The Nassau Guardian
Evans feels vindicated over BTC sale objection
Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) President Bernard Evans said yesterday he felt vindicated after learning that former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham attempted to retain majority stake in the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) in 2011.
“When I saw it, it made me pause for a long time and reflect,” said Evans, referring to a Nassau Guardian article published on Wednesday under the headline “Former PM wanted majority BTC stake”.
“You mean to tell me through all of that, he was seeking to find a way at the very end to get out of it?
“That only proves to exonerate me, that I was on the right side of history; that we were on the right side of that situation.”
Evans and union members, along with the then opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and members of the public vehemently objected to the sale of a majority interest in BTC to the foreign company, Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC).
Hundreds of BTC workers protested the sale outside the House of Assembly on numerous occasions in late 2010 and early 2011.
During a protest in 2011, as Ingraham exited the House and manoeuvrered through a sea of protestors, some shouted out to him, “Hubert sell out. Hubert sell out.”
Seemingly unfazed, Ingraham, who was under heavy police guard, walked to a waiting car and was escorted from the area.
The Guardian revealed on Tuesday that Ingraham made a final bid to hold on to a majority stake in BTC weeks before signing a deal with CWC in 2011.
“I was reading that in amazement really. I said, ‘wow’,” Evans said.
“At some point he must have recognized that it may have been a mistake and was trying to correct it.
“But if he had reservations I think… he should have done the right thing; he should have called it off.
“I have no doubt, they (FNM) would have still been in power if they didn’t do it.”
In a letter to Ingraham in March 2011, Tony Rice, who at the time was CWC’s CEO, advised Ingraham that it would not be in the company’s interest to agree to a minority stake in BTC.
CWC paid $210 million for the 51 percent stake in BTC in 2011.
On Wednesday, Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis defended Ingraham’s eleventh-hour attempts.
He said it proved that the Ingraham administration had the best interest of Bahamians at heart.
But Evans said, “No one had a gun to their head.”
Prime Minister Perry Christie said last week his government negotiated a deal with CWC to give up two percent of its shares in BTC at no cost to the government or the Bahamian people.
Under the terms of the new deal, CWC will transfer 5,093,200 of its shares to be held in a trust for the Bahamian people.
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