statements publicly.

“However, at signing or immediately prior to signing the [letter of intent] we are prepared to disclose relevant financial information and give the relevant assurances on Bluewater’s acquisition vehicle, including its financial capacity to complete the transaction,” the company said in 2006.

The response came as part of the due diligence exercise carried out by the Privatization Committee under the Christie administration, which subsequently recommended to the government that negotiations should proceed with Bluewater.

Members of that committee included the financial secretary, the legal advisor to the Ministry of Finance, BTC union officials, private sector members and telecommunications consultants.

As the government gets closer to closing a deal with Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) to sell 51 percent of BTC, the Bluewater deal that almost came to be remains highly controversial.

Speaking at his party’s rally on Clifford Park Saturday night, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said if the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) had its way BTC would have been sold off to Bluewater, which “had no experience in telecommunications. The company wasn’t even traded on the stock market.”

Ingraham said, “We still aren’t exactly sure who had their hands in that Bluewater pot or who the real players were behind a deal that would have purchased BTC on credit…”

Details of the deal that almost came to be are likely to be discussed in greater details in the BTC privatization debate, which gets underway in the House of Assembly today.

Ingraham has already promised to have more to say about Bluewater and what the Christie administration had planned.

In 2006, the privatization committee posed a number of questions to Bluewater, which were answered in detailed form in a document to the committee dated September 13, 2006.

One revelation made in that document is that Bluewater was formed to invest in and manage companies in the telecom and media industries.

According to the document, there was no plan for any layoffs. Between 2006 and 2011, average salary at BTC was projected to rise from $43,332 to $48,780.

Bluewater said in 2006 it would negotiate contracts with the existing management team between signing the letter of intent and closing the transaction.

“We anticipate that as a part of their package executive management will receive equity participation in BTC,” Bluewater said.

“Bluewater also anticipates that all board members will receive industry standard board compensation packages.”

A PLAN FOR BTC

Bluewater outlined 25 key initiatives to target in the first two years of purchasing the BTC shares.

It committed to plugging revenue leakages; reducing discounts to prepaid vendors; reducing bad debt charges; charging for in-home wiring to recoup costs; tightening the pre-paid card distribution process; instituting a new sales incentive scheme; reducing fleet maintenance costs; reducing overtime expenses and reducing contract service costs by 20 percent.

The company said that in the first year of the BTC acquisition it expected $92.5 million to be spent in capital expenditure to focus on consumers and core networks.

Asked to provide the supporting details and data for Bluewater’s proposed debt to equity ratio and any plans for external financing, Bluewater said it “does not intend to leverage BTC, so the net debt to equity ratio does not change during our projections.”

It also said it expected “all free cash flow after capital expenditure to be dividended to shareholders. This excludes current cash on the balance sheet which will be left at the company for working capital purposes.”

Bluewater also advised that it expected the cost of management and consultant contracts to be covered by the employee costs and the consultant costs in the business plan.

“In addition, we anticipate setting aside 10 percent of the equity of BTC for employees,” said Bluewater in 2006.

Under current plans for BTC, which appear poised to go through, the government says it will, by the end of this year, sell nine percent or approximately $40 million of the shares in BTC to the Bahamian public.

Bluewater said in 2006 that it did not intend to transfer or sell any of BTC’s shares for three years or any longer period of time as agreed by the shareholders.

The Bluewater plan also called for an improvement of EBITDA margins from 26 percent in 2005 to 39 percent in 2008.

The company said the improvement in EBITDA would have been achieved through the streamlining of operations.

The 2006 document to the Privatization Committee added, “Bluewater also intends to offer better value to its customers through reductions in wireless and international long distance tariffs as laid out in our business plan.”

The company had planned to launch an IPTV offering in 2009.

This would have included more than 1,000 movies on-demand “available to watch exactly when you want”; interactive music channels; on-demand movies and TV that you can stop, rewind, pause or fast-forward.

IPTV revenues were projected to be more than $9 million by this year.

The deal that came close to reality also included a plan for improving telecommunication services on less developed Family Islands.

THE BLUEWATER PLAYERS

The Privatization Committee asked Bluewater to provide the propose management candidates for BTC.

Several board members were named.

One of them was Trinidad and Tobago native Roger Ames, who served as chairman and chief executive officer of Warner Music Group and president of Warner Music International between August 1999 and August 2004.

Carlos Espinal who in 2006 was CEO of TSTT, the national telephone company of Trinidad & Tobago, was named as another Bluewater executive.

Prior to joining TSTT in 2004, he spent eight years with Verizon as senior vice president international - Latin America.

