Rather interesting analysis.
It is a shame we find it difficult to treat fairly those who help us, yet seemingly always side with those who have a scam going.
Both BahaMar and FTX show exactly who our government works for.
The only things The Bahamas lacks are honesty and leadership.

You are right, Lamplighter.
You said, "For one thing, Bahamians want to know if their government exercised good judgment in this matter, "
How old are you?
In your lifetime, can you tell me how many times the Bahamian government exercised good judgement?
We already know the answer to that one.
All the rest of your comments are on point.

Mangrove Cay, Andros has the same water problems.
They are not even talked about.
Our local W&S seems clueless and just collecting their overtime.
The public has no right to ask questions, and the Water & Sewerage seems to have no obligation or interest in those who pay their salaries.
This isn't an issue around one minister.
This is a national problem of incompetence, dishonesty and a complete lack of accountability.
An oversight? No, a culture.

Yup. Just like the PM going to the UN to beg for climate change money while we continue to think drilling for oil in The Bahamas is Ok.
Columbo, I think you are a fraud too.
Just like SBF.

Isn't it amazing that a man/child can behave in this way, and garner all the attention that he does from politicians to media outlets. It is almost as if the thousands and thousands of hard working Bahamians who are still at the poverty line just don't matter.
There are X number of hours in the day.
And this is how we choose to spend them.
God help us all.
But, Poor people, you are on your own.

The Customs Brokers need not ask "who will foot the bill?"
The customer always foots the bill. Always.
Businesses who collect VAT, get paid to collect these taxes.
They will make a profit, or go out of business.
They will make a profit by passing along the many oppressive costs of doing business here, in The Bahamas.

It is a shame what we do to our citizens and those attempting to do business here. I do not know of a business person who has not called Customs a "nightmare".
Every dollar that comes through Customs as any of the many Taxes upon us, is a dollar taken out of the Bahamian economy. And, these accounting shenanigans that place taxes upon taxes, strangling our real economy only emboldens those at the top.
It seems apparent that our Finance department and Customs have no idea of what they are doing to our country.
And, anyone who truly understands our tax regime here, and calls themselves a Christian, is a dishonest person.
A simple understanding of our regressive tax system here in The Bahamas shows our country to be quite hypocritical. Calling ourselves Christian and going along with the fiscal oppression of our people. No wonder mental health issues are on the rise.

Mr Gilbert,
I am with you most of the way.
First, yes, put someone in charge who can hire and fire, for the betterment of bec/ bpl.
Hire the best person interviewed for the job, be they Bahamian, or not.
The next problem, in my 20 years of reading the paper, is the following:
The ones who have stolen the thousands, maybe millions, of gallons of diesel, stolen the equipment, sabotaged the equipment, borrowed tools, and mismanaged funds, have all been Bahamian. We, the Bahamian taxpayers are taking this entity to the ground.
Mismanagement plays a big role, I agree.
But, it seems to me that there are too, too many on the take in our society.
Do we not have the same problem in most every other business and governmental entity in our country?
We do.
An intelligent reader can take it from there.

Since we have no history of making bad decisions. And no history of inviting bad actors to our shores, of course The Bahamas is merely the victim. Again. As we always are. None of the social problems, business failures, crime statistics, environmental degradation, our indebtedness, no, these are all someone else's fault. This nonsense is prevalent from the top to the bottom of our society. It is difficult to find a person who admits that our country has screwed up. Bay Street Boys, the US monster, China, the Dominicans, the Haitians, the Jamaicans...... Never Bahamian bad actors. Never Bahamian ignorance. Never Bahamian arrogance. Always someone else. FTX screwed up. No question. Clearly, we failed to do our due diligence here at home. Oh, but they had money. Will we always be suckers?

Who cares about your petty nonsense.
Ask the question, "Are the Bahamian people better off, or worse off"?
Over and over, we have to answer, "We, the Bahamian people are worse off"
This is not up for debate. Stop the nonsense. Use your limited time and effort to fix the problem.
Is this a national trait? None of us ever do wrong. It is always someone else's fault.
And yet, time after time we have to read and listen to the crap that spews forth from our "leaders"
Fix the F-ing problem. Stop the crap.
We are getting screwed daily by inflated prices, unfair regressive taxation and poor oversight of all of our state owned enterprises, and the greed, machismo, and power hungry little people who supposedly work for us.
Our country is severely in debt. We have a bad reputation, deserved or not.
We seem unable to govern.
Anyone paying attention can see that crime will continue to rise, the poor will get poorer, and the bad decisions made on our behalf will be coming due in short order.
The rich in this country will continue to game the system so that they get richer, wielding ever more power over our politicians.
Who cares that so many of our richest are sociopaths, if not outright criminals.
They have money. They must be smart. We don't seem to care that the only thing they care about is themselves.
What does this say about us?
Presently, as I see it, The Bahamas is on a dead end road for its people.
So, whose fault is this?
Let be serious, just for one moment.