• Licensees: We must ‘have say’ on GBPA changes

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Government and Grand Bahama Port Authority’s (GBPA) owners were yesterday warned the latter’s 3,000 licensees must “have a say” over any changes to its ownership and Freeport’s founding treaty.

Kirk Antoni, the Cafferata & Company attorney and partner, told Tribune Business the approval of 80 percent of licensees is required to both amend the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, which has full legal and statutory effect, and/or devolve the GBPA’s quasi-governmental and regulatory powers to a condo-type association.

His remarks came as the GBPA’s licensees seek to mobilise, and ensure they are not neglected in the battle for Freeport’s future, while also intervening in the Government’s increasingly acrimonious dispute with the city’s quasi-governmental authority and its owners, the Hayward and St George families.

Mr Antoni, a prominent member of the 25-30 strong licensee body that previously issued a public letter to both Prime Minister Philip Davis KC and the GBPA’s owners over the impasse, told this newspaper the latter had agreed to meet with the group on September 6 while no response has yet been received from the Government.

And, in an effort to “swiftly” expand the group’s base, the Cafferata & Co partner said it is inviting all 3,000 licensees to another meeting later in September to advise them of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement’s benefits to their businesses and the rights it confers upon them.

A 60-year Freeport resident, Mr Antoni said his sole goal is “to bring Freeport out of the ashes”. He echoed calls for a change in the GBPA’s ownership and leadership, but not through a government takeover or via the approach the Davis administration is pursuing, instead urging that both families’ interests be acquired by private investors with the necessary capital, “vision and business sense” to move the city forward and fulfill its potential.

“We have extended an invitation to both the Port and the Government, and received a response from the Port. We have organised a meeting with the Port, and I believe it’s on the 6th [of September], but the Government have not been responsive,” Mr Antoni told Tribune Business.

Describing the licensee group as “very, very concerned” by the ongoing hostilities between the Government and GBPA, given the uncertainty this creates for the business climate and deterrent effect for new investors, he urged both parties to “get together and resolve their differences outside the public domain”.

Acknowledging that this task has been made more difficult following the Prime Minister’s assertion that the Government has taken over the GBPA’s role and is “subsidising” its obligations and responsibilities, an argument that was subsequently repeated several times by Fred Mitchell, minister of foreign affairs and the public service, Mr Antoni said: “We’re trying to keep this as apolitical as possible.

“We’re going to have an education seminar in a couple of weeks’ time - I think it’s September 11, but I’m home right now - where we will invite all licensees to attend a meeting and educational seminar to educate them on the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, the GBPA and what has been done to-date, and give everyone an idea of where they stand.

“Not only that, but to advise both parties [the Government and the GBPA] that we need you to resolve your differences because this change in ownership and stakeholders at the GBPA, you need approval of 80 percent of the licensees to do so......,” he continued.

“We want to say to both the Government and the GBPA: ‘Listen, guys, we want you to sit down and resolve your differences quietly outside the public domain, and remember we have a say in what you want to do with a change in ownership at the Port Authority.”

The Prime Minister launched the Government’s offensive against the GBPA in the recent 2023-2024 Budget debate, when he argued that the quasi-governmental authority and its shareholders are failing to live up to their commitments under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement to maintain, grow and invest in Freeport’s development. He also charged that Freeport’s founding treaty is also proving inadequate as a platform for attracting fresh private investment and economic growth.

He subsequently said the Government “has begun to invoice the Port Authority” for the reimbursement of expenses that Bahamian taxpayers have incurred in providing public infrastructure and services in Freeport - investments that Mr Davis argued are the GBPA’s obligations, although the latter has refuted this. And, last week, Mr Davis said his priority is to “right the ship” at the GBPA because its owners’ interests are not aligned with those of Grand Bahama residents.

Mr Antoni, meanwhile, told Tribune Business that his and the licensee group’s primary objective is to move Freeport forward for the benefit of all licensees and residents. “My sole intent is to bring Freeport out of the ashes and whatever is in the best interests of Freeport,” he said. “I don’t care who is in power, but I want the Port Authority to be changed in terms of its shareholders and management.

“That is our drive. We want people to come in and take over the Port Authority, and have the funds, vision and business sense because, in the last ten years or more, that’s not been the status quo.” He added that the licensee group has drawn up an agenda for the September 6 meeting that it will present to the GBPA, and said: “Once we’ve met with the Port Authority, if the Government doesn’t want to meet with us we’re going to move ahead with our education seminars so the licensees understand what their rights and obligations are under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement.”

Tribune Business understands that licensees want to hear the views of the GBPA and its shareholders on the present state of relations with the Davis administration. They are also said to be seeking reassurances on key tax breaks they currently enjoy, and whether and for how long these incentives will continue.

This is related to the Grand Bahama (Port Area) Investment Incentives Act 2016, which mandated that all GBPA licensees - besides the Port Authority itself and Hutchison Whampoa - apply to Nassau for the renewal of real property tax, capital gains and income tax-related exemptions. The Act has never been implemented but the Minnis administration, which promised to repeal it, never did.

David Wallace, president of Arawak Adventures and Commercial Tours, the Pirate’s Cove operator, told Tribune Business that the Government must “take the high road” and see how it can work with the GBPA and its licensees to Freeport and the country’s advantage instead of engaging in a public “fight”.

A member of the same group with Mr Antoni, he said: “We are still calling on the Government to, for lack of a better word, to take the high road. Instead of Fred Mitchell adding fuel to the fire, I think the Prime Minister needs to call a meeting, sit with the licensees and Port Authority. Let’s discuss this at a mature level around the table and see how we can collaborate and co-exist instead of speaking as if we’re having this fight.

“That’s what the Port Authority said last week; that they’re not interested in a fight with the Government. But the Port Authority is not going to roll over and let the Government bully them.” Mr Wallace implied that the Government should follow the then-Ingraham administration’s 1993 lead, when it agreed to extend Freeport’s tax breaks and investment incentives in return for the GBPA constructing public infrastructure such as schools and a sports complex.

Turning to the September 6 meeting with the GBPA, the Pirate’s Cove chief said: “It’s a meeting of dialogue. It’s a meeting to talk about where we are, how they see themselves, how they see addressing the situation with the Government without having this battle in public.

“I also know there is an attempt by us, the same group, to call of the licensees to a meeting where we want to talk to them and update them all on the benefits of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement. I believe many people in Freeport have never read the Hawksbill Creek Agreement. What do they stand to lose if the agreement goes away earlier rather than later?

“We want to have a meeting with them to update them on the plans of the Port Authority. We’re going to seek to have the Port Authority at that meeting to talk about all the projects they’ve advanced to give Grand Bahama hope. We want to have both Rupert Hayward and Sarah St George’s view as to what they intend to to do make the Port Authority stronger and more resilient today,” Mr Wallace added.

“In 60-odd years times have changed, so we should look at how to make the Port more relevant than it was 60 years ago.”