During his time with Verizon, he worked as a turn-around specialist for Verizon’s Latin American and Caribbean businesses, Bluewater said.

John Gregg was listed in the document sent to the Privatization Committee as managing director of Bluewater. According to that 2006 document, he had 15 years of building companies in the media and telecom industry in Europe, the U.S. and Asia.

Another board member named was Andrew Sukawaty, who was named as the chairman and CEO of Inmarsat, which Bluewater said was the world leader in global satellite communications.

According to the document, Sukawaty served as president and CEO of Sprint PCS, one of America’s largest mobile phone providers. It said he grew Sprint from a start up to a company with 9.5 million subscribers and approximately $6.6 billion in revenue.

Bluewater also named several operational advisors, a finance team and a legal team.

The document said Bluewater’s principals intended to invest in BTC through a standalone Bahamian entity that would have been capitalized and controlled by Bluewater’s principals. It said Bluewater is an entity controlled by John Gregg.

DEFENDING THE DEAL

Today, Bluewater of course is a dead deal, but what the Christie administration had proposed continues to come up in the current privatization debate.

The Christie administration had agreed to sell a 49 percent stake in the national telecommunications provider for $260 million shortly before the May 2007 general election.

However, after the Free National Movement was returned to power, Ingraham vowed to review the deal, claiming that Christie and the former Cabinet were planning to sell BTC "on credit" and that Bluewater would enjoy too lengthy an exclusivity period as a monopoly in an industry that his administration was keen on liberalizing.

According to documents previously obtained by The Nassau Guardian, Bluewater had agreed to pay $220 million for BTC in cash at closing, $25 million at the end of the fifth year following closing and $15 million at the end of the sixth year.

Under the deal, Bluewater would have been granted mobile and landline licenses with five and six-year exclusive periods, respectively.

Speaking at a press conference at PLP headquarters on Farrington Road yesterday, Christie again defended the deal.

“By innuendos and suggestions he (Ingraham) started off immediately after he became prime minister to suggest that there was something crooked about our involvement in Bluewater,” Christie said.

“The Progressive Liberal Party structured an approach to privatization that relied on the integrity and leadership of the financial secretary (at the time) Mrs. Ruth Millar.

“To ensure that we were on safe grounds we placed the leaders of the management union of BTC and the workers, BCPOU (Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union), as full members of the negotiating team.

“That team, including the union leaders, would come into Cabinet and brief Cabinet. We took a transparent and accountable approach to it.”

Referring to the prime minister, Christie said, “…If he really wants to look for something, tell the Bahamian people whether or not there are deals in this BTC sale to Cable and Wireless.

“That’s where he should be looking at. The Progressive Liberal Party lost the elections. We can explain the positions we took.”

3/21/2011

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

Kendal Isaacs: ...a reasonable, and responsible man

Why Sir Kendal refused to lead a demonstration

tribune242 editorial





SEVERAL years ago the late Sir Kendal Isaacs, then leader of the FNM, resisted the urging of his members to lead a peaceful protest outside the House of Assembly. We do not recall the occasion, but it was just after the conclusion of the Commission of Inquiry into drug smuggling when there was much political unrest in the country.

Sir Kendal, not only a reasonable, but a responsible man, said he would never take the responsibility of leading a demonstration. Why? Because, no one could control a crowd of people, especially if they should turn into a frenzied mob. He did not want to shoulder the inevitable tragic consequences of damage a violent mob could do. So there was no demonstration.

Speaking to party members at their Gambier headquarters last Tuesday, PLP Leader Perry Christie told supporters that come the 2012 election the PLP was committed to "play it straight." The party's campaign will be "aggressive" and "spirited", he promised, but would be conducted with "respect for, and adherence, to the elementary values of integrity, decency and dignity that are so sorely lacking in our country today."

Mr Christie said his party was going "to set the pace and set the tone because we are convinced that political morality, human decency and civility require us to do so."

Of course we saw none of this high-mindedness displayed when a crowd descended on Rawson Square on February 23, as police struggled to hold the barricades and shouts went up to "secure the House."

It was meant to be a peaceful union demonstration to save BTC from the clutches of C&W, but unionists were sidelined in a swirl of PLP supporters dressed in yellow "no turning back" shirts and a large contingent of PLP youth.

One policeman later commented that the first hand he saw touch a metal barricade to force it down was that of a man with a murder charge pending. Rumours were rife, resulting in National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest eventually confirming that, according to police reports, several violent criminals were also among the crowd protesting outside Parliament that day.

