On Monday, Prime Minister Philip Davis suggested that the $26,000 Water and Sewerage
Corporation (WSC) contract awarded to the daughter of Sylvanus Petty should have been
cancelled when the relationship between the father and daughter became known.
The prime minister was speaking to reporters outside the House of Assembly after viewing the
body of the late Dr. Perry Gomez that was lying in state before his funeral on Tuesday.
Last week, under cross-examination in the Adrian Gibson corruption trial, Mr. Petty, who is
the executive chairman of the WSC, Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly and Member
of Parliament for North Eleuthera, admitted that his daughter Sylatheia Gierszewski, through a
company named Mainscape Maintenance, does indeed have a contract with WSC.
As a result of this, Free National Movement (FNM) Chairman Dr. Duane Sands has since
called for Mr. Petty to resign. However, the prime minister said despite what the opposition
says, the appropriate action will be taken.
As it relates to the opposition calling for Mr. Petty’s resignation, the prime minister said,
“They don’t have any moral authority to speak to those matters. I know what I have to do and
we are looking at the matter. We will not be dictated to by the FNM. We will look at the
circumstances and the right thing will be done.”
The prime minister went on to give an example of what his actions were when his own brother
was found to have a government contract which he was not aware of.
He said, “Everybody would have known when the FNM tried to sully me up by indicating that
I would have given my brother a contract, something I did not know about and they knew what
I did when I discovered it, and I expected that to have happened in this instance. We are
looking at the circumstances and stay tuned.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Petty resigned as executive chairman of the Water and Sewerage
Corporation.