by Adrian Gibson
From the The Tribune and the byline, Young Man's View, here…
SOMETHING stinks about the government’s new deal with Renew Bahamas concerning the New Providence landfill, the secrecy surrounding their arrangement and the fact no public tender or Request for Proposal (RFP) for the landfill was ever issued. What’s more, Renew Bahamas – a relatively new company whose expertise and previous experiences are unknown – does not yet appear to have a website, a head office or anything of the sort, besides its registered address. The funk that arises from this deal is worse than the scent from the actual site!
Considering the lack of transparency, one wonders how the government made its decisions and I am curious to know whether or not Renew Bahamas, or anyone associated with that company, was privy to inside information that could have placed that company in an advantageous position relative to rendering a proposal to government that reflected exactly what was desired – though all of this transpired in the absence of public tender. As a businessman, I can certainly understand the concerns and objections of the Bahamas Renewable Energy Resources (BRER) group, who submitted a 240-page proposal for the landfill to the government in April 2013, seeking to inform the government on how it would operate and manage the landfill and lobbying for the contract to do just that. BRER’s proposal called for a 100 per cent Bahamian-owned public company, with 30 per cent held by the waste companies and the remaining 70 per cent split between the government and public investors.
What’s even more interesting is the fact that Renew Bahamas is 60 per cent majority foreign-owned, which therefore makes it selection over 100 per cent Bahamian-owned groups even more questionable when one considers that the government party campaigned on a mantra of ‘putting Bahamians first’.
Now, here’s the kicker. Renew Bahamas was formed on July 16 and registered on September 13, 2012, by Davis & Company, which became its initial registered office. Documents show the attorney that registered Renew Bahamas as a domestic company was Philip McKenzie, a partner in Davis & Co. One notes that there is nothing to suggest that the Deputy Prime Minister had any involvement with Renew Bahamas’ registration, as he has given up day-to-day involvement in his law firm.
Documents further reveal that Renew Bahamas switched its registered office from Davis & Co to the McKinney, Turner & Company law firm on February 6, 2013. The Companies Registry files list two directors, Mr Beukes and Een Colebrooke, who appears to be a Bahamian. Mr Beukes is now an executive with London-based Aubaine Capital, a boutique investment/finance house that was spun-off from Adurion via management buyout in 2011.
Indeed, there is much that needs to be done about waste in the Bahamas. We know that the biggest producer of waste material is New Providence and so therefore that is a reasonable place to start.
That said, if we can’t give the garbage to Bahamians, what claims can we truly assert over our national patrimony? Are Bahamians being told that they are not good enough to even manage the garbage, even where there is documented evidence of Bahamians having some experience and paying large sums for a proposal?
When the government can announce that it is relying on a foreign entity to remediate waste management and don’t have the courtesy to tell Bahamian companies why their proposals were rejected, that smacks of a foregone conclusion, of a rigged process and of an out-and-out demonstration of no confidence in Bahamians. This speaks of a level of contempt and a dismissiveness of Bahamians and further lays a lie to the slogan “believing in Bahamians.”
Does the question of a conflict of interest arise given the purportedly close ties between the published principals of Renew Bahamas and key members of government?
Bahamians also want to know whether there are any characters with any questionable records involved with Renew Bahamas, persons with whom the Bahamas should not be prepared to do business. Are there any characters who are so unsavoury or whose past are so checkered that we should not look the other way? Will the government reconsider such deals with a view to optimising the reputational standing of this business jurisdiction?
On paper, we see the listed owners of Renew Bahamas. However, are there any members of government involved as silent partners?
We – the people – want to know!
