By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Leader Dr Hubert Minnis yesterday said conflicting statements by Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and BEC Executive Chairman Leslie Miller surrounding the cause of last weekend’s island-wide blackout exposes a “crisis of leadership” within government.

Dr Minnis said Mr Davis and the executive chairman “do not have a clue how to immediately bring stability to the system and how to gradually grow the profitability of the corporation and ultimately guide the process towards” reform.

He added that their statements “point out the confused state this government is in.”

He also expressed the FNM’s “collective outrage” about the blackout and subsequent load shedding. He said the government has failed to maintain or to repair the generators at BEC to boost capacity to meet existing electricity demands during peak hours.

Dr Minnis’ comments came after Mr Miller on Sunday blamed the power outage on the management and staff who work at the Blue Hills Power Station.

In a statement released yesterday, however, Mr Davis said the fire at the station and resulting blackout did not occur as a result of negligence by employees. He said it was “regrettable that any intimation to that effect was ever issued.”

“That points out the confused state this government is in,” Dr Minnis said during a press conference outside BEC’s Tucker Road offices yesterday. “And if we continue to be led by individuals who are confused themselves, can you imagine the damage they would do to this country? It is time that the PLP move on.”

He added: “The BEC fiasco exposes a crisis of leadership.”

Dr Minnis said the government has failed to get a handle on BEC’s challenges during its nearly three years in office.

“Thousands of residents have had to endure the loss of revenue, damage to appliances, spoilage of food, oppressive heat, inconveniences, and loss of productive hours,” he said. “At the same time, many of our investors are potentially facing millions of dollars in lost revenue, and our country, which is already reeling from business loss due to concerns over our crime rate, is now taking a hit over inconsistency of power supply.

“Will they ever get it right? What is abundantly clear is that in nearly three years the PLP government has not managed to maintain or to repair the generators at BEC so as to boost capacity to meet an existing electricity demand during peak hours.

“It is all too clear that this visionless government has totally failed Bahamians in having fumbled in their short-sighted and conflicting policy pronouncements. BEC is a mess, a PLP mess, and Bahamian residents and businesses continue to suffer as a result.”

Last Friday, Mr Miller said a “fire in the trenches” at the Blue Hills Power Station caused the power outage, the effects of which lasted throughout the weekend. He said the fire erupted after an “overloaded wire” came into contact with oil that had dripped into the trenches at the Station.

He subsequently blamed the problem on the people who work at the Blue Hills Power Station.

“The preventative maintenance wasn’t done and the lack of proper maintenance is what’s killing BEC,” he said.

However, he backtracked from those comments yesterday and insisted his statements to the media were taken out of context.

Mr Davis, the minister responsible for BEC, said upon his personal inspection of the site and discussing the matter with BEC’s management and technical staff, he was “satisfied” that the fault did not occur as a result of employee negligence.