By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 6, 2021 — I lived in Freeport, Grand Bahama for move than 12 years before I relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2013 to become Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager at the Embassy of The Bahamas.
When my diplomatic status was revoked several months after the Free National Movement (FNM) became the government on May 10, 2017, I decided to remain in D.C. because of an ongoing medical condition that requires me to see my doctor at George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates on a regular basis.
From a distance, I have followed developments in Grand Bahama and have been tremendously impressed by the efforts made by the Executive Management team at the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) to get the growth and development of Freeport again headed in the right direction following the devastation caused to Grand Bahama and Abaco by the destructive Hurricane Dorrian in September of 2019.
Their efforts, however, were made all the more difficult by an inept and incompetent Free National Movement (FNM) government, under the leadership of Dr. Hubert Minnis, clearly the worst Prime Minister of The Bahamas since the country became an independent nation in July of 1973.
Despite having representatives in all five of the House of Assembly seats in Grand Bahama, the FNM government failed Grand Bahama miserably, and their failure was particularly detrimental to efforts by the GBPA to get Freeport again headed in the right direction.
This is why I am still baffled by the fact that the FNM won three of the five seats in Grand Bahama, even though the PLP ran excellent candidates in all three of the seats won by the FNM. By now, I am sure those voters in Grand Bahama who were coerced into voting for the FNM must have concluded that they made a terrible mistake, given the fact that Opposition Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis didn’t appoint a Grand Bahama FNM supporter as one of his party’s senators.
Clearly, the Bahamian electorate exercised good judgement when they unequivocally made it clear that they could no longer endure another day of the FNM’s bad governance when the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), led by Philip “Brave” Davis, won a landslide victory in the September 16 general election.
Since the election, indisputable evidence continue to surface about just how bad a government the FNM was over the past four-plus years.
One particular example that has had a deleterious impact on Grand Bahama is the “egregiously bad deal” regarding the sale of the Grand Lucayan property, which the FNM had been touting as a major aspect of its efforts to revive Grand Bahama’s economy.
An “egregiously bad deal” is the way Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism and Investments Chester Cooper described the sale of the Grand Lucayan property during his first official trip to Grand Bahama on October 1.
The Tribune reported that the Deputy Prime Minister was “disheartened” after learning specific details of the deal for the sale of the Grand Lucayan property during a two-hour meeting with the board of Lucayan Renewal Holdings (LRH), the special purpose vehicle created to own the assets of the Grand Lucayan resort.
“We have looked at the details extensively. I can tell you it is costing the Bahamian people,” Mr Cooper told members of the press following the meeting, adding: “I specifically recall saying that it was an egregiously bad deal. I am disheartened to say I did not hear anything to change my view.”
Exactly how the new PLP government will approach the task of “cleaning up” the mess left by the incompetent FNM government remains to be seen, but Grand Bahamians certainly can look forward to what I predict will be excellent PLP governmental leadership by Minister for Grand Bahama Ginger Moxey.
My prediction is buttressed by the fact that I am sure Minister Moxey will have formidable support — particularly in helping to generate positive projects in Freeport — from the Executive Leadership team at the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA), headed Vice Chairman Sarah St. George and President Ian Rolle.
What’s more, Minister Moxey herself is a former Vice President of the GPBA. I was Editor of The Freeport News for several years during her tenure at the GBPA and her responsibilities included matters related to public relations, so I am very familiar with the high level of competence she exhibits in carrying out duties assigned to her.
And as I noted in BAHAMAS CHRONICLE on October 1, 2019, in the aftermath of the massive devastation caused by Category 5 Hurricane Dorian during the first week of September, the GBPA Executive Team provided a “ray of hope that will certainly boost restoration efforts currently underway.”
Here’s an excerpt from what BAHAMAS CHRONICLE reported on October 1, 2019: “On its Facebook page, the GBPA posted a photograph with members of its executive leadership – including Vice Chairman Sarah St. George, President Ian Rolle, Financial Executive Deann Seymour and Vice President Henry St. George – and other GBPA decision-makers with the following caption:
“Take a closer look. Our executive leadership team continues to work diligently with Carnival Cruise Corporation for the next stage of approvals, as it relates to the Master Plan and EIA for the new cruise port on Sharp Rock, Freeport. This new venture will help Bahamian entrepreneurs and businesses to become proud owners & receive opportunities.”
The destruction that Hurricane Dorian left behind after it menacingly battered Grand Bahama for more than two days represented the biggest challenge to the continued development of Freeport that executives of the GBPA have faced since the signing of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement on August 5, 1955, between the then Government of The Bahamas and American financier Wallace Groves, which granted Mr. Groves 50,000 acres of Crown Land and a raft of tax exemptions that spurred the development of what became known as the Magic City of Freeport.
Of course, the fact that there are two individuals on the GBPA’s executive leadership team with the last name St. George bodes well for the efforts being made to restore Freeport to its former glory. Vice Chairman Sarah St. George and Vice President Henry St. George are both children of Edward St. George, the late co-owner of the GBPA.
Edward St. George and Sir Jack Hayward, along with the Sir Albert Miller as GBPA President, were mainly responsible for the remarkable growth and development of Freeport from 1976 when they purchased all the outstanding shares in the GBPA owned by Wallace Groves and became co-owners of the company that essentially is a government-within-a-government as far as the affairs of Freeport are concerned.
In critical times like Freeport is now experiencing, Edward St. George, who died in December of 2004 at the age of 76, would have donned his financial wizardry cape and make “all the right moves” to facilitate Freeport’s rebuilding efforts.
His daughter Sarah obviously has inherited her father’s good business sense and is well-qualified to make meaningful contributions to executive-level decision-making at the GBPA; so are her brother Henry and the other members of the GBPA’s executive leadership team.
This certainly is good news for Grand Bahama.
By the same token, Ginger Moxey, who took her seat in the House of Assembly when the current session officially opened on Wednesday, October 6, is likewise good news for Grand Bahama.
