Retired Anglican Archbishop, the Most Reverend Drexel Gomez is calling on the Minnis administration to repeal the heads of agreement with Oban Energies for a $5.5 billion oil refinery and storage facility for East Grand Bahama.
Speaking on the Love 97 radio show “On Point” yesterday, Bishop Gomez was reacting to comments made by Minister of Education Jeffrey Lloyd that the government of the Bahamas broke the law in how it handled the approval process for the deal.
Bishop Gomez said, “the Minister was honest enough to tell the public what happened, even though the Prime Minister said the government had made missteps.
“Saying that missteps were made is not saying that they broke the law. This is a grave issue and not one that should be glossed over.
“It seems to me that when the government breaks the law, it brings into question the whole issue of law and order. The government must uphold the law,” said Bishop Gomez.
He said, “the only recourse is to repeal the heads of agreement. It must be null and void. What exists today is null and void because it contradicts the laws of the Bahamas. There cannot be any dispute about that. And it is the responsibility of the government to give that moral leadership. It has a sub-committee that is revisiting everything. Let that committee do its work and come back and present a new heads of agreement.
“You cannot take an old illegal heads of agreement, modify it, revisit it and present some amendments to it. That document is null and void because it contradicts the law,” said Bishop Gomez.
The respected Cleric said, “my concern is that if the government is to give us moral and legal leadership, this is an example of what must not be done. It is not a question of party politics. It’s a question of acting in the name of the country.
“If the government enters into an agreement and discovers that it has broken the law, because the law as exists required a certain process before the application can be even considered, that process was ignored.”
Bishop Gomez says, “it raises another issue about who gave the government the legal advice. The government was not properly legally advised on the issue. They are admitting now that they broke the law. So the agreement must be null and void. To modify it would be a very bad principle,” he said.
Minister Lloyd told a television audience recently, “there must be an environmental impact statement. There must be an environmental impact study; that study must be shared with the community affected.’
The government signed the heads of agreement with Oban on February 10th, according to Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis.
