EDITOR, The Tribune.

In a recent letter to another newspaper, Bradley Roberts, Chairman of the PLP, in listing the accomplishments of his party, extolled its success in getting BTC back in Bahamian hands. In a transaction announced with great fanfare early in 2014, we were told that Government never intended to take operational management control of BTC but that the nation acquired a majority economic interest in the company, at no cost.

I have always been curious how this was done. It seems clear that Cable&Wireless Communications (CWC), which had owned 51 per cent of the shares, gave up roughly two per cent. But to whom exactly were these shares transferred? All the publicity, then and later, emphasised that these shares were not taken by Government itself to become an official state holding, but were assigned to a Bahamian “foundation” in trust for the Bahamian people. One specific purpose was mentioned —helping the Bahamas Broadcasting Corporation gain more technical expertise in its operations. This arrangement was praised as a brilliant compromise achieved after months of negotiations by the special committee headed by Franklyn Wilson.

Strangely, nothing further has been heard about this foundation. Any true foundation is created by a formal trust deed that sets forth its founder, its name, its objectives and the nature of its beneficiaries, and names its Board of Trustees, who provide periodic reports of its activities and bequests and its financial condition. To my knowledge, none of this information has been published. I was informally told that its Chairman is Wendell Major, Secretary to the Cabinet, but when I called his office, a functionary there told me he was “unable to give any information” about the foundation.

Why the secrecy about a body with such estimable aims? One is left with doubts about whether the foundation is actually in existence and is performing any useful functions. Unless these matters are clarified, the public will be entitled to its suspicions about who precisely is holding the two per cent shares and enjoying the benefits of dividends and a capital value of possibly $20m (a guess since BTC financial statement are buried within the consolidated figures of CWC).

A much more direct way to give Bahamians a stake in BTC would be a public offering of, say, 20 per cent of the company’s equity, taking shares equally from the Government and the CWC holdings. Disclosure rules would require the full story of last year’s Bahamianisation.

RICHARD COULSON

Nassau,

May 17, 2015.