Mr Christie was quick to deny the rumours that many protesters were paid by the PLP to demonstrate. He said he certainly "paid no one." He also condemned Mr Turnquest for using "confidential police information" about criminal elements being a part of what was meant to be a "peaceful" demonstration, but turned out to be anything but peaceful. Of course, on such an occasion, Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell had to get in his own snide remark about paid demonstrators. "Aside from that being untrue, so what if they were paid?" he asked, referring to the practice during the PLP's early protests in the 1960s.

"To mobilise people takes resources: food, buses, and communication, emergency care to name a few of the possible expenses.

"So let's not get distracted by that fact."

We don't intend to get distracted by that fact, nor were the police to be distracted. Upset by another remark made in another context by Mr Mitchell about police reports, Police Staff Association president Dwight Smith stepped in to confirm on Friday that criminally-minded people were overheard to say that they had been paid to participate in the February 23 protest. And, he added, it was undeniable that there were people in the crowd with potential criminal motives. Mr Smith urged politicians to stop policising issues. Police already had a difficult crime problem to deal with, they had no need for politicians to add to their responsibilities.

The leader of the Opposition's office is located in the Bayparl building, as are several other offices, including the Ministry of Tourism. Reports from eyewitnesses and eavesdroppers tell the following tale:

After the court gave its ruling on the Elizabeth Estate election case, a group of persons lined the stairs leading the door of the Opposition's office. Among them was a "gentleman" who is extremely well known to the police. The persons on the stairs made it known to everyone within earshot that they were there for their "f money!" Someone opened the Opposition door and gave them some money. They were not satisfied. "Listen," said their spokesman, "we did what you asked us to do, now we want our money!" They were shouting the names of two MPs. They demanded to see them. Mr Christie was not one of them.

About a week ago Wednesday, after the recent demonstration, a group of boys were again outside the same office, asking for a certain PLP politician -- again not Mr Christie. This time they were demanding their money for the part they had played in the Bay Street demonstration.

Persons who were there described a scene that suggested that these persons needed money to reimburse them for more than Mr Mitchell's necessary bus ride to get to the site of the action.

March 14, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International

The agenda to derail the privatisation of Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) for political gain and to protect vested interests

Propaganda and the pending BTC privatisation
By LARRY SMITH



AND now class, today we are going to talk about propaganda. Does anyone know what the word means?

It derives from the Latin for propagate, which means to multiply, reproduce or transmit. In this case, we are talking about spreading information.

What kind of information? Well, that is often hard to say. The key point to remember is that the information being presented will have an agenda. And in order to judge the value and quality of the information, you need to determine what that agenda is.

In a nutshell, propaganda uses loaded messages to produce an emotional response in support of an often hidden objective. And ever since the 1930s (when German and Soviet propaganda promoted state-sponsored genocide) the term has acquired a strong negative meaning - for good reason.

Journalists are supposed to be trained to give their audiences a reasonably accurate background and analysis of the subject at hand. Advertisers use an overt form of propaganda to persuade people to buy their products or services. Public relations lies somewhere in between, often presenting itself as journalism in support of a proprietary theme, which is not necessarily nefarious.

What sets propaganda apart more than anything else is that it seeks to influence public opinion through deception and confusion, rather than by encouraging genuine understanding.

According to Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, "The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over."

What points instantly spring to mind in the local context? No turning back (to white rule); stop, review and cancel (good economic initiatives); Hubert "the dictator" Ingraham; selling our birthright (to white foreigners), the plantation economy (enslaves blacks).

But it's not just about repetitive slander. As British wartime propagandist (and later cabinet minister) Richard Crossman said: "The art of propaganda is not telling lies, but rather selecting the truth you require and giving it mixed up with some truths the audience wants to hear."

This is what we are seeing today with the (currently) one-sided debate over the pending privatisation of BTC.

Let's look at the recent constructs of a massive conspiracy to corruptly engineer the sale of BTC against the interests and wishes of the Bahamian people. Evidence for this is said to rest on a series of conflicts of interest, and was recently given credence by retired Tribune journalist Nicky Kelly, who now writes a column for the Punch.

"One has to ask why the PM is so motivated to pursue a deal that is so suspect, and the machinations of its participants so obvious, that they exhaust credulity," Kelly wrote.

In this view, a small group of unrelated people began moving chess pieces years ago to achieve the present result - the sale of half of BTC to Cable & Wireless Communications, within a regulatory environment developed and controlled by former CWC employees.

