Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Leader Philip Davis wasted no time responding to Bahamas Power and Light’s (BPL) press conference as he believes the corporation failed Bahamians and they should be compensated for enduring the miserable load shedding crisis.
“I think at the moment, we are facing a catastrophe where BPL is a failed corporation. We know the inconvenience being suffered and inflicted on our people and yes there should be some form of compensation for all of this inconvenience,” Davis said yesterday.
“In particular, I’m aware of persons whose appliances have been impacted and affected by the fluctuations of electricity, cutting on and cutting off, and those people ought to be compensated for their loss of their appliances.”
He explained that the PLP government would have been empathetic to the concerns of Bahamians if this massive load shedding issue occurred under his administration.
Davis added that the PLP would have addressed the issue to ensure that Bahamians are placed in a position as close as possible where the power would not be so disruptive in their lives.
On Sunday, BPL held a press conference at its Clifton Pier power plant where CEO Whitney Heastie said the corporation could offer no guarantee that load shedding would stop and he gave no assurance of compensation and explained that consumers are only charged for the electricity used.
However, Davis believes load shedding is harmful to the Bahamian economy and claims the government doesn’t care about Bahamians.
“Further, there is darkness at night, heat during the day and night, the misery index has risen exponentially and in the face of all this, all the minister can do is blame the PLP, while the prime minister is busy shaking cowbells,” Davis said.
“The broader issues of political cronyism, ineptitude, mismanagement, corruption and the lack of transparency and accountability in the general stewardship of public assets in the public’s interest strike at the core, the root and source of this current national energy crisis.
“Further, the prime minister and his minister for BPL must not and will not be allowed to conveniently sweep all of these breaches of public trust under the proverbial carpet.
“Make no mistake about it, this current BPL crisis is unwittingly a Hubert Minnis construct and orchestrated crisis simply because he failed to place the interests of the Bahamian people above his narrow, hidden, personal and political interests and agendas.”
The PLP leader also pointed out that former BPL manager, PowerSecure, possessed investment grade securities necessary to facilitate BPL’s capital development.
“The Minnis government unceremoniously canceled their management agreement and ran them out of the country while approving and adopting their business plan, complete with the rates reduction program and enabling legislation,” Davis said.
“The prime minister’s mishandling of BPL is breathtaking. His stone silence and deflections in the face of the public fallout are resulting in a precipitous deterioration in public confidence in his administration.
“There is indeed a trust deficit.
“The prime minister has proven to be complicit and duplicitous on any number of governance issues ranging from the post office crisis, on the fraudulent Oban deal, contract administration and conflicts of interest involving a cabinet minister, and the public behavior of public officers Bennet Minnis and Omar Archer.
“In each case the prime minister either deflected, blamed the PLP, or avoided addressing these issues.
“So far reaching and harmful are the levels and depths of mismanagement at BPL that Prime Minister Minnis must act because after all it is the people’s time.”
