By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis maintained there is no “secret deal” involving Bahamas Power and Light and that the government is in the middle of negotiations and cannot disclose details at this time.

Mr Davis was responding to Kwasi Thompson, MP for East Grand Bahama, during the mid-year budget debates yesterday, who suggested the Davis administration is doing a “secret deal in the dark” involving the utility company.

He said: “The other point that I want to raise is the government has also loaned over $100m to BPL without parliamentary approval. I believe it was an illegal loan. What was worse is was you loaned it without even without having the terms and conditions, and then told the Bahamian people don’t worry about it, we will get it back. How? We will charge you more, that’s what’s again the situation.

“We will increase the bill or we will increase what you have to pay so we’ll get it back. But now what makes things a thousand times worse is this whole secret deal in the dark, that has just sort of come to light. So Mr Deputy, the Bahamian people I don’t believe will allow this to happen.”

Mr Davis interrupted and said the government is still in the negotiation process and will disclose the details of the arrangement once an agreement has been concluded.

He said the FNM should be “ashamed to talk about BPL” and while the fundamentals of the deal are in place the details are still being concluded.

He said: “This constant refrain about a secret deal. I mean, I see why and how we found ourselves in so many challenging arrangements that was entered into by the previous administration, I see why.

“If you’re embarking upon negotiations, you don’t let the world know about the negotiations. Because this isn’t the ordinary course of business, in the ordinary costs of doing business you are exploring and getting things done. So that is what we’re doing. We pick up the pieces, for example, from what ya’ll left off to try to clean it up, right, so why would we want to in the middle of our negotiations, tell the world we’re negotiating for this we’re negotiating for that. We have to be able to sit down and fluently negotiate. When the arrangement is struck, when we have come to a deal, any deal, any arrangements... y’all should be ashamed to talk about BPL.

“But lets talk about BPL.. we have the fundamentals of the deal are in place, but the actual arrangements, the hardcore deal of the provisions, obligations on our part, obligations on the part of the other, they are still being worked out. You don’t go and tell the world what you’re trying to do, at the appropriate time it will be known what’s the full arrangement. See ya’ll want drip, drip and ya’ll complain say we dripping and now because we ain’t dripping, now it’s a secret deal.”

Mr Davis said his vision for BPL is to provide reliable and affordable electricity for Bahamians and within months electricity bills would be lowered.

He said he has met with the union leaders and explained his vision to combat the deteriorating infrastructure with them.

He said: “The Bahamian people know what my vision is for BPL. I’ve said it over and over and that vision is to provide to the Bahamian people, affordable, reliable electricity. That is my vision and that vision will be achieved, the process of that will be revealed once I reach to that. And just stay tuned within months, in fact just look at your bill now its lowered but wait at least before June and see it, just stay tuned.

“The vision has been expressed the union appreciate I spoke with them and I told him what my vision is because of the state that met BPL in and the way it has been deteriorating. We going to arrest it and in due course stay tuned.”