By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

THE government is “putting Bahamian professionals last” in meeting with mobile phone service operator Digicel concerning their interest in entering the country’s mobile phone market, according to the FNM.

Prime Minister Perry Christie had said Tuesday the government is not satisfied with the level of service from Cable and Wireless and “had a number of conversations” with Digicel with regards to doing business in the Bahamas.

In a statement released last night, FNM Chairman Darron Cash said: “It is abundantly clear that the PLP government has put Digicel first and Bahamian entrepreneurs and professionals last. As this government courts Digicel with kisses and roses and secret meetings, Bahamian professionals want to know from Prime Minister Christie, where is the love?”

The PLP was elected, in part, because they “did an effective job in demonising the FNM” by convincing Bahamians that the PLP believed in Bahamians and the FNM did not, Mr Cash explained.

“Having successfully tricked people into believing that bald-faced lie, the PLP as the government wasted no time in demonstrating that the campaign slogan was indeed empty and gratuitous,” he said.

“The engagement of foreign consultants by the new government became the order of the day from day one. This was followed in quick succession by the most perverse and extensive assault on Bahamian professionals that we have seen since the darkest days of the Pindling era.

“From the National Insurance Board, to the Bahamas Electricity Corporation, the Mortgage Corporation to the Bahamas Development Bank, every professional was put on notice – ‘your professional credentials and experience could not possibly have put you here, only your scarlet (hidden) letters, FNM, so you have got to go. It is just a matter of time.’”

The PLP’s campaign suggested that Bahamian interests were to own and operate BTC in its entirety, Mr Cash said, thus Bahamian interests ought to be able to own and operate “the next elements of telecom that break free from Cable and Wireless’ heretofore disappointing monopoly grip.”

Mr Christie’s comments also suggested that he discussed ideas on how the country “can benefit from the presence of a new entrant” with Digicel, Mr Cash claimed.

“This is astounding for a ‘Bahamians-first’ Prime Minister,” he said.

“There is no mistaking the reality that when it comes to expansion of telecommunications in the Bahamas it is Digicel first. They now clearly have a leg up on everyone else. And we are all left to wonder whether Prime Minister Christie has met with any group of Bahamian investors to share his ideas about the sector.”