The inference is that the plot was hatched by CWC, with the support of leading Bahamian politicians and technical advisors, to save its future Caribbean business prospects. Or maybe it was the other way round, and our top politicos and bureaucrats simply planned to enrich themselves from CWC. In either case, the full background to the story is largely ignored and a massive corrupt scheme is offered as the obvious reality. The clear agenda is to derail the privatisation of BTC, both for political gain and to protect vested interests.

The full background to the story includes the fact that there were no less than three public bodies responsible for decision-making - the cabinet, the privatisation advisory committee, and the privatisation working committee. There were also two sets of financial advisors - KPMG Bahamas and CITI, a major international bank - as well as two legal advisors - Charles Russell, a British firm specialising in communications law (which also advised the Christie administration on regulatory reform), and local law firm Higgs & Johnson.

In short, there were significant checks and balances. And with so many separate groups of advisors it would be very difficult for a specific conflict of interest to flow through to a final sale. It also has to be acknowledged that the goal of liberalising the communications sector and finding a major strategic partner for BTC has been the accepted policy of both major parties for years - even more so in the case of the FNM, which launched the process in 1998.

And what about those conflicts of interest that have been selectively ignored by the conspiracy theorists. Conflicts like the participation of some of the major antagonists in the current debate in the earlier sale that was agreed by the Christie administration with Bluewater Ventures - a foreign firm with uncertain ownership and no operating history.

It has been suggested that some of them were heavily involved when that deal went down - together with some of the leaders of the same unions that are now so critical of the current process. What chess pieces were these players moving?

The Christie administration cancelled the original privatisation process launched by the FNM after rejecting existing bids, and then proceeded to negotiate solely with Bluewater from 2005 until the general election in May 2007. How is this any different from the Ingraham administration rejecting bids received in the current process, and then talking to CWC?

And let's not forget to take into account the stark contrast between Bluewater, an unknown private equity firm, and CWC, a major international telecoms provider with a long and publicly reported background in the field.

In fact, almost all of the bidders for BTC throughout this long and complicated process were private financiers who saw an opportunity to make money. Digicell and CWC are the most obvious telecoms buyers in the region, but Digicell (which decided not to bid in the last auction) is purely a cellular operator. CWC is one of the few entities that does everything BTC does throughout the region and has a strategic reason to invest for the long-term. And since CWC has been interested in the Bahamas for the last 15 years, how can it suddenly be suspicious when they step up to the plate?

It is easy to research a large global business like Cable & Wireless, which may have problems in some areas but a very healthy balance sheet overall. In fact, CWC is a leader in all regional markets except Jamaica where they are second. It should also be noted that, although declining to participate in the most recent auction due to an internal reorganisation, CWC eventually went through the same entry process as all other bidders.

As for the terms of the CWC agreement, it is a fact that all the bidders required BTC's unfunded pension deficit to be covered by government - including Bluewater. How can this now be "repugnant" to the PLP, when they agreed to pay off the full deficit and close the pension plan entirely. I would suggest that there is no business in the world where employees make zero contributions to their own pensions while the employer pays 20 per cent of salaries into a fund. This obviously has a huge impact on BTC's value.

It is also true that all the bidders - including Bluewater - demanded a management fee in their plans, something which some commentators find egregious. The rationale for the fee that was eventually agreed is that CWC brings a lot of added value to BTC in terms of technology and intellectual property, which will significantly benefit the other shareholder. This is normal practice where a minority partner is involved, and industry benchmarks are used to set the fee scale.

Clearly, connecting the dots selectively amounts to spouting propaganda. It does nothing to help people reach a genuine understanding of the issues. This is known as pinpointing the enemy - simplifying a complex situation by presenting a specific group or person as the enemy in a clear-cut choice between right and wrong. And the better informed you are, the less susceptible you will be to this type of propaganda.

One of the worst allegations in this saga was made recently by PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts (who was the minister responsible for BTC in the Christie administration). He accused current BTC chairman Julian Francis of a corrupt conflict of interest in awarding to Providence Advisors (a financial services company which Francis also chairs) a lucrative contract to manage part of the BTC pension fund.

"As a result of this contract that Julian Francis awarded to himself, he positioned himself and Providence Advisors Ltd to be paid in excess of $400,000 per annum for the past 3 years," Roberts said. "The PLP calls for Julian Francis' immediate resignation and for the police to commence investigations..."

The facts are that efforts to place BTC pension funds with local investment managers began in 2006 under the Christie administration, when Greg Bethel was BTC chairman and also president of Fidelity Bank & Trust - one of the firms chasing the business. Providence, headed by Kenwood Kerr, was also invited to bid, and was eventually approved (along with Fidelity and CFAL) in a process guided by the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche.

