By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The prime minister was last night said to have sold his ownership interest in Bahamas Ferries after coming under fire from political opponents over changes made in the latest Emergency Powers (COVID-19) Order.

Philip Davis, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) leader, in a statement responding to Dr Hubert Minnis’ latest national address, accused the prime minister of “looking out for his own interest” after ferry services were permitted to begin offering highly-restricted passenger services.

The changes made to section 14 in the latest Emergency Powers Order, which deals with limitations on domestic travel, allow “a ferry service” to transport passengers “within a chain of islands which are part of any Family Island”. Such operators can also travel to and from Harbour Island for the purpose of shipping pharmaceuticals, such as medicines, and “essential workers” to and from Bimini.

The prime minister never mentioned this change in his national address, and Mr Davis immediately cried foul, insinuating that a potential conflict of interest may lie behind the decision to relax restrictions on ferry services.

“We draw the public’s attention to paragraph 14 of the new order,” the PLP leader said in a statement. “In it, ferry services are exempted from the prohibition on passenger traffic. We note that the prime minister is a shareholder in Bahamas Ferries. Is the prime minister looking out for his own interest?”

However, a government spokesperson last night blunted the opposition leader’s attack. They told Tribune Business that Dr Minnis had divested his minority shareholding in Bahamas Ferries several months before, saying: “The prime minister no longer owns shares in Bahamas Ferries effective December 2019.”

Dr Minnis was listed in Bahamas Ferries’ 2017 annual returns - widely circulated on social media - as owning 305 of the company’s 5,015 ordinary shares, just six percent. However, the opposition have used this to cause controversy surrounding the award of inter-island freight transportation contracts and other deals.

And Mr Davis was not the only person to pick up on the relaxed COVID-19 restrictions for the Bahamian ferry industry. One businessman e-mailed Tribune Business: “Today the Prime Minister did not bother to detail what new businesses were now exempted. Had he done so he would have had to identify ferry services.

“Might that have anything to do with him being an investor in a business in that area? So now one can go to an island by ferry but not airplane? Look at paragraph 14. Note the exemption ‘other than a ferry service’. This did not appear in the previous Order (no. 2). Bahamas Ferries? No mention of this change at all in the 50-minute address. Under the previously announced plan ‘domestic travel’ was for a later phase.”

Mr Davis, meanwhile, blasted the Prime Minister’s address as “a study in depression and hopelessness” while also slamming the decision to again shut down the domestic gaming industry via the latest Order.

“The opening of businesses when announce last week did not exclude gaming,” he added. “The Government now has a week of experience of the 3,500 people at work in that sector, so what has happened since last week which now leads the Government to target these workers and send them to the unemployment line? Where is your heart? Is there some medical advice to the Government which has not been disclosed to us?”