Democratic National Alliance Leader Branville McCartney said the government made a spectacle of itself following the announcement that it would pay the salaries of all of Baha Mar’s employees.

“Following the announcement of Baha Mar’s bankruptcy filing, the Christie administration made a huge spectacle of itself, proclaiming its ignorance of the developer’s plans, its concern for the future of the property and more importantly the more than 2,000 Bahamian workers whose employment now hangs in the balance,” he said.

“In response to the shocking move, the government, through its State Minister of Legal Affairs Damien Gomez – and without solicitation – announced plans to pay ‘each and every’ employee of Baha Mar. The government failed to indicate how Baha Mar employees will be paid in the future. As per usual though, the government has dropped the ball, with this latest blunder resulting in even more distress for already challenged Baha Mar employees.”

Mr. McCartney said despite making an announcement on Friday that the government had paid out $2 million to cover the salaries of Bahamian employees, scores of Baha Mar employees have yet to receive those monies.

“How disappointing it must have been for those expectant Baha Mar employees – all of whom have bills which need to be paid – to have had their hopes raised just to be dashed by the PLP’s broken promises,” said McCartney.

“The government’s statement while speaking to payments for the Bahamian employees makes no mention of the expat employees also hired by Baha Mar. After promising to pay each and every employee, the government’s choice to ignore the property’s expat employees is a show of rank discrimination which may have also laid the legal framework for Baha Mar’s attorney’s to argue for the approval of their U.S court ruling, effectively nullifying the government’s efforts to have those matters determined by the Bahamian courts.”

Mr. McCartney says the Christie administration is not concerned about the Bahamians affected and urged them to do better.
“Clearly, this Christie administration is more concerned about political optics than actually acting on behalf of these employees,” he said.

“Such behaviour is unacceptable and does little to move this debacle towards a speedy resolution. The Democratic National Alliance calls on the government to put aside matters of ego and work whole heartedly to find the best possible solution for those employees while working to salvage the country’s international reputation.”