By Gerrino J. Saunders
Journal Staff Writer
“Don’t play games with people emotions. If you are serious about solutions, be about it,” said Michael Pintard leader of the Official Opposition Free National Movement (FNM) in reference to the government’s position on the proposed rate increase by the Grand Bahama Power Company (GBPC).
Mr. Pintard made the comments while appearing as a guest on the Grand Bahama based Dove 103.7fm radio talk show ‘Make It Make Sense’ with host Darren Cooper on Monday.
Before callers were allowed to chime in, Mr. Pintard and the host tackled a number of subjects including the contentious relationship between the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) and the Government of The Bahamas in relation to the struggling economies of the city of Freeport and Grand Bahama at large, and the application by the GBPC for a 6.3 percent increase on the base rate of electricity in January 2025.
In recent times some of his critics in the governing party like Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman and Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell have accused Mr. Pintard of being “silent as a lamb” when it comes to speaking out against the GBPA on any number of matters that have been open to public debate with regards to Grand Bahama’s economy and the running of the city of Freeport including the GBPC proposal. Some have suggested that is because his (Pintard’s) wife works for the GBPA.
Mr. Pintard emphatically stated that his wife does not work for the GBPA. “That is one of the major lies told by this administration; and I put it at the feet of the leadership of the PLP, and I put it at the feet of the Member of Parliament for Pineridge (Ginger Moxey) who knows my wife personally and still permits the government to run a lie that our (FNM) stance has something to do with where she works. Again, I’m fair game. Don’t fool with my wife, don’t get into that because you know it’s a lie,” he admonished the government.
He then focused on the government and GBPA saying, “Here is the issue. The government is having a public row on a matter that they have moral authority and persuasion to cause some things to happen. The question is why aren’t you having that conversation?”
Mr. Pintard said he believes the government is behaving similarly to the GBPA. “Both central government, and I include the FNM because we are now just out of office and coming back either next year or 2026. So you have central government and the municipal government they tend to use each other as scapegoats when our people are angry. When the natives are restless lets blame somebody else for what we are not getting done.”
“And so this fight in my view is in large measure a deflection between the government and the GBPA, both of whom share responsibility for the state of Grand Bahama’s economy,” said Mr. Pintard.
He recommended both sides have open and honest conversations as opposed to “flamming the public” or “deceiving” the public who are desperate for change.
Responding to critics who pointed out that he was not at the recent protest outside the GBPC in support of Grand Bahamians, Mr. Pintard noted that even though he was out of town, the FNM by way of a statement from the MP for East Grand Bahama Kwasi Thompson was the first to oppose the increase in electricity costs, something he said the opposition has been saying for the last three years.
He said the opposition intends to meet with GBPC, with all who say that they are regulators and if necessary with the parent company in Canada, then the opposition will make the determination if they will vigorously protest against the rate increase via mass demonstrations against the GBPC, GBPA and the government who he said all share responsibility in the matter.
Mr. Pintard advised Grand Bahama residents not to allow the PLP to play games with their emotions, pointing out that the PLP Chairman who supported the protest against the GBPC was visibly absent from protests against BPL regarding power supply on Eleuthera, Andros and MICAL.
“And so we know it’s a game, but for the public we say listen if ya’ll want to protest it’s about time rise up! But don’t let people play games with you; so nobody is wagging my tail. I make a determination, our team makes a determination and we ga’ fight them. We ga’ fight the power company on this issue, and GBPA on this issue and challenge URCA on this issue, and we gon’ challenge the government on this issue,” said Pintard.
Before moving on to another subject Mr. Pintard said there are a number of reasons the FNM opposes a hike in electricity costs at this time.
He said, “One, the cost of electricity is already too high in Freeport. Don’t tell me it’s better than in Nassau we know that, but both of ya’ll too high. We ought to bring the cost down and then we ought to give residents a wider latitude to self generate (electricity) from solar by increasing what is permitted under the regulations and the law so that more residents can generate their own power.”
“We also want you to discontinue stalling us when the inconsistent supply of electricity has damaged my computer my fridge my appliances etcetera, we want you to be responsive to us and don’t treat us as if we are fabricating the issue. I agree, do the necessary investigations,” suggested Pintard.
Mr. Pintard said as part of their meeting with the GBPC and GBPA the opposition would want to know how money collected for hurricane Dorian recovery from the previous rate increase two years ago has been spent, in addition to questions regarding insurance on any insurable assets and to what extent they drew down on such insurance, and questions about the companies maintenance program.
He said, they have a host of questions for the GBPC, the GBPA, the Regulators, while possibly finding common ground with the government who may be on the same page in some instances like they may be in terms of the power increase on Grand Bahama but not so much with Bahamas Power and Light.
In the meantime Mr. Pintard has publically cautioned the government on numerous occasions on its bullish approach when dealing with the GBPA and the negative impact it may have on potential investors, although which the government disagrees with that.
In April, the government issued a letter to the GBPA demanding that it pay $357 million the government says it is owed under Section 1(5) of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement. The matter is now in arbitration.
