Opposition Leader Michael Pintard charged yesterday that Minister of Works Alfred Sears misled Parliament, not once, but eight times on the Davis administration’s failure to execute certain fuel hedge trades in the fall of 2021 to lock in fuel prices and keep Bahamas Power and Light’s (BPL) fuel charge stable.
Pintard raised the issue once again in the House of Assembly, prompting Sears to spring to his feet and declare he never intentionally misled the House.
Sears took exception to Pintard’s use of a certain word to describe the Davis administration’s actions with respect to what he (Pintard) termed a lack of transparency over the issue.
The speaker of the House ordered the particular word struck from the record of Parliament, but Pintard fired back, saying even if the particular word is not used, “In English, it is called a synonym. It just has the same meaning. You have misled the House on no less than eight occasions on your feet.”
Pintard told Parliament, “We have not forgotten, the prime minister has not yet relieved the member for Fort Charlotte (Sears) of his duties, nor has he decided that he will demit office, but, Madam Speaker, I remind the public that we are going to pay over $100 million because of ill-advised decisions by this administration …”
The opposition leader has repeatedly charged that the decision not to execute the trades led directly to substantial increases in the fuel charge, which the prime minister announced in October will be put on bills incrementally.
Pintard suggested it is difficult to trust the government’s word going forward, given that it has failed to “come clean” on the BPL issue.
He has repeatedly insisted that Sears resign over the matter for his conflicting statements in the House.
“I mean no disrespect,” Pintard said.
“I’m just saying, there is a convention, particularly when persons like to flaunt the rules, Madam Speaker.”
But Sears stood up again and said, “I object, Madam Speaker. I object to the imputation of any deliberate attempt to mislead this Parliament.”
Pintard shot back, “Madam Speaker, it’s a matter of public record.”
He said Sears “confessed” that he had received a briefing on the need to execute the trades, though he previously told Parliament he had not been briefed.
“He said in this House on his feet, on his feet, of course he did, and then he blamed the minister of finance, Madam Speaker,” Pintard added.
“He said that he knew and that the minister of finance made the decision.
“Madam Speaker, the member for Fort Charlotte misled the country and misled the House.”
Sears insisted, “Madam Speaker, at no time did I deliberately, consciously mislead this House …”
Pintard refused to back down from his point.
He repeated, “Madam Speaker, the member misled the House, misled the House by indicating that he was not briefed (on the need to execute the trades) and he said so at least eight times in this House, eight times in the House, and most of the members here have seen the tape; I’ve shared it with you.”
Pintard charged, “This administration only comes clean on major issues when found out, but they don’t tell you up front.
“This administration took out a loan from Central Bank – you can call it an advance – and only fessed up, only made the public fully aware, after we raised the issue.
“It is absolutely correct, $230 million they were given permission to draw down on, but never reported it. They didn’t do so in the budget exercise, did not do so in the debt management committee report; only did so after we raised it and the media followed through.”
Early last month, the Ministry of Finance said earlier comments by Pintard that the government is “borrowing” or “printing money” through accessing International Monetary Fund (IMF) special drawing rights (SDRs) obtained through The Central Bank of The Bahamas were misleading.
The ministry said the government was using the funding for its legitimate and intended purpose.
Pintard has questioned the legal basis of the government’s access to the SDRs.
But the one issue that he has hammered the government on most has been the BPL hedge issue, particularly as Sears has made conflicting statements on the matter in the House over the course of weeks.
After repeatedly saying he had no knowledge of requests made by the BPL fuel hedge committee for the trades to be executed, for the first time in December, Sears publicly acknowledged that he had in fact received emails making those requests.
On November 17, after Pintard continued to press the issue, Sears said he checked with Financial Secretary Simon Wilson who provided a clarification on what had transpired.
While Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Philip Davis also told Parliament he had seen nothing in relation to any requests for hedge trades, Sears later told the House that a Cabinet paper on hedging was addressed to the minister of finance, and the minister of finance decided to reject the recommendation after reviewing it.
However, Davis has insisted he had no part in the decision to reject the trade recommendations.
