Good evening, fellow Bahamians.
Last night, the Prime Minister unfortunately wasted a number of Bahamians’ time with a speech that did not have the solutions most persons tuned in to receive. The truth is, at this stage, Bahamians don’t need the flowery language in a country where the power is unreliable, where families are paying more for less, and everyday life is being disrupted by the energy crisis.
What we got, unfortunately, was spin — words blown into a hot country, clearly running out of patience. And it’s one thing to talk about the arrangements or the deals that the Prime Minister has entered into, but the truth is these are arrangements he is hiding behind, because we simply do not have the facts in terms of what they ought to provide. What we got last night were excuses.
Last night, the Prime Minister came before the nation and told us once again that the buck stops with him. But after five years as Prime Minister, and more than 10 years in total — close to 14 years — where he has had some direct responsibility for BPL, either as Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister, if the buck truly stops with him, so does the responsibility for the mess that BPL is in.
And perhaps nothing sums up this crisis better than what happened during the course of his speech: before he was able to finish the national conversation on energy reform, the lights went out. That moment captures what so many Bahamians feel every single day — the frustration, the helplessness, and the loss of confidence across our country.
Families are suffering. Seniors are sitting in dark homes. Small businesses are losing inventory, customers, and by extension, income. Parents are replacing — or attempting to replace — appliances they can’t afford, and BPL is not providing the relief for them.
In Grand Cay, residents have endured stretches of no electricity: seven days in one case, three days in another. And not just them — Abaco, Eleuthera, other Family Islands, and many parts of New Providence continue to deal with extended outages. So for those who depend on refrigeration for medication, what do they do? Or those who depend on electricity to make sure their medical equipment works? This is not a matter of inconvenience. It is a matter of life and death.
And last night, the Prime Minister spoke about overtime abuse and management failures, as if it isn’t him, and his minister, and the board that they put in place, and the executives they hired, who are responsible for determining who ultimately gets overtime. So the question is: if there are problems with scheduling, whose responsibility is it, and what penalties are going to be put in place to make sure that they do their job? Who will be held accountable?
What exactly will Bahamians see at the end of this energy reform? Because right now, what they are seeing are promises of improved service, but extended blackouts. What is the precise timeline for the Prime Minister and his team to fix what is going on? Who exactly will be responsible for fixing the list of things that are wrong, and when are we going to experience the results?
And after hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money having been poured into BPL, where has the money gone, and why are the results worse, not better? With the so-called loans from the Treasury, and with the investment that was supposed to be done on the electrical infrastructure in New Providence — I mean, over $430 million of it over the last three years — what results have we got that justify this $430 million-plus, when the lights are going off more than ever?
Even the overtime complaint — it’s framed like a crisis by the Prime Minister. This is a despicable distraction. It’s the kind of argument governments make up when they have nothing else. When you’re out of ideas, you grab at anything to keep the attention off the things that matter most to the people: jobs, better wages, consistent energy, improvement in cost of living. These are the things people want. Or the missing $700 million. Or the crisis of leadership we have right now. It’s a distraction.
The Prime Minister told us that the buck stops with him. If that statement is to mean anything, then accountability cannot stop with a speech. Accountability requires consequences. Accountability requires truthfulness. It requires leadership.
Last night’s speech was an attempt to gaslight the public. He acted like what we are experiencing as a country isn’t as devastating as some would make it seem — in other words, just hold on, because somehow, magically, over time, we’re going to get this right. It’s not laughable. It’s cruel.
I know one thing: likability can help you win votes — it can even win elections. But it does not make a government competent, and it certainly doesn’t fix what’s broken for the people who are paying the price right now.
And so tonight, we heard a Prime Minister trying to convince us that the disaster is being handled — and in truth, they’re handling us. They came to office almost five years ago and continue to blame a past administration, while Bahamians are relying on them to provide the leadership.
And so, Prime Minister — less about the speeches. Fix it. Fix what is broken, and end the suffering that so many Bahamians are experiencing because of this energy crisis.
We are better than this. Our country can do better. Let’s be open and honest about what we face, and let’s get the brightest minds who can help us correct this dysfunction in our system.
You are in the chair. Fix it.
Michael C. Pintard
Leader of the Official Opposition