Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis yesterday in the House of Assembly said Liberty Latin America CEO Balan Nair apologized to him and Bahamians during a phone call for the insulting comments made in a viral video.
In fact, the prime minister said the video circulating on social media does not reflect what actually took place.
“The CEO called me on my cell, and he apologized if the Office of the Prime Minister was insulted, as that was never his intent. He apologized to the Bahamian people. If that was the interpretation, that was never his intent,” Dr. Minnis said.
“I told him, this was a communication early this morning, that I think it would be fair and wise if he sent an official letter of apology both to the Office of the Prime Minister and the people of The Bahamas.”
The prime minister also explained that Mr. Nair told him exactly what transpired and why things were done. However, Dr. Minnis said he is not at liberty to disclose that information to the public.
During a recent Liberty Global town hall meeting in Jamaica, Mr. Nair said the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) is one of Liberty Latin America’s lowest performing subsidiaries and casted blame on the company’s employees for its performance.
Mr. Nair was also captured on video saying that during a recent meeting with the prime minister, he urged for more Bahamians to be employed.
However, he mocked that Dr. Minnis was “not trying to make eye contact” with BTC CEO Garfield Sinclair, a Jamaican national.
Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister Pakesia Parker-Edgecombe labeled Mr. Nair’s comments as “unacceptable and extraordinarily inappropriate”.
Dr. Minnis also noted that during a meeting last week with BTC executives, he informed them that the government will not tolerate the removal of the call centre in Nassau to another Caribbean island.
He said, “I found it very insulting. I called Scotia Bank some time ago asking for a particular individual, only to hear at the other end of the phone a foreign voice. There was a communication gap between myself and that foreign voice, and I was most insulted because in The Bahamas we have close relationships with our banking sectors and industry elements within The Bahamas.”
