Nassau, Bahamas — Protesters are making their way into the downtown area in a March on Parliament against the sale of 51% of BTC to Cable and Wireless. Bahamas Press understands police are in full uniform in the square and back up squads are being assigned to the Bay Street area as we speak.
Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham is expected at the 3PM sitting, to table the rewritten signed copy of the Memorandum of Understanding between Cable and Wireless and the Government of the Bahamas for debate in the House.
BTC was sold, according to our sources, last week with a handover exercise expected to begin in early March. The Corporation is being sole to regional carrier LIME [Cable and Wireless] for $210 million. It is expected hundreds of local jobs are expected to go within 24 hours of the handover.
Let’s not get our hopes up too high cause all I’ve seen so far (after digging through all the padding and meaningless statements in the MOU) is nothing much. Problem is BTC weren’t able to deploy some of the services because the government hold them back to let C&W get the glory.
You think we’ll get 3G when non of the C&W sites in the Caribbean have it. I don’t think so.
SELLING BTC TO A FOREIGN COMPANY WONT GET US BETTER SERVICE.OR BETTER RATES…ONLY COMPETITION WILL!
Well BP told another lie. What happen to the big demo. People are now waiting on better service and lower prices.
Thank God for Mr. Ingraham.
At least BP gets us the news that you would either have to wait for elsewhere, or not covered at all be the other media.
BP…you get a copy of the real MOU to publish yet?
Well,Well,Well! B.E.C. NEXT!!!!!!
BTC should have been sold 20 years ago. BEC should be sold today, so should Bahamasair. The longer we have these millstones around our necks, we have little chance to develop our country. Sell the companies and tax their profits. It is time to separate the government from business.
BAHAMASAIR…give that bloodsucker away!
If BTC is already sold what do the marchers want? March before not after.
alright! Free at last to get 3G! We gon get iphones and crackberry!
If the government proceeds today with the sale of BTC to C&W, I hope the opposition to this sale obtains important answers for Bahamians:
. Who in the FNM, or their families, stand to benefit directly, or indirectly from this sale?
. How the Sale Price was agreed to?
. What happens to all the land owned, leased, or used or available to BTC?
. What employee guarantees are in place?
. Who gets to keep of the cash or investments?
. How was the value of all accounts receivable valued into the Sale Price?
. What happens to all the Vehicles?
. How much money does the Government owe BTC?
Has the government, or C&W, agreed to forgive any monies owed directly, or indirectly to FNM MP’s.
Has the government been released from any and all pending civil actions?
Is the pension and retirement plans full protected, and by whom?
What penalties are enforceable if any of the terms, or conditions, of the agreement are broken by either the government, or C&W?
If BTC is sold to C&W it will IMMEDIATELY INCREASED C&W VALUE BY 600 MILLION DOLLARS!!!What kind of FOOLS we the Bahamian people are to let this OUTRIGHT ROBBERY OF OUR NATIONAL ASSET TO TAKE PLACE.The only other time this took place in history was when the native American Indians EXCHANGED SOLID GOLD TO THE SPANIARDS FOR GLASS BEADS AND WE KNOW FROM HISTORY WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE INDIANS.BTC is worth 600 million dollars,the fibre optic cables are worth millions more and the bandwidths are worth hundreds of millions of dollars and our leaders are prepared to settle for CHICKEN FEED.MAY GOD HELP US!!!
I still cant believe this is happening!
I want to take you back to the FNM’s Election Manifesto 2007.
They promised Bahamians if elected back to govern, the following. I’ll leave it up to you to decide how well they’re doing as the government of the day.
: To restore trust in government.
: To ensure domestic security tranquility.
: To improve public security.
: To ensure access to land for Bahamians. :
: To protect and conserve our natural environment.
: To alleviate poverty.
: Answering questions asked by the opposition in parliament.
: Making public in the House of Assembly all agreements with international investors.
The FNM’s Manifesto made no mention of the sale of BTC to foreigners, Development of Arawak by a small group of the party faithful, including the Deputy Prime Minister to be; Granting work permits 80,000 Chinese construction workers. Total arrogance toward Bahamians. Creating jobs with fat paycheques for their political friends.
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