THE PRESS ASKS MITCHELL ABOUT GRAND BAHAMA
Fred Mitchell
This story first appeared in the Nassau Guardian by Barbara Walkin 25 February 2025:
Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) Executive Director Rupert Hayward’s presentation at the recent Grand Bahama Business Outlook was met with a series of rebukes from Minister of Foreign Affairs and Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) National Chairman Fred Mitchell last week.
Mitchell pushed back against a number of Hayward’s statements, including his assertion that tight controls and lengthy delays in granting work permits is holding Freeport back.
Hayward said the GBPA needs a deeper collaboration with the government to revise outdated policies and regulations, fast-track work permits and reduce bureaucracy.
“Sadly, the gradual watering down of the regulatory regime, excessive red tape, and guardrails on immigration have undermined the Hawksbill Creek Agreement (HCA), which by its very existence created the Magic City,” Hayward said.
Mitchell emphatically denied Hayward’s claims and said immigration is “irrelevant” to the economic challenges faced by Freeport. He laid the blame instead on the GBPA management following the deaths of GBPA owners Edward St. George and Sir Jack Hayward.
“The reason why there is an issue with what is happening in Freeport and Grand Bahama is not because of some immigration policy, not because there has been any slowdown in approvals by the government,” Mitchell said.
“There was a public fight between the successor shareholders about who owned what. The results crippled the city’s development, and it has not recovered from that time to now.”
Mitchell said he spoke with Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper, who is also minister of investments, and he is not aware of any complaints regarding “slowness” in the process.
Mitchell also took exception to Hayward’s remarks that there needs to be deeper collaboration between the government and the GBPA. Hayward said despite the bitter public fight between the two, he believes there is a willingness to work together.
“I think, behind the scenes, there is a willingness, collectively, to turn Freeport around. There are longstanding relationships between the management and principals of the Port Authority with many members of government,” Hayward said.
“I think we need to get our public messaging right. It is important when people see the big stakeholders in Grand Bahama working together, not just behind the scenes but also in public.”
He said both parties share accountability.
Mitchell accused Hayward of making excuses for the lack of performance of the GBPA and its shareholders to fulfill their obligations under the HCA.
“The only thing is: do you have the money, do you have the ideas, to move the Port Authority to do things it needs to do under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement? If you do not then you need someone else to come and do it,” the minister said.
“That’s the government’s position. That’s the PLP position.”
Mitchell also said Hayward should not have been speaking about the dispute in public.
“There is an understanding, an obligation, where there is an arbitration going on, to stay out of the press. To not poison the well.”
In his presentation, Hayward said there needs to be a change in the government’s mindset because Grand Bahama is not in competition within The Bahamas but internationally.
He said Freeport is a free trade zone or, using the modern term, a Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and is competing with SEZs including Jamaica, Cayman Island, Colombia, and Panama and internationally, Jafza (Jebel Ali Free Zone) and Dubai.
“Today, the competition includes over 5,000 SEZs across the world, in almost every country,” he said.
“The key lies in a mindset shift, from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset. From a mindset of handcuffing or constraining business to an ease of doing business mentality.”
Hayward said this calls for policies to be amended to create an “ease of doing business” in Grand Bahama.
Referring to the $3 billion in investments flowing into Grand Bahama that include the $600 million Grand Bahama Shipyard transformation and Carnival’s Celebration Key cruise port, he said despite the dispute with the Davis government, “GBPA works daily and closely with every investor to develop opportunities, help negotiate the purchase of property, and introduce them to finance and local operating partners”.
“As best we can, we facilitate access to government agencies like BIA, NEC and DEPP for their required approvals,” he said.
Mitchell, again, emphatically disagreed, asserting that any economic activity happening in Grand Bahama is as a result of the government’s efforts.
“Whatever economic upward trajectory of the city, the minister for Grand Bahama, Ginger Moxey, the Deputy Prime Minister Chest Cooper and the Prime Minister Philip Davis have all been working to make sure that Grand Bahama gets lifted off the ground,” he said.
“That’s why Carnival is there, that’s why the shipyard is there. It has nothing to do with them (GBPA). They dumped the airport (Grand Bahama International Airport) on the Bahamian people; they allowed their partners to dump the hotel (Grand Lucayan) at an over value. So this fella can’t be talking any stuff, it just don’t make sense.”
Mitchell said, “I wish he would refrain and leave this matter alone, and I suggest Sarah St. George ought to speak to him and tell him it is time for him to keep himself quiet in these matters.”
Since last year, after the Davis administration sent a letter to GBPA demanding payment of $357 million the government claims it is owed, both the government and the Port Authority have engaged in a public back-and-forth battle.
According to Section 1(5) of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, the legislation under which GBPA operates, specifies that costs borne by the government for certain activities and services provided are to be reimbursed by the Port for amounts in excess of customs duties and emergency taxes collected.