The actual contract was not executed until after the 2007 general election, and Francis (who is not a Providence shareholder) had nothing to do with choosing the investment managers. And Providence's fees over the past two and a half years were less than $350,000.

Statements from political operatives and unsupported extrapolations by sympathetic or thoughtless journalists are not the only forms of propaganda we must watch out for. There are also those entities which pose as legitimate news media. While party newspapers or radio broadcasts may be easily identified and their information taken with a grain of salt, some propaganda outlets try to disguise their true nature to fool an audience into believing they are presenting valid information.

The current prime example locally is the online propaganda outlet known as Bahamas Press, which refuses to even acknowledge that it is financed, owned and operated by real people, although it classifies itself as a "leading news website." An anonymous responder claimed the site is owned "by the people of the Bahamas."

As George Orwell wrote in his novel 1984, "the process (of mass-media deception) has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt."

Of course, now that I have waded into the propaganda swamp, I must be part of the conspiracy, right? Well, now you can make the call.

What do you think?

Send comments to

larry@tribunemedia.net

Or visit www.bahamapundit.com

March 09, 2011

tribune242

Bahamas Blog International

The Bluewater story will be told, and it’s a wonderful story for the people of The Bahamas to know and to have

PM responds to Bluewater threat
By CANDIA DAMES
Guardian News Editor
candia@nasguard.com



Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham last night responded to a threat recently issued by Bluewater Ventures Limited, saying he will not be intimidated by the “shell company” and promising to tell the whole story of the Christie administration's plan to sell 49 percent of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC).

Bluewater recently alleged that the Government of The Bahamas has been making defamatory comments against it and the company threatened to take legal action against the Ingraham administration.

Bluewater has asked the government’s attorney to advise no later than today whether the government intends to issue a public statement repudiating the alleged defamatory statements.

But the prime minister made it clear last night that no such step will be taken.

“They seek to intimidate,” said Ingraham, while wrapping up debate on the government’s mid-year budget statement. “Well, you know you can’t intimidate me in my private life. I wouldn’t talk about the Government of The Bahamas. And so, the Bluewater story will be told, notwithstanding any threats by them.

“The Bluewater story will be told and it’s a wonderful story for the people of The Bahamas to know and to have.”

Ingraham noted that the letter Bluewater’s attorney sent to the government’s lawyer last week never indicated what were the alleged defamatory statements.

Ingraham is expected to address the Bluewater issue during the upcoming debate in the House of Assembly on the BTC privatization.

The prime minister also touched on Baha Mar, a project introduced under the Christie administration that changed substantially under the Ingraham administration. Ground was broken last week on the Cable Beach development and Opposition Leader Perry Christie hit out at the government for not acknowledging at the event the PLP’s role in bringing the project about.

But Ingraham said last night, “Baha Mar is going ahead because the Chinese government is providing the money. They (the PLP) never wanted any business dealing with the Chinese government.

“They recognized Taiwan. In fact, that’s how the leader of the opposition got back in the PLP. The PLP made a deal with the Taiwanese government to recognize them and not the People’s Republic of China.

“Ervin Knowles, who was the minister, got fired, and Christie got hired. Ervin Knowles was appointed ambassador to Taiwan.

“The only reason why we have [ties] with the People’s Republic of China today is because the FNM did that and the Chinese regard us as an old friend and they are supporting us in the Baha Mar project.

“And there was no possibility of Baha Mar being able to get a loan with the Chinese unless The Bahamas government said ‘yes’, please do it.’”

Ingraham said the Free National Movement is delighted at the opportunity to be in government.

But he said, “We are concerned about the extent to which outright lies are told to the public, shamelessly so.”

Ingraham said what the FNM government has done is “unmatchable by them”.

“The reality is, Mr. Speaker, that we on this side of the House are pleased that the people of The Bahamas have reposed their trust in us and that we are spending their money wisely.

“We are preparing their economy for the future.”

3/4/2011

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

The Odd Protest against the Sale of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC)

Protest against the sale of the BTC is odd
By RICK LOWE



ACCORDING to news reports, 800 to 1,000 people blocked Bay Street last week to protest the sale of BTC to Cable and Wireless/LIME and it all seems odd.

Some people were saying that rights are being violated by selling BTC. But what rights are being violated?

Yes, sometimes Mr. Ingraham can be brash, but does that mean he is uncaring, a dictator, or corrupt, or violating rights as alleged? It's doubtful.

Using emotive language and trying to rile people up as some are doing could violate rights for sure.

