By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

PINERIDGE MP Frederick McAlpine yesterday called on Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis to account for his personal phone call with former Cabinet Minister Brent Symonette regarding the government leasing a portion of Town Centre Mall, insisting the matter could not be considered confidential.

Mr McAlpine said he felt the matter had "gone too far" to contemplate reversing the decision, however, he said it was time to ensure it never happened again.

He suggested that there may be evidence to support claims that Parliament was misled on the resolution on the deal.

"The matter at hand now is that when the resolution was put before the House [of Assembly] and the second to last paragraph said there was no discussion with then said minister. Based on what the former minister said one can almost say it seems like can one be led to believe the House was misled or we debated on the premise of a resolution that did not have full disclosure.

"I think we're too far gone to consider a re-do but we have to put mechanisms in place to make sure this never happens again.

"People don't want to hear from ministers, they want to hear from their leader. He didn't call ministers, he called the prime minister's name and the prime minister has an obligation to the Bahamian people to clear his name."

Controversy over the lease of the Town Centre Mall returned to the spotlight when Mr Symonette revealed earlier this month that Dr Minnis called him personally to negotiate the deal last year.

The Office of the Prime Minister has declined to confirm the date of that call, and further suggested the admission made by the former minister represented a breach of confidentiality.

Yesterday, Mr McAlpine said he did not feel Bahamians found the OPM's statement satisfactory, adding the issue now rested with Dr Minnis to account for what transpired ahead of the deal.

"You can't holler confidentiality," Mr McAlpine said. "The man wasn't in the Cabinet, and he wasn't supposed to be there. So if there is a confidentiality issue it would be on the part of the prime minister and not Brent Symonette."

Mr McAlpine also shot down his party's argument that the former administration's consideration of the Town Centre Mall as a post office site neutralises conflict of interest concerns.

The outspoken backbencher argued it would have been better optics if the post office was relocated under the former administration despite the significantly reduced rate offered to the Minnis administration.

"If the PLP had done it, it would have been fine," Mr McAlpine said, "[Mr Symonette] wasn't a member of Parliament or Cabinet then so that argument is null and void. The mere fact [Mr Symonette] is a MP and a member of Cabinet makes it a whole different kettle of fish.

"It would have been far better for him to have gotten it under the PLP…we would not be in this quagmire. Even though it was more money, the reality is it would not look like a conflict of interest or anything untoward. The fact that [Mr Symonette] is an MP, but not so much being a MP as he [was] a member of the Cabinet, and the fact that he is known to be a major contributor to the party puts us in a more conundrum as it relates to this matter.

"Because [Mr Symonette] got it under the FNM regime there are more questions than answers," Mr McAlpine said.

"I want to hear what [Dr Minnis] has to say. The reality is I don't know what my party is thinking, we've lost ground from day one. I've seen it, and what seems to be coming forward more and more is our government don't seem to be a government that's leaning towards trying to assist the masses.

"You may not have gone up on VAT but so many other things we are paying for," he added, "you're killing the small man in this country."

On Tuesday, Mr Symonette told The Tribune the matter had been fully explained.

"I have nothing more to add to it. My interest in the Town Centre Mall has been disclosed for years," Mr Symonette said.

"I'm not hiding anything, I'm just tired of answering questions about it."