Education Minister and Marathon Member of Parliament (MP) Jerome Fitzgerald yesterday said the news that thousands of employees and hundreds of creditors affected by the more than year long Baha Mar debacle will finally be paid out, should be celebrated.

Since the prime minister broke the news last week, many critics say they smell a rat, particularly due to the fact that the details surrounding the deal remain sealed.

Meanwhile, Minister Fitzgerald said the negativity surrounding the matter is “just sickening”.

“At the end of the day, we are satisfied that were made in the negotiations that were held that Bahamians will be satisfied and I think that’s the point at the end of the day. The prime minister gave a mandate to us. We followed that mandate and at the end of the day we are very satisfied of the outcome. So we will soon see the manifestation of that,” Mr. Fitzgerald said.

Recently, a committee was formed to regulate the pay out of claims owed to the employees and creditors affected.

Spearheading the committee on behalf of the government is former Central Bank Governor James Smith.

According to Mr. Fitzgerald the committee’s sole objective is to ensure Bahamians are taken care of.

“We put Bahamians first and we took care of Bahamians as far as we’re concerned and we were very adamant and serious about that and the country will come to see that very shortly,” he said.

“We were surprised at how many Bahamian companies were involved. We had over a thousand. It just gives you the appreciation for the amount of Bahamian families involved which is why we are just totally surprised at some great extent that so many people seem to be unhappy about what we’ve been able to negotiate for these people because these are real families. These are real businesses, and when you impact over a thousand companies in this country it touches a lot of people,” the minister said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Fitzgerald said the application process for claims is “pretty simple” and he said it has already begun.

However, he said the committee is expected to expand more on the application process in about seven to 14 days.

Further Mr. Fitzgerald pointed out that payouts of this magnitude are unheard of; and should be all the more reason to be thankful.

“To think of this happening anywhere else, you know, this just doesn’t happen. Peter Whitehead said it right. It’s an impossibility in a liquidation where unsecured creditors will be paid the kind of monies that they would be paid. It just does not happen and so we have to give God thanks, celebrate it and just stop tearing each other down,” he said.

There was no given date specified for payout.

Meanwhile Mr. Fitzgerald said the prime minister should be commended for how he handled the whole situation.

“We were given a mandate and the prime minister held steadfast, and he has to be given credit for this. I don’t care which you look at it, he has to be given credit for what he did and how resolute he was in resolving this. It is through his resolution that this came about,” he added.