What the protesters are missing is BTC is not owned by Bahamians. That's an illusion. A political construct. It is owned by the Bahamas Government.

Over the years successive governments have led us down the garden path by wasting and borrowing beyond the country's ability to sustain, and the sale of BTC might help keep the Bahamian dollar stable and reduce some of the debt that we all have to pay one way or the other.

The Opposition seems shameless on this one, after trying to sell BTC themselves under similar circumstances to a company called Bluewater, now it would seem that some are trying to incite people.

Another turnabout by the Opposition was the Constitutional Referendum of 2002. Both parties agreed in principle in the House of Assembly, then one campaigned against it, confusing the electorate.

The latest reason not to sell is there are complaints about LIME posted on the Internet.

If you research every company in the world online it seems you will find bad comments. We survey some of our clients, and last quarter we had an 84 per cent approval rating (our goal is 85 per cent), but the one client that complained, really complained, bringing the results of all the good comments lower. Is that what is happening with CWC? We also find that often it's people with complaints that fill the survey out. Those that had no issues, do not take the time to respond.

Are there similar complaints about BTC going around on the Internet?

Could the government have been more open? No doubt. Both the FNM or PLP governments over the years could have been more open. Promises of a Freedom of Information Act have been made by each of them. Let's see who passes it into law. That might help with government transparency in the future.

There were apparently no dissenenters before BTC was sold, at least publicly. So why the dissent now? The government corporations should be sold if for nothing more than to get politics and politicians out of it.

All this protesting is odd. When you dig a little deeper unseemly politics appear to be at work?

March 01, 2011

tribune242

Bahamas Blog International

Leon Williams: Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) missed out on opportunities that would have made it even more competitive and valuable

“BTC Missed Out On Opportunities,” Says Williams

By Scieska Adderley


Former Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) President and CEO Leon Williams believes that the country’s telecommunications provider is the most profitable government entity, despite missing several opportunities that would have made the company even more competitive and valuable.

Mr. Williams was the keynote speaker at the Rotary Club of West Nassau’s weekly meeting yesterday.

During his address, he explained that he had a certain vision for BTC while he was at the helm.

According to Mr. Williams, his main goal was to raise enough money so that BTC could grow outside of The Bahamas.

"We went to Haiti where we built a $6 million cable to Haiti. The Government of Haiti offered us the first right of refusal for a DSL and a wireless network. It would have cost $30 million to do the GSM in Haiti. We did not see and when I say we did not see, other people did not see the value of Haiti."

Mr. Williams said if BTC had gotten its services off the ground in Haiti, using just 10 per cent of that country’s customers, in three years that alone would have generated BTC’s annual profits.

He noted that Digicel tapped into that market and within the first three months, the company had 500,000 customers, then in its first year, that number increased to 1.6 million customers.

Currently, Digicel has 2.6 million customers in Haiti.

Mr. Williams explained that BTC has also missed out on marketing its VIBE phone service internationally.

"We then created the VIBE network. We had the Bahamian girl on the box, a Jamaican girl on the box and we had a Haitian girl on the box. The idea was to go to Miami and sell the VIBE in Miami, 1.8 million in Miami. We even had it on Concourse D at the Miami International Aiport. We were even advertising where no one else was advertising in that same area in the United States."

Mr. Williams said it is important to expand the market beyond The Bahamas.

He compared it to Cable Bahamas, which has over the years expanded its services to countries such as Barbados, Jamaica, Curacao and the Dominican Republic.

Overall, Mr. Williams noted there are 20 million customers on The Bahamas’ border-markets that can be exploited, but unfortunately have not.

February 28, 2011

jonesbahamas

Bahamas Blog International

The opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) cries shame on The Bahamas government for accepting an offer that is clearly below market value for the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC)

BTC political row worsens
By CANDIA DAMES
The Nassau Guardian News Editor
candia@nasguard.com


Parties hit out over $210M deal


The sparring over the government’s decision to sell 51 percent of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) to Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) has intensified, with the two major political parties arguing over whether the majority of Bahamians support the deal.

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) said yesterday that its parliamentary caucus has embarked on a thorough and comprehensive review of the BTC and CWC transaction, and will be releasing regular positions on each component of the transaction.

“The PLP has clear and unequivocal objections to the commercial terms of this transaction, and more specifically the purchase price and consideration the government, and the Bahamian people, will realize from the sale of this prized national asset,” the party said in a statement.

The government has agreed to sell 51 percent of the shares of BTC to CWC for $210 million plus taxes.

