Opposition Leader Responds to National Address: “PM Wasted Bahamians Time”

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NASSAU , BAHAMAS –

Michael Pintard – Leader, FNM

“The prime minister unfortunately wasted a number of Bahamians’ time.”

That’s opposition leader Michael Pintard’s take on the prime minister’s national address, saying that, in his view, it didn’t give Bahamians the answers they were looking for.

Pintard joined in on the blame game, saying the government can’t keep pointing fingers when it comes to Bahamas Power and Light.

Michael Pintard – Leader, FNM

“After five years as prime minister, and more than ten years in total, close to 14 years, where he has had some direct responsibility for BPL either.”

One of the big issues Pintard raised is BPL’s massive overtime bill.

The prime minister addressed the more than twenty million dollars in overtime, including about six hundred thousand dollars paid to three employees over a twelve-month period.

Davis called it a failure of management and oversight.

But Pintard is asking, who’s actually responsible for that management?

Michael Pintard – Leader, FNM

“The prime minister spoke about overtime abuse and management failures, as if it isn’t him and his minister and the board that they put in place and the executives they hired, who are responsible for determining who ultimately gets overtime.”

And then there’s the money.

The Bahamas Grid Company was brought on to manage New Providence’s transmission and distribution system, allegedly being paid eight million dollars a month under this arrangement. However, the string of recent blackouts has been linked to the T&D system, despite the company saying it was nearing completion of key infrastructure upgrades.

Pintard is now questioning the results of the government’s investment in the power system, pointing to more than four hundred and thirty million dollars he says has gone into New Providence’s electrical infrastructure over the last three years.

And the opposition leader says, after all that money, why are the lights still going off?

Michael Pintard – Leader, FNM

“And the investment that was supposed to be done on the electrical infrastructure in New Providence, I mean, over 430 million of it over the last three years, what results have we got that justifies this? 430 million plus, and the lights are going off more than ever.”

All the criticism comes as BPL continues to deal with an aging and overloaded system. And with Bahamians still dealing with blackouts, the political blame game over BPL doesn’t appear to be going anywhere.

Pintard says the real test for the government isn’t how much money it says it has spent, it’s whether Bahamians can actually turn on their lights and keep them on.