By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

An ex-prime minister yesterday warned Philip Davis KC that “he won’t get off that easy” over the Bahamas Moorings deal as he pledged to “keep digging” into the now-terminated lease agreement.

Dr Hubert Minnis vowed to maintain the pressure on his successor, who he said needs to “brace himself” for a barrage of further questions over the 21-year deal that would have effectively privatised all viable anchorage and mooring sites in the Exumas by granting a monopoly to a private company whose principals have strong connections to Davis administration insiders.

Mr Davis last week sought to shut down further public debate and discussion on Bahamas Moorings by suggesting the lease termination has ended the controversy. Dr Minnis, though, promised not to let the matter die and voiced surprise that the Prime Minister has seemingly not taken action over the potential conflict of interest that saw his deputy communications director witness the lease’s signing for Bahamas Moorings.

Sandra Kemp’s husband, Philip A. Kemp II, was one of the principals in Bahamas Moorings, and Dr Minnis argued that given the Office of the Prime Minister’s importance as a standalone institution it cannot afford to be dragged into any situation where “perceived” wrongdoing is alleged.

The former prime minister also asserted that Mr Davis, in seeking to end and kill-off any further commentary on Bahamas Moorings, had “just opened the doorway” to further scrutiny by himself, the Opposition and Bahamian public with the saga “a lot deeper than many believe”.

Dr Minnis spoke out after Mr Davis last week suggested he and his administration will say no more about the Bahamas Moorings deal given that it was cancelled and will no longer proceed. “The matter has been stopped and it’s cancelled. That’s the end of that,” the Prime Minister said, effectively sending the message that there is nothing more to see here and public discussion should cease.

However, his predecessor argued: “Nothing can be closed down, and he has to answer the questions. The fact he said what he said indicates there are a lot of questions to be asked, and the Bahamian people should want those questions to be asked. He won’t get off that easy because we have a lot more coming after him since he made that statement. Oh hell no, he’s not getting off that easy.

“He is an employee of the Bahamian people, who hired him. An employer asks the questions, and the employee must answer. He knows there’s a lot more to that, and I will continue to plow and continue to dig, and continue to ask more questions until we get the appropriate answers that I and the Bahamian people are looking for. The truth.

“They said the Bahamian people had equity in there [in Bahamas Moorings]. If the Government had equity in there, who was responsible for the it and how much was it worth? Table the documents to show we had equity. There are a lot more questions. The matter is not resolved yet. All he has to do is tell the Bahamian people the facts. It’s a lot deeper than many believe. The question is whose name is he afraid to call?”

Promising to “keep digging”, Dr Minnis said he is now “putting together more questions” relating to the Bahamas Moorings deal that he plans to ask and table in Parliament “as soon as the opportunity arises”. He added of the Prime Minister’s position: “He opened up the doorway when he made that statement.

“He has no choice but to answer the questions, and multiple questions will be coming forth from myself so he might as well brace himself.” The Killarney MP also expressed surprise that the Government has seemingly not addressed the alleged ‘conflict of interest’ caused by Mrs Kemp witnessing a lease on behalf of her husband’s company while employed by the party on the other side of the deal.

“I’m very surprised, very surprised that he has not done anything,” Dr Minnis said of Mr Davis. “He has to protect the Office of the Prime Minister. That’s an institution that has to be protected. That institution cannot be tied up in any form of perceived wrongdoing.”

Many of the principals and places involved in the Bahamas Moorings deal, which was a tightly-kept secret until the lease document was leaked, have strong ties and connections to Jerome Fitzgerald, the Prime Minister’s senior policy advisor. This includes the duo who signed the lease.

Mr Kemp is a long-standing business associate of Mr Fitzgerald, the two having been part of the failed BK Foods bid to acquire the now-defunct City Markets supermarket chain. They later participated in the Trans-Island Traders deal that acquired the same business just prior to its collapse, with Mr Kemp becoming its chief financial officer. A City Markets-related e-mail, sent to Tribune Business at that time, was also copied to Philip A. Kemp II.

And Raymond Christian Knowles, better known by his middle name, is a boat captain with the ‘Pieces of 8’ tour boat and charter operator, where he is described as “a 30-year veteran on the open waters” who has worked as a commercial fisherman. Mr Fitzgerald, in a 2021 interview with Tribune Business, neither confirmed nor denied when asked whether he had an ownership interest in the company.

There are also further connections involving Bahamas Moorings’ address. This newspaper’s own records, plus a VAT registrants list from 2016, reveal that 138 Wulff Road was also once the home of Bahamas Cargo & Logistics (BCL), a company owned by Mr Fitzgerald’s family.

Tribune Business previously reported yesterday how a bill of lading, detailing Bahamas Moorings’ importation of anchors and link chains from China, gives the company’s address as Suite No.5, 138 Wulff Road. That is now the address of Cubix Bahamas which, like Bahamas Cargo & Logistics, is also a shipping company and freight forwarder.

And Mrs Kemp states on her Linkedin page that she has served as “head of marketing communications” for Cubix Bahamas from March 2018 to the “present”. The Prime Minister’s Office, in announcing that both sides had “mutually agreed” that the Bahamas Moorings deal would not proceed following its public exposure, said Mrs Kemp’s role in witnessing the lease’s signing was “under review”.

It also quickly announced it plans to develop a national moorings strategy and undertake an inventory of existing moorings - moves likely to be an effort to distract from Bahamas Moorings itself. However, it appears that no further information will likely be volunteered by the Government on its “review” of the lease signing or any other aspects of the agreement.

The haste with which the Bahamas Moorings deal was abandoned, just 24 hours after it was exposed, suggests both sides knew it would not stand up to scrutiny of those involved and the absence of competitive bidding on the management and operation of all Exuma’s mooring sites.

Bahamas Moorings, as part of its lease deal with the Government, committed to installing 250 moorings at 49 locations in the Exumas via an investment worth $2.5m. In return for leasing a total 4,615 acres from the Government for 21 years, with effect from February 1, 2025, it had agreed to pay an annual rent equal to 3 percent of gross revenue collected from boaters plus 10 percent VAT.

Bahamas Moorings had proposed to charge fees ranging from $25 to $135 per day depending on vessel length, plus fees of between $170 and $250 per day for “super yachts” mooring at its ‘taper buoys again depending on length.

Anchorage fees range from 55 cents per foot per day to $1.10 per foot per day, again depending on boat length. Bahamas Moorings argued that its mooring/anchorage plan would bring order to the present chaos on Bahamian waters by giving boats and yachts designated points where they can tie up, thus preventing damage to the seabed, coral reefs and other ecosystems from anchors dragging.