PLP Senator Phillip Galanis has called on the government to audit the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) in order to ensure more transparency in how the city of Freeport is managed.
Senator Galanis was speaking at a town meeting in Freeport Tuesday on the way forward for the Grand Bahama Port Authority and Freeport. The town meeting was hosted by Island FM 102.9 and moderated by Chales Carter.
The Grand Bahama Port Authority has come under heavy fire in recent months after replacing key Bahamian members of its staff. Two prominent members of the GBPA board of directors have also resigned amid the recent moves. Mr Galanis , who did not speak on behalf of the government, has been critical of the organization since the replacements began with the apparent forced resignation of former Chairman Julian Francis.
Mr Francis was replaced by Hans Babak.
“I believe that there are several things that need to happen to ensure that the GBPA acts in the best interest of the community ” said Senator Galanis. “I call for the government to exercise its right to call for an audit of the GBPA [as] it’s critically important for more transparency to what is going on in this city” One of four panelists, the others being economist Doswell Coakley and attorneys Fred Smith and Maurice Glinton, Mr Galanis also called for a prohibition on the GBPA Chairman being a licensee of Freeport. He also called for the government to appoint a director in order to have a “clearer indication of what is going on” .
Added Senator Galanis: “I believe that the government of The Bahamas must make patently clear to existing shareholders of the Port Group of Companies that under no circumstances whatsoever would it even consider an application by a foreign purchaser of the GBPA and its group of companies if it can be determined that there are Bahamians who are capable of completing such an acquisition, all things being equal.”
Mr Galanis said the GBPA ﾖ which began to develop the city of Freeport after acquiring more than 86,00 thousand acres of land on the then sparsely inhabited island under the terms of the Hawksbill Creek agreement in 1955ﾖ was not a good model for future “anchor projects” around The Bahamas.
“I would like to caution those persons who have that view, that is the view that the Grand Bahama Port Authority is the model for anchor projects throughout our archipelago, to carefully examine the painful history and the shaky future that exist in Freeport and Grand Bahama today as a result of some of the shady maneuvers that took place to fulfill the goals of the owners of the GBPA.”
The Nassau Guardian