“However, when one looks more closely at the terms of the transaction as set out in the share purchase agreement, it is clear The Bahamas government is receiving far less than $210 million, and it is equally clear that whatever the government eventually receives is far less than the value of 51 percent of BTC,” the PLP claimed.

“The Bahamas government is obligated to leave at least $15 million in cash in the company. Furthermore, The Bahamas government is obligated to fund pension liabilities in the amount of $39 million. Taking into account these obligations of the Bahamian government, the most the government will receive is $156 million for 51 percent of BTC.

“The PLP objects to this and cries shame on the government for accepting an offer that is clearly below market value for BTC. In fact, the Financial Times pointed out that the $210 million purchase price was below the industry average; certainly $156 million is significantly below market price for 51 percent of BTC.”

Meanwhile, an argument has intensified over the level of support the government has on the privatization issue.

An earlier statement released by Elizabeth MP Ryan Pinder on behalf of the PLP said the party takes exception to the Free National Movement’s practice of “misleading the Bahamian public on the support for the BTC sale to Cable and Wireless.”

“The PLP proposes that the majority of Bahamians are against this specific sale of BTC. The PLP has committed itself to a series of statements and position pieces that will clearly note our objections to the BTC sale, focused on different objections,” Pinder said.

“The PLP is also committed in these releases to educating Bahamians as to the shortfalls of this proposed sale of BTC. The PLP demands that the FNM be honest and straightforward with the Bahamian people on this give away of the people's asset, BTC.”

But the FNM shot back in a statement last night, saying as support for the opposition’s position on the partnership to create a new BTC with Cable and Wireless continues to erode, it has begun to panic and continues to ignore the voices of the majority of Bahamians.

“The opposition says that it ‘proposes that the majority of Bahamians are against this specific sale of BTC’. Rather than proposing, the FNM has taken note of two surveys over the past two weeks which have shown the surge of support for the creation of a new BTC. One survey was conducted by a private group (Consumer Voices Bahamas) the other by one of the dailies,” the FNM said.

The FNM noted that in The Nassau Guardian’s online survey 4,563 people responded. The question was whether respondents supported the PLP’s decision to reject the deal.

“It appears that the voices of these thousands of Bahamians and many others are of no consequence to the PLP, which now seeks to substitute its own faltering position for that of the majority of Bahamians,” the FNM said.

But Pinder said in his statement that a previous FNM release and associated polls “misrepresented” the views of Bahamians.

“The unscientific polls focused on whether privatization was a good idea, and not [the] real issue that concerns the majority of Bahamians, which is whether this sale to Cable and Wireless under the proposed terms tabled in the House of Assembly last week is a good deal,” he said.

The FNM insisted however that support for the deal continues to grow among Bahamians.

“We believe that after the House of Assembly debate on BTC’s future, that many more Bahamians will support the new partnership, as misinformation and incorrect information are countered with the facts, which will shed more light on the fiction promoted by certain narrow interests,” the FNM said.

2/16/2011

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

BTC unions lose court battle to block the sale of 51 % stake in Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) to Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC)... [Ordered to pay costs]

BTC unions lose court battle
By KEVA LIGHTBOURNE
Guardian Senior Reporter
kdl@nasguard.com



Supreme Court Justice Neville Adderley yesterday threw out a court action filed by Bahamas Telecommunications Company unions seeking to block the sale of a 51 percent stake in BTC to Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC).

The Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) and the Bahamas Communications and Public Managers Union (BCPMU) were seeking an injunction to stop the government from selling BTC.

Attorney Maurice Glinton, who represented the unions, confirmed to The Nassau Guardian that they plan to appeal the decision. He could not say at the time when the necessary documents would be filed.

In his ruling, Adderley said the BCPOU and BCPMU and their trustees lacked the legal capacity to institute and maintain the action in their own names.

“Hence the action is a nullity and so the granting of an injunction pending its hearing does not arise,” Adderley said.

“Alternatively, the evidence has not disclosed that any of their private legal rights are being infringed or threatened or need to be enforced or declared, as they have not established an interest recognized by law as being direct and substantial enough in the subject matter of the action to give them locus standi to commence the action to claim the remedies set forth in the writ.

“For the foregoing reasons, I strike out the writ and dismiss the action.”

Adderley also ordered that the unions pay costs in the matter.

In their writ, the unions contended that the government has no authority to sell BTC because an act of Parliament made the Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation (BaTelCo) a self-owning and self-sustaining entity.

Their claim is that consequently the divested assets are now held by BTC in trust for BaTelCo.

Adderley said there is no express power in the Industrial Relations Act that gives unions the capacity or power to sue for declarations outside their statutory objects.

