The governmentﾴs decision to use public funds to pay displaced workers of the Royal Oasis Resort in Freeport severance pay is illegal and sets a bad precedent, Member of Parliament for Bamboo Town Tennyson Wells claimed in the House of Assembly on Wednesday.
Mr. Wellsﾴs comments came after Minister Bradley Roberts, who heads a Cabinet subcommittee addressing the matter, made a communication formally announcing the governmentﾴs decision to pay out $8.4 million to the workers over a 120-day period.
Minister Roberts said there are approximately 1,000 workers who would qualify under this agreement.
ﾓHowever, if there exists additional Royal Oasis workers who may qualify, then the government would be eager to know who those persons are so it would only be looked upon as a numerical oversight instead of an injustice,ﾒ he added.
Mr. Wells, a former Cabinet Minister in the Ingraham Administration, who is now an independent MP, insisted that the issue is a ﾓvery controversial one.ﾒ
ﾓI think itﾴs unprecedented and I cannot see how the Cabinet of this country could sit down and do that,ﾒ he said. ﾓSuppose everybody complained who are laid off on a regular basis? Is the government going to come forward and pay those debts and say weﾴre going to wait to get the money back using public funds? That canﾴt be right. Something is fundamentally wrong, Mr. Speaker.ﾒ
He added, ﾓIf the government is a creditor as [it is], what [it] should do is place the company in liquidation, sell the assets and pay the debts. But you cannot go in the Consolidated Fund and take money to pay off the debts of private individuals and particularly foreign owned operations, paying off the debts of foreigners. It cannot be right. Something has to be done about this and I think this is the second instance that I see happening in the last couple of weeks.ﾒ
On Tuesday, Minister of Trade and Industry Leslie Miller, who is also the Member of Parliament for Blue Hills, ensured his constituents in Bozine Town during a downtown demonstration that even if the government has to pay for the disputed land they are fighting to stay on, they will not be evicted as a land development company has threatened.
Though not speaking directly to this latest promise by the government to use public funds to settle a private dispute, Mr. Wells indicated that such acts are wrong.
Speaking on the planned payments to the Royal Oasis employees, he added, ﾓI call on the attorney general to give a public legal opinion as to whether or not this action is illegal by the government because something is wrong with that. In other jurisdictions, who ever pays the money out, a citizen may have the right to go and cause the money to be paid back to the Consolidated Fund.ﾒ
But Minister Roberts responded saying, ﾓIt is very inappropriate for a member to use communication time to raise a matter that is in his view controversial.ﾒ
Mr. Wells shot back, ﾓYou cannot bring as a communication here a matter that you know is controversial. I think itﾴs wrong, Mr. Speaker. If a Bahamian businessman lays off people today could those employees go to the government and say, ﾑListen, I want you to pay us out?ﾴ
ﾓWhatﾴs going to happen with the public funds if this sort of thing starts happening? I think the government should reconsider it because itﾴs wrong, I believe it is illegal and the precedent should not be set.ﾒ
Alvin Smith, Member of Parliament for North Eleuthera, took the argument a step further asking the government to explain how it intends to get the Driftwood group and Lehman Brothers, the resortﾴs owners, to repay the money the Christie Administration plans to pay out.
Minister Vincent Peet, government leader in the House, responded by saying the Ministerﾴs communication was very clear.
ﾓI think that communication speaks for itself,ﾒ he said.
In his communication, Minister Roberts said the governmentﾴs decision to advance payment to the workers is predicated on the understanding that the government will be reimbursed following the settlement of the insurance claim by the Royal Oasis insurers.
He said the government is also moving to find another investor for the Royal Oasis resort.
Minister Roberts added that some hotels and casino operators around the country have pledged to take on some of the employees, including Emerald Bay in Exuma and Fortune Bay.
He tabled a listing of 55 vacancies of current career opportunities available at the Emerald Bay, Exuma, adding that The Isle of Capri Casino has agreed to absorb six casino workers and Carnival cruises have agreed to engage casino workers who may wish to be employed on their ships.
ﾓThe reality is that it is unfortunate that the circumstance of the Royal Oasis hotel has left citizens of The Bahamas displaced as workers,ﾒ Minister Roberts said. ﾓBut it is likewise fortunate that the government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas has not only seen the need to relieve that distress, but is moving to alleviate it.ﾒ
He said the government was offering the most responsible solution to the distressed workers at this time and in this present financial environment.
Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
