...and the first thing BEC will do is to make it illegal to install any such system. You see those who can afford to purchase, are the only ones paying their power bills. In the words of Mr. Miller, if we lose those paying customers, BEC will go broke in a month. You misunderstand the purpose for which BEC is operated. It is not a power company, it is a slush fund for politicians and their political cronies. Any effort to permit an efficient power generation and distribution system in the Bahamas will be stamped out by the political class. Note in this announcement that the Deputy P.M. caveats that some contract negotiation remains undone. How many decades could that take?????

The worst part is that when "the fix" finally is decided upon and implemented, it won't be a fix. Everyone with a brain knows that the only long term solution that will provide reliable power at reasonable cost is to privatize the power generation and distribution system. That, however would mean that all the political fat cat jobs that have been doled out over the years would be ended and the political class would no longer have the BEC slush fund to pad pockets for elections.

Further everyone knows that the generation fuel of choice, natural gas, cannot be controlled by certain favored political cronies. The dithering is all about how do we appear to do something, without screwing up our very lucrative rice bowls. Sadly there is no way through that maze so we will sit in blackouts that will go on all summer and likely beyond.

I find it hard to believe the level of animus and bigotry displayed in these comments. This woman was born in the Bahamas where she has lived her entire life. Please stop all this nonsense. She cannot get a Haitian Passport under these circumstances. It is a proven fact that Haiti will not give her a passport. She is entitled under law to Bahamian residency but the government bureaucracy has failed to provide her with the documentation to which she is legally entitled. This is a classic Catch 22 set up by Fred and his pals, that renders innocents such as this woman, stateless, with no rights anywhere.

There is nothing in this news article to suggest that she is a burden on society. The only facts quoted are that she is being denied essential medical services merely because of her race. Sound familiar? Sound like racism? Sound like inhuman discrimination? You should all be ashamed of yourselves.

Needed the cash for the skim.

This is beyond sad. "Owned by the people", is all and only about "grease keeps flowing". The level of overt corruption being displayed by the current government is simply astounding.

How about we fire the union and fire the government along with. Anyone with even a modicum of common sense knows that the only solution to our problems with these infrastructure critical industries (read telecommunications and power generation) is to get the government 100% OUT!

The government by its very nature turns every agency it oversees into a political exercise which is totally inconsistent with efficient operation. Please give me one example of anything this or any other government operates efficiently.

There is no solution involving privatizing BEC and setting up true competition among private enterprises in the telecommunications field, that could be so bad, as not to be infinitely superior to what we have now with government involvement.

Keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. That a premium was paid to "Southern Alliance" which is a front for someone's skim fund. If so do you think we'll ever learn????? One more of those complete and transparent reports on rancid scandals that the current government never gets around to tabling.

Ah yes, but what happens to the cash when the businesses remit????

Here's the likely hilarious sequel.

Next we will learn that a big fat premium was paid to "Southern Alliance" for this purported insurance that purportedly just lapsed.

The P.M. will promise a thorough investigation into who authorized the payment and to whom the "premium" was paid, and nothing will ever be heard of the matter again.

This is beyond sad. I guess our current government is so enamored with the performance of BEC that they cannot resist creation of another bureaucratic beast, that will deliver miserable performance at stratospheric price. Of course they know that any private operator will run economic circles around their government owned operations so private enterprise need not apply.