Adderley said even if they had the capacity to sue for the matters in question, he considered whether they had a legal interest to sue for the relief claimed.

Last week, the government signed a shareholder’s agreement and a share purchase agreement with CWC, and Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham tabled the memorandum of understanding between the two entities in the House of Assembly along with related documents.

Yesterday, BCPOU President Bernard Evans said the ruling has in no way halted the union’s efforts to stop the sale of BTC.

“We never really rested all of our efforts on this court case, even though we knew we had good grounds and it is a landmark case. But we never wanted to leave any stone unturned. We will continue to do our stuff because this is not over by a long shot,” Evans said.

“We are going to fight this on all fronts. Whatever it takes, we are going to take our time and get to it.”

Evans shot down claims by the Free National Movement that the majority of Bahamians support the sale of BTC to Cable and Wireless.

“I saw in the paper where the FNM government believe that they have the majority of the people, they keep putting us in the minority. Well the day of reckoning is coming when we will know who has the majority,” Evans said.

The deal between the government and CWC calls for the shares to be sold for $210 million, as well as a stamp duty of $7 million. Eventually, 25 percent of the shares in the company will be offered to Bahamians, the government has said.

2/15/2011

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

The majority of Bahamians approve the sale of Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) to Cable and Wireless Communications (C&W)

Competition toughened Cable & Wireless
tribune242 editorial




YESTERDAY'S Gleaner reported that Cable & Wireless Jamaica, trading as LIME Jamaica, "continued its financial haemorrhaging in the December quarter, posting a $1.3 billion loss for the three-month period, nearly triple the $351.4 million of a year earlier."

Despite this its managers continue to look on the bright side, insisting that they are on the verge of turning the company around.

According to The Gleaner, Jamaica LIME has been in "retreat for the past decade since it lost its monopoly in Jamaica's telecommunications market."

"That's what happens to monopolies," said a Bahamian who is close to the situation. LIME Jamaica was doing the same foolishness as BTC because it felt secure in its monopoly, he said, then Digicel, an Irish company with dirt cheap rates, came in and ran it out of business.

It was this lesson from fierce competition that forced Cable & Wireless into the efficient company that it is today with Digicel waiting in the background to meet it head on in the Bahamas when the floodgates are open to competition.

One can now understand why the Bahamas government has offered and C&W - having learned from its Jamaican experience -- has accepted the three-year protection cover from monopolies for BTC's cellular service.

If it were not for this three-year period to build BTC up to meet competitors, the Bahamas' Telecommunications Company would crumble under the strain. C&W, on the other hand, although stumbling in Jamaica is prospering in Barbados and Trinidad.

But there is no room for hubris. There is much to be done to get BTC in a position to meet the competition, and for three years the BTC staff, who are interested in their company, will have an opportunity to prove that they are not among those who deserve to be made redundant.

In an interview with the Jamaican Observer last year, Digicel CEO Colm Delves, said that Digicel looked at the Bahamas, but was not interested in just having a stake in BTC, and so it decided "to pass on that."

"What was being offered there was a stake in the existing operator," said Mr Delves. "We think that when liberalization takes place there, then that will be the appropriate time to enter that market."

So in three years time Digicel and others might be the wolves at the door. Cable & Wireless will have to have BTC ready to meet the challenge and regardless of what Mr Evans, Mr Carroll and their unionists claim, they are babes in the woods, ignorant of the hungry sharks waiting in the world of competition to devour them and BTC.

Judging from the various polls, street talk and radio talk shows, the majority of Bahamians approve the sale of BTC to C&W.

They want better service, more choice, cheaper cell phone rates, access to mobile TV and the ability to phone the Family Islands as a part of the Bahamas, not as foreign islands with overseas charges.

Bahamians are weary of the oft-repeated fiction that they own BTC. Ownership implies having some stake in the company. Although as tax payers they underwrite staff salaries, they cannot even demand good service.

With the sale of BTC Bahamians will eventually be able to buy shares in the company and have share certificates to prove that finally they do own a piece of BTC.

Although Bernard Evans, BCPOU president, claims that unionists are against the sale of BTC, there are unions that have refused to join in his protest.

Many are particularly upset after his reckless threats promising unrest similar to the violence in the past few weeks in Egypt.

Mr Evans has asked Bahamians to have patience with BTC because the public's services "will be affected somewhat" because of the union protest.

Mr Evans seems to forget that Bahamians have exercised years of patience, grudgingly tolerating their high prices and indifferent service.

Now that Bahamians see a way out and a deliverer on the horizon, they are ready to jump ship.

Patience is at an end.

February 14, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International