WMinister of Transport and Local Government Renward Wells made a valiant attempt to defend the controversial General Post Office deal, which includes its relocation to the Town Centre Mall and a lease agreement with St. Anne’s Member of Parliament Brent Symonette.

When pressed on the issue outside Cabinet yesterday morning, Wells gave a terse response to reporters.

“Listen we’ve signed the lease, what else is out there to be known? We told you all how much we were paying, $14 per square foot, and its 56,000 square feet,” Wells said.

“The resolution gives us the opportunity to get up to 75,000 square feet of space.”  

When asked again if the government intends to table the lease he said, “That’s a discussion that has to be taken at another level and then we will be able to get back to you.” 

Wells maintained that the whole process has been transparent and that the government made the right decision.

“All of these things that were being discussed in papers and amongst you reporters were being discussed as if all of a sudden these issues were new. Everything that was spoken to in the press was spoken to in the House of Assembly,” he explained.

“The resolution was put forward, transparency was given to the Bahamian people, it was debated, reports were laid, people had their say, there was a vote and we moved.

“Yet, still we have come back in this era to try and adjudicate something that was already adjudicated in the high court of Parliament.

“I want to say it again. It was adjudicated in the high court of Parliament. Nobody was ducking under no rock or hiding anything.”    

The Progressive Liberal Party has been coming down heavy on the government in recent weeks in light of then sitting Cabinet Minister Brent Symonette being a part owner in the Town Centre Mall and Symonette’s subsequent disclosure that he and the prime minister discussed the post office’s possible lease agreement prior to it heading to Cabinet for consideration.

Wells also maintained that the post office debacle will not be a stumbling block for the Minnis administration.

“No one disagrees that the post office is in the right place. The place where it is at is the right place,” he said.

“As a matter of fact, the opposition thought that the centre where it is was so right, they decided they didn’t want to go there for whatever reason in the Town Centre Mall, so where they went?

“Did they go to the west end of the island or the east end? No they went right cross the road in the Independence Shopping Center.”

According to the PLP, the party is exploring the possibility of a judicial review into the matter.