“Sears: At no time did I deliberately mislead House” – The Nassau Guardian 2 Feb. 2023

“Opposition Leader Michael Pintard charged yesterday that Minister of Works Alfred Sears misled Parliament, not once, but eight times on the Davis administration’s failure to execute certain fuel hedge trades in the fall of 2021 to lock in fuel prices and keep Bahamas Power and Light’s (BPL) fuel charge stable.

Pintard raised the issue once again in the House of Assembly, prompting Sears to spring to his feet and declare he never intentionally misled the House.

Sears took exception to Pintard’s use of a certain word to describe the Davis administration’s actions with respect to what he (Pintard) termed a lack of transparency over the issue.

The speaker of the House ordered the particular word struck from the record of Parliament, but Pintard fired back, saying even if the particular word is not used, “In English, it is called a synonym. It just has the same meaning. You have misled the House on no less than eight occasions on your feet.”

Pintard told Parliament, “We have not forgotten, the prime minister has not yet relieved the member for Fort Charlotte (Sears) of his duties, nor has he decided that he will demit office, but, Madam Speaker, I remind the public that we are going to pay over $100 million because of ill-advised decisions by this administration …”

It appears that the “good” minister is either suggesting that he did mislead the House or as a seasoned attorney; a King’s Council no less, is trying to convince us that he may have unknowingly misled The House? 

All I can say is loose the donkey!

“FNM blasts govt. over BPL’s $150M arrears” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; “The Free National Movement (FNM) yesterday renewed its call for Minister of Works Alfred Sears to resign over what it insisted has been the “bungling” of the affairs of Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) as evidenced by a revelation in the government’s newly released Fiscal Strategy Report 2022 that the utility has arrears of $150 million.

The report, which Prime Minister Philip Davis tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, states under the government liabilities section at the end of the document, “The recent disclosure of approximately $150 million of payment arrears of Bahamas Power and Light represents a significant unbudgeted liability of the government.

“To ensure continued provision of essential electrical services to the public, the government has committed to ensuring payment of this liability by the corporation.”

The opposition party has sought to link the BPL arrears to the Davis administration’s decision to reject recommendations made by BPL’s fuel hedge committee in the fall of 2021 for the government to execute fuel hedge trades to lock in oil prices and keep the BPL fuel charge stable.”

The FNM has contended over months that the failure to conduct those transactions, and the prime minister’s decision to reverse a BPL fuel charge increase announced by BPL last February, directly resulted in consumers having now to stomach a substantially higher fuel charge which is being rolled out over months.

The FNM has taken particular aim at Sears, who has told conflicting reports in Parliament over the BPL matter, initially stating that he had had no briefing nor received any advice on the hedging program.

Sears more recently acknowledged that he in fact was privy to such advice, and that it was the minister of finance who decided against executing the trades – a claim Davis, who is minister of finance, has denied.”

So, first Minister Sears says that he had no knowledge of the briefing nor had he received any advice on the hedging program, only to then “acknowledged that he in fact was privy to such advice”, and at this point it would appear that Prime Minister Davis left him in the deep end by himself, by going on to claim that he never saw the report even though it is suggested that it was the minister of finance that decided against executing the trades.

It would appear, as you look back on the entire mess, that the minister’s action, whether “unintentional” or through sheer incompetence and ineptitude will have a negative effect on the rest of us; but he sees no reason why he should face no consequences for his actions.

Progressive Liberal Party fails for one reason, it is their nature.

END