By DENISE MAYCOCK 

Tribune Freeport Reporter 

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Prime Minister Perry Christie said his administration began efforts to change the management of Freeport.

He said the Davis administration’s push for transformative change in the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s management has its genesis and roots in work done by his administration.

Speaking at the Rotary Club of Freeport on Thursday, he said: “You have a current situation where I am advised that the Prime Minister has indicated that he wants $357m as a result of an audit.

“There is either a foundation for it or there is not. I can only tell you that the consultancies that were established in my time were leading us in that direction and what he has done is followed it.”

Mr Christie noted that his administration appointed a committee led by bipartisan chair Dr Marcus Bethel (PLP) and deputy chair Maurice Moore (FNM) that made several recommendations.

“I lost the elections and I asked myself, ‘What happened?’ This thing that I put together that was to transcend politics and the division of politics died because of politics,” he said.

“I looked at it today and everything that the Prime Minister currently is doing or trying to do has its genesis in the work done by that committee.

“I was looking to invoke reimbursement provisions for a certain amount of years, and I said I did an accounting, not an audit. Prime Minister Brave Davis has done an audit. But what we were doing was trying to determine what should happen on this island to make it fly.”

Mr Christie noted that while infrastructure was put in place for 500,000 people, Grand Bahama’s economy was being challenged and limping. He added that the sight of only a few private jets at the airport when he landed was a clear indication that something was wrong.

He emphasised that he knew there was a need for an infusion of new capital, pointing out that the Oxford Group had reported the accumulation of unused land as a significant factor stunting the island’s development.

“I had to wait for Mr Davis to come in and start over again,” he said. “Well, listen, you are not trying to take anything from anybody. You are trying to reason out what is best for Grand Bahama, and the people of Grand Bahama.” Prime Minister Philip Davis has claimed that the GBPA has failed to meet

its obligations to Freeport and is demanding some $357 million in reimbursement allegedly owed to the government over the last five fiscal years. The GBPA, however, denies owing the amount.

Mr Christie emphasised Grand Bahama’s significance and the need for its development to be a collaborative effort.

“The people of Grand Bahama, you are sitting in a very special island, which requires special attention from any government,” he said. “You have a system here that a consulting group hired by the Committee of Maurice Moore and Marcus Bethel, the Oxford Group, indicated that there was no parallel in the US or elsewhere of this kind of formula. And that every consideration has to be given to whether or not this is an effective model.”

“You cannot sit on this island and not understand the importance of having an interest in knowing that you have to be involved to guarantee the protection of your